Rogue One: A Star Wars Story "Designing the U-wing"

In this behind-the-scenes clip from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Lucasfilm's Doug Chiang traces the design history of the U-wing.
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[@normietwiceremoved]

When the ship was first announced, I literally fell in love with it. What I instantly saw was that it looked like another member of the X-wing Y-wing family naturally. It gave the impression that this ship existed in New Hope but we just didn't get to see it. I feel that this is partly what the prequels missed. Even though the design of the Arc-170 is cool, it's too sleek and doesn't feel like a natural predecessor at all for the X-Wing. A lot of the ships didn't look like Star Wars ships because they didn't feel aesthetically connected. Just like how our world takes design elements from cars and puts them on others, Star Wars would do the same for spaceships. Please Lucasfilm, aesthetic consistency is SO essential for a universe to feel real and connected. Your Art department for Rogue One and similarly TFW understand the Star Wars aesthetic to a tee.

[@RexExLiberi]

Prequels are in a different era and different parts of the galaxy compared to the OT, it makes sense that the aesthetic sensibilities and design cues are different. Although the x-wing and the ARC-170 serve the same purpose they belong to vastly different factions and their design philosophy is different (the rebellion is underfunded and uses old ships cobbled together with what they can find, the grand army of the republic is well funded, efficient and uses the latest military tech). Look at how they gave an origin to the Y-Wing as a bomber in the Clone Wars and you'll see that the designs fit perfectly.

[@shingshongshamalama]

I kind of like how the Venator looks similar to the later Imperial-class Star Destroyer, but clearly distinct. It's a shame a lot of the other designs that appear in the prequels can't quite hit that same sweet spot.

[@youshallnotpass3937]

Exactly all the original vehicles and guns looked like something out of ww2. The prequels are too sleek and alien for me.

[@isaacwong5966]

@@youshallnotpass3937 yeah... They looked very round and bulbous

[@GuanoLad]

Of all the new vehicle designs we've seen from the recent Star Wars movies and TV shows, the U-Wing is my favourite so far. TFA has very unpleasantly dull boxy shapes with Leia's transport, Han's freighter, and even Rey's speeder, and Rogue One had the hard corners of the Imperial Tank too, so the familiar elements in the U-Wing anchor it in the SW universe in exactly the way I love. I did like the TIE Striker and the stolen four-winged Shuttle, though.

[@GuanoLad]

Yes, I noticed that. Still just a rectangular box, though.

[@henryscott370]

There supposed to be scruffy and unpolished. There not supposed to be grandees or spectacular.

[@geekchris105]

chris pearson I didn't like it because there's no way in hell that Han would fly that. I think it works as a ship, but not as Hans ship

[@yesmlord9483]

Thank you! I swear to God, it's not just the Vehicles too but the Republic/Resistance army as well. The Biker Helmet paired with the puke-green long-coat just looks unpleasant to me (the other soldiers I saw just looked like they were using repainted Puke-green Imperial uniforms too) . Last Jedi isn't helping either just look at the new Republic/Resistance capital ship, and the new speeder. If you didn't tell me those designs were from the republic/resistance, I would have said they were either empire or a new enemy faction.

[@spectral5939]

The U-Wing succeeded so well it became my all time favourite star wars starfighter/ship.

[@ODST_Parker]

The U-wing has really grown on me. When I first saw the trailers for Rogue One, I really didn't like it. I thought it was just a strange way to combine an X-wing and an A-wing and make it bigger. When I saw how it was used, as a troop transport and close air support like the Clone Wars era LAAT, I started to like it. It really is like a Star Wars helicopter. The scenes of the gunner shooting out of the side doors, and the landing of troopers on the beach really made me love it. The one thing I would change is the wings sweeping back. Why bother? It seems to do just fine in space and atmosphere in its default configuration, and I think the wings are way too long when they're swept back. It makes it look very odd, and it ruins the aesthetic in my opinion.

[@timmyvdb3]

This is from the Wiki, you are not wrong about the wingspan: The movement of the S-foils was controlled by the S-foil articulation servomotor assembly. The backward facing, or flight, configuration was used in combat situations as it increased the coverage envelope of the ship's deflector shields and helped radiate excess heat from the engine's core. The increased wingspan however, was often turned into an obstacle by rough atmospheric conditions resulting in the flight configuration primarily being reserved for high altitude and interstellar operations

[@hbtdawgz1688]

Jonathan Parker It sweeps the wings back for advanced flight. It folds them in when it jumps to hyperspace and flies low in its air support (helicopter) role, and when it lands. Also the shielding thing mentioned.

[@liamdunphy4859]

The u-wing is one of my favorite ships in the star wars universe because it is basically the rebellion's version of the republic's clone gunship. It's cool to see the rebellion get a new type of ship.

[@Kwijiboz]

Rogue one, a story based on the original trilogy era and yet it innovates as much or even more than The Force Awakens

[@e115mastery]

The story could've been changed in some places but we got to see the actual "war" element of Star Wars.

[@cjua2803]

Kwijiboz not really, tfa added new aliens, factions, ideas and much more on the force itself

[@TheOriginalPoon]

How? Because we got some new weapons and ship types? A couple new planets? The only story thing it does right is show how not goodie goodie the Rebellion is. Everything else falls apart.

[@pipgoesthepossum]

Kwijiboz Definitely more. TFA was a mess.

[@Kwijiboz]

I like both movies, but neither of them are particularly groundbreaking. I'm talking about design mostly. From a story standpoint TFA might have a better script, but we all know by know that it's a reboot of A new hope. As I said I enjoyed both movies, I'm just being honest.

[@legogr_]

Rogue One...such a phenomenal movie.

[@thomascarter6152]

Lego Ghost Rider yea

[@4kfrank276]

Rogue One was an awesome movie! Screw the haters!!!!!!

[@chefcurry8983]

FilmFanFrank exactly there is a guy I know who said it was a horrible movie I can't even look at him the same it's one of my personal favorites

[@itsatrap9229]

There is a difference between criticizing the movie and hating it. Most of the critics( including me) do not hate the movie, we just find there is a certain amount of problems with it.

[@greedy44]

Hey, almost everyone rates it 4 stars. It is one of the best in the franchise.

[@acdragonrider]

Gameboy20121 what problems were there anyway?

[@taylormaines9909]

I loved the movie tremendously. Saw it three times in theaters. But the one glaring problem is that they spent zero to little time on character development. So when ****SPOILER ALERT****they all died****SPOILER ALERT**** the audience was left feeling hardly anything for the characters sans K2SO

[@austin.rose85]

I just wished they didn't all crash in Rogue One.

[@StarWarsDK]

We can always see them in other media taking place prior to Rogue One. Or maybe a newer version will show up in Episode 8!

[@ming_mong275]

Austin Rose I think it's canon that they were also present at the Battle of Jakku so not all of them ;)

[@Agent_3141]

Ming Mong sadly no. the movies visual guide stated that the manufacturer who made the ship was forced to stop production, so only a few were made

[@WDDudeofallDudes]

tbh i wish they added this ship to the force awakens not rogue one, hopefully the last jedi brings new ships like the uwing

[@blademaster11121]

Just because we dont see them used in the original trilogy doesnt mean they were not being used heavily by the alliance during the events of the trilogy. They were not needed as we see there were no major ground assaults lead by the rebellion shown in any of the films (endor does not count because it was initially a covert op) thus they were never seen.

[@Freshwater121]

Doug is so cool

[@Tracer_Krieg]

Now please, get the production and concept team behind Rogue One, and get them on The Last Jedi.

[@danielhales8169]

Most of them do work on both films like John Knoll worked on TFA and ROASWS and will be working on TLJ

[@superspartan112]

These sketches are an artists wet dream. So much time and effort was put into every detail of this movie, and it shows.

[@SoccerBoyAP]

Thank you for putting in so much time (781 drawings!!!!), attention and love into creating a new ship. This is why we love Star Wars!

[@shore1001]

What I love about Rouge one is that you see the Empire more Cinematic and better understanding.

[@kaygereignited]

I hope that we see some of the prototype designs brought back in rebels or something. Cause some of them look really cool

[@SWDarmanfan1998]

The U-Wing might be one of the greatest vehicels in all of Star Wars. Amazing design!

[@Maximusrex4575]

This was a really cool, and informative, look at Star Wars design. Thanks for sharing!

[@_WillCAD_]

Fascinating how the design process went, with the early concepts being so different from anything seen in the original trilogy, and the final product fitting so perfectly with the fictional Incom design family, which includes the ARC-170 from the Clone Wars era, the iconic T65 X-wing, the T16 Skyhopper that Luke owned on Tatooine, and the T47 Airspeeder used by the Rebels on Hoth. I also loved the new TIE variants that Rogue One introduced, the Reaper (troop transport) and the Striker (atmospheric fighter). Beautiful on screen, and completely in the established family of on-screen TIEs that includes the standard or TIE/ln version, the Advanced version that Vader flew in Episode IV, the bomber version from Episode V, and my favorite, the Interceptor from Episode VI. All of you folks who worked on Rogue One really deserve a big thanks from the fans, because you not only told an outstanding story, but you perfectly nailed all of the picky little details that the obsessive fans pour over in home videos. The Force was with you. You were one with the Force.

[@michaeldro]

I was waiting for this so much! I love U-wings so much down to their desighn and functons!

[@michaeldro]

defensive capabilities and it's wings

[@feliciacabrera4938]

Michael Akers Vino el amor

[@Figureenia]

you were the engine of my youth and today you are an inspiration in my work. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@FluffyJackie]

A format about the various design processes would be so cool!✨

[@TheHeston83]

happy for the finished product i get excited whenever i see them on screen love its basicallys Incoms Transport ship while the X Wing is its fighter

[@elliotkouame3849]

"Jyn's ship" was a Zeta-class cargo shuttle, not a U-wing.

[@kersonwoodyjames5784]

Doug chang has anamazing voice - could we get a series about Doug talking about the art/ look of Star Wars

[@christianna3561]

Well done! All the hard work of you and the team is appreciated because the ship is BEAUTIFUL! plus I love the idea of adding another letter to the fleet. Well done!

[@stargazeronesixseven]

Wow! After 700+ Designs that the U-Wing finally takes shape! Respect & Salute indeed!

[@SuperArcher2345]

It's cool that these ideas and drawings can turn into an addition to an infinite universe and be commonly know in star wars

[@SophieMSPchannel]

The U wing looks like an X wing, a snow speeder and a Y wing mixed together. The X wing reactors (just like he said in the video) If you get rid of the wings, the ship looks like the front of a Y-wing And it also looks a lot like the snow speeders used on Hoth

[@Emmatriaaa]

It’s basically a Y wing when it’s wings are folded back lol

[@TMX1138]

They should've used these at Endor to reinforce Han's team at the bunker!

[@mritchie66]

TMX1138 one showed up for a second on Endor dropping off Rebels in Battlefront II

[@CymruJedi]

More videos like these, please.

[@revdaddy6934]

The U-wing they chose was awesome, nostalgic, and perfect. Good job on it

[@001skm]

I love the U-Wing! These guys are amazing! Love hearing the long process of making the U-Wing. Really impressive. STAR WARS IS AWESOME!

[@Zeus-se9pv]

I think the U wing fits perfectly in the star wars universe. They did a great job with rogue one.

[@hitachicordoba]

Love the design! More videos like this please!

[@Misile91]

Who else have the lego U Wing from Christmas

[@trentsmovieopenings8467]

HAN STARKILLER *for*

[@Misile91]

Trent Russo Vlogs anything

[@charliehiggison9670]

yasssss

[@Misile91]

Lego Boy Studios same

[@Misile91]

9813 is number one Rest In Peace

[@WDDudeofallDudes]

tbh i wish they added this ship to the force awakens not rogue one, hopefully the last jedi brings new ships like the uwing

[@maxeisenhardt8800]

Hopefully, they will add a modern version of the U-Wing for the Resistance. I don't want to see that ugly ship from Takodana as the Resistance's main troop transport.

[@fizzlewick]

i like the concept with the troops on one side and the cockpit on the other

[@KUYA12]

I see a lot of potential material for these ship concept designs to make it in other Star Wars properties. The cartoons, video games, future films and comics! Endless possibilities! Lucasfilm won't let these go to waste :)

[@Eliza_rose21x]

Wow amazing designs

[@lupinearsenalALT]

Doug Chiang

[@NeroHobbit]

I love the design you did an awesome job. the U-wing is now my favourite ship in the star wars universe

[@fivesfish]

Adding the engines from the X-Wing, was a cleaver idea! It will add standardisation in the Star Wars, universe! 👍

[@jonathangumpangkum5563]

the design at 3:13 is really growing on me

[@aMilling]

The u-wing fits pretty well with the rebellion. Hope to one day see more of the Republic gunship, one of my favorite in star wars.

[@POPE_FRANC1S]

The ship designers here had more imagination than the ship designers for the entire sequal trilogy

[@Tracer_Krieg]

Watching these U-Wings dropping troops into battle instantly reminded me of We Were Soldiers. I wouldn't mind seeing an all military movie based on the same concept with a glorious return of these badass gunships.

[@heartofvirginia4877]

This is such a good video!! Such good info and working with art all day to meet the needs of a picky (not in a bad way) boss to make a movie for one of the most famous franchises ever has it made in my opinion!!

[@hannesrichter4828]

i also love the lego version, after i made the wings 8 studs longer and made the engines slighty bigger to the front, used some old lego rims. its perfect and my favorite lego piece!

[@jx592]

this is the extra i was wanting, we know very little about the u wing other then in movie

[@Casey_J96]

The u wing design is great. I think it fits the time period perfectly yet it's still fresh and new

[@powerofanime1]

Sooooo Coooooool. I really wanna see all 780 previous iterations!

[@EmperorMonkey35]

00:07 I like this one... just saying

[@ReporterRed]

Agreed... that should definitely become a ship. H-wing, maybe?

[@malaclypse2317]

I really like the one at 1:53

[@MrAustin390]

I think all the of the prototype designs look great in general. I'm glad they went with the final design, but these other designs could really fit in other sci fi franchises like Mass Effect or Battlestar: Galactica.

[@TheLegoJungle]

Those look like Star Citizen ships, not Star Wars to me.

[@EmperorMonkey35]

malaclypse2317 looks like something from the old republic

[@alissahernandez9591]

The last time I was this early, Anakin was a slave on Tatooine

[@thomascarter6152]

Darth Cheesy Potato 🥔

[@timmyvdb3]

I really like how it turned out and it comes close to the spot for my favorite Star Wars ships. I like the Y-wing and Jedi interceptor just a bit more.

[@videonaterAD]

"superman with his wings..."

[@WanagiAkicita]

Pretty cool stuff, man.

[@Pepsi_Man_Max]

The U-Wing is one of my favourite ships in the Star Wars universe

[@NeilJohnMcLean]

Awesome!

[@Rednaxela1]

Loved it.

[@darthmop1]

The U-Wing is the DeLorean of Star Wars - awesome looking and cool features and only produced on a small scale so chances to catch sight on one is basically zero

[@andrein_501st]

The U-wing desgin is awesome

[@sclair2854]

I like the idea of the larger U-Wing. It'd work well in an expanded universe project, or in the period after New Hope when the rebellion is on the rise with more resources. If we ever get a TV series between episode 6-7 it should definitely be used as the primary transport ship!

[@undead_corsair]

I hope we see more of the U-Wing

[@PteranoLiv]

The U wing is one of the coolest modern Star Wars ships

[@Drrolfski]

Doug Chiang, you should definitely do a ship design job for the game Star Citizen.

[@theNewLegoStudiosP]

I saw also in R1 they did so different looking designs first, and slowly got back to more OT like designs. I think that fits for R1, but for TFA... I mean, it's 32 years later, and X-wings look almost the same...

[@CheeseLord]

I went to a signing of the art book! Coolest piece of work ever.

[@Cmmdre977]

Rogue one really was the renaissance of Star Wars aesthetics. It perfected the stormtrooper armor that’s been used ever since as wel as standardizing the look of all imperial bases, crates, armor, ships and weapons going forward. Like honestly almost every if not every imperial base or asset we’ve seen since has been inspired in some way by Rogue One It just feels like Rogue One took more care to design armor, weapons, ships and environments that fit perfectly into Star Wars while also offering something completely new. The U-Wing looks nothing like any of the other rebel ships and yet it looks like it was ripped straight out of the original trilogy

[@tmseh]

So fricking cool.

[@FreddyB41]

A lot of these are really good and would like to see them introduced into canon in some form. Lots of these are just so cool looking and so gritty and show us what a western-space opera would look like.

[@juliancheemy5157]

Isn't it crazy how like 20 or so x-wings and Rey/Finn/chewie/Han could destroy the entire StarKiller Base and it took tons of calamari ships and multiple squadrons of the rebellion fleet and so many soldiers just to get the Death Star plans.......Rogue One was just much more realistic. I mean seriously ? About 20+ X-Wings and a few fellas blowing up the entire starkiller base is a bit too much for me

[@normietwiceremoved]

about 5 x wings, 5 y wings taking out a death star? INCONCEIVABLE!

[@SilverandCold1x]

*25 X-wings, 7 Y-wings.

[@illuminaticomfirmed6948]

Actually it was about 40 starfighters and one fancy force sensitive

[@Testtube27]

YoyoFactory Julian I know right! Imagine if in a New Hope the huge Death Star was blown up by just a handful of X-Wings! That would be .......oh wait

[@eMeMpl]

It's almost like the Death Star was sabotaged by the designer of the superlaser and the Alliance had complete technical readout allowing them to exploit the weakness!

[@oscarhe9955]

I like how they base the ships on letters XD

[@marknava321]

The U-Wing, is without a doubt, my new favorite infantry ship!

[@luisduarte4027]

súper!!! fabulous the u-wing

[@sharko4093]

I personally believe the U-wing to be my favorite ship from star wars since it serves the same role as the UH-1 huey which is my favorite helicopter.

[@Aurik-Kal-Durin]

About time the Rebels got their own troop transport/gunship type vehicle... the Republic has the LAAT/i Gunship, the CIS has the Droid Gunship, the Empire has their Lambda-Class and Sentinel-Class Shuttles... and now the Rebels have the U-Wing.

[@AgnosticProle]

For Mike, I miss you bro best friends 4ever♡

[@DEATH2thaSTUpid]

thanks to you Doug Chiang. i have thousands of dollars of your designs in my house...hats of to you sir.

[@DJKento]

not even a single mention of the wings opening, who came up with that idea, how it changed the profile of the ship...

[@SkepticalChris]

In my humble personal opinion the U-Wing's vast wingspan gives it such a big profile to be hit. It greatly increases its surface area for no practical purpose as the shape of the craft is not as affected by atmospheric flight as you would think. It a fighter like the A-Wing could fly without two massive wings foldout out, then the U-Wing doesn't need them either. the design is just too big for its own good, and though it looks fancy, its also so much more of a larger target than it has to be.

[@stangundam01]

personally I'd like to see an x-wing version made of an adv y-wing with the bodies of b-wings for the x-attack formation of the ship, it'd be epic

[@YavorM-Yash]

There's one thing that really bugs me in the ship, and I've noticed it since I first saw it, is that there's no enough space in the wings for landing gear to get in.

[@btr003]

did we need a video explaining this? everyone knows how they came up with the concept. "Hmm... what letter haven't we used yet? U? That'll work."

[@ianbaker672]

step 1: draw a U step 2: profit

[@mayozilla]

thanks for u-wing, is a grate space-ship

[@otavio8566]

how to make a ship in star wars: 1: pick a letter in the alphabet 2: build a ship around it 3: ????? 4: profit

[@neofulcrum5013]

Incredible ship

[@darthvader6845]

When I saw U wing for the first time I really hated it, but now I really love it

[@tlmguedes]

I think the U-wing looks much cooler than the X-wing, but now that I saw the previous design for the U-wing, I see it could look even cooler. The former desing was awesome. I hope we will get such a ship later in the new canon universe...

[@KnightsAndDarths]

Kotor swoop bikes look just like it. Gareth Edwards is such a Star Wars nerd and he never played Knights of The Old Republic?

[@YarcoTV]

Rogue One is my favourite Star Wars movie after The Empire Strikes Back and Revenge of the Sith.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

It's right up there!!

[@paulproductions9213]

like the inicial desing best with the cocpit on one side of the U and the crew sits and upper gun at the other.

[@JelliThePilot]

I love that it's like a Huey. If I had the money I'd totally buy the toy.

[@jing713]

I'm not sure the U wing is as iconic as the X wing / Millennium Falcon, but it does look good.

[@hayescamp]

Any useable left over designs probably got sent over to rebels

[@ThePCguy17]

And then Rogue One, the title ship, was an imperial shuttle.

[@kylemossi]

Just built the Lego U wing it is a very beautiful ship.

[@thomasjoyce7910]

Symmetrical capital letters that haven't been done yet: W, T, O, V and M. Also, sideways E, D, K and C.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

I'm eagerly awaiting the IDK Wing Fighter

[@strikezero01]

the Huey of Rebel Alliance .. what a theme C:

[@Verithiell]

Doug is a legend. U-Wing is one of the ebst looking SW ships imho, ad it captures the spirit of the SW design flawlessly. The whole visual design of R1 is excellent. I hope it will be a trend for upcoming SW movies. Sadly episode VII wasnt nearly as good, it looked almost like the old, cheap SW knock-off movies.

[@TheLeatheryman]

Great ship! It's as if this ship really existed and the force eventually lead DC and the gang to the final version. Now, if we can see more of Krennic's shuttle, that'd be great!