Star Wars Day

• 1. Introduction

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  Star Wars Day falls on the 4th of May every year, and it exists entirely because of a pun. "May the Fourth be with you" echoes the franchise's famous blessing, "May the Force be with you," and that single wordplay has grown into a global informal holiday. What began without any declaration from Lucasfilm became something the company and the Walt Disney Company eventually embraced as their own annual event. How did a pun first recorded in a British newspaper advertisement turn into astronauts watching science fiction films aboard the International Space Station? And who decided that the villains deserved their own day too?

• 2. The Pun That Started It

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  The first recorded use of "May the Fourth Be with You" as a calendar date appeared not in a cinema or a fan club, but in a political advertisement. On Thursday the 3rd of May, 1979, the day of the United Kingdom general election, the Conservative Party purchased a half-page advertisement on page 13 of the London Evening News. The message read: "Dear Maggie, May the Fourth Be with You. Your Party Workers." Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister that same evening.

  The phrase kept surfacing in British public life after that. A UK Parliament defence debate invoked it on the 4th of May, 1994. Astrophysicist and author Jeanne Cavelos used it on page 94 of her 1999 book The Science of Star Wars, anchoring it in print as a cultural touchstone.

  Television had already picked it up even earlier. In a 1988 episode of Count Duckula titled "The Vampire Strikes Back", a space-faring superhero named Tremendous Terrance asks Duckula the date and is told "May the Fourth". As Terrance departs, he tells everyone below: "May the Fourth be with you."

• 3. Fan-Built Celebrations

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  In 2008, the first Facebook groups appeared celebrating what they called Luke Skywalker Day, using the same catchphrase. The energy was grassroots, decentralized, and entirely fan-driven.

  The first organized in-person celebration came three years later, in 2011, at the Toronto Underground Cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Sean Ward and Alice Quinn produced the event, which included an original trilogy trivia game show, a costume contest with celebrity judges, and a program of tribute films, mash-ups, parodies, and remixes shown on the big screen. The second annual edition followed on Friday the 4th of May, 2012.

  Fans and even government officials joined in. Boris Johnson is among those noted for celebrating Star Wars in social media posts. Sports teams also took part: Major League Baseball, association football clubs, and college sports programs have all paid tribute in various ways. Minor League Baseball teams including the Toledo Mud Hens and the Durham Bulls wore special uniforms as part of Star Wars Day promotions.

  On Star Wars Day 2015, astronauts aboard the International Space Station watched Star Wars. That same year, the carillon bells inside the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada rang out "The Imperial March" theme alongside other space-related tunes.

• 4. Disney Takes the Helm

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  Disney had purchased Lucasfilm, including all rights to Star Wars, in late 2012. Beginning in 2013, The Walt Disney Company officially observed the 4th of May with Star Wars events and festivities at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

  The streaming platform Disney+ became a major vehicle for annual releases tied to the date. The finale of The Clone Wars arrived on Disney+ on the 4th of May, 2020. That same day, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian also became available.

  On Star Wars Day 2021, the animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch premiered on Disney+, joined by the short film Maggie Simpson in "The Force Awakens from Its Nap". The 4th of May, 2022, brought the second trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi and Disney Gallery: The Book of Boba Fett.

  Releases on the 4th of May, 2023, included the second volume of Star Wars: Visions, the short film Maggie Simpson in "Rogue Not Quite One", and Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. That date also marked when Carrie Fisher posthumously received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honor first announced in June 2021.

  In 2024, the second installment of Star Wars: Tales, titled Tales of the Empire, premiered on the 4th of May. A Simpsons short film released on the 10th of May, 2024, was titled "May the 12th Be with You", a play tying the franchise pun to Mother's Day.

• 5. Sith, Sixth, and May 25

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  Not everyone limits their observance to the 4th of May. Some fans recognize the 5th of May as "Revenge of the Fifth", a play on Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, using the date to celebrate Sith Lords and other villainous characters rather than the Jedi heroes.

  Others push it one day further. "Revenge of the Sixth" appeals to those who feel the wordplay lands more cleanly on that date. The 6th of May also goes by "Return of the 6th", a reference to Return of the Jedi and the trilogy structure of the original films.

  May 25 carries its own Star Wars significance entirely. The original Star Wars film opened on the 25th of May, 1977, and on the 30th anniversary of that release, the Los Angeles City Council formally declared the 25th of May, 2007, as Star Wars Day. A separate movement observes Geek Pride Day on May 25, connecting the Star Wars release date to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (via Towel Day) and Discworld. Solo: A Star Wars Story was also released on the 25th of May, 2018, exactly 41 years after the original film opened.