Production Designer Kevin Jenkins: ‘I loved the simplicity’ of Colin’s Y-Wing
Production designer Kevin Jenkins has a wide range of credits across his 20-year career in art departments, physical production, art direction, and visual effects. They include the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Guardians of the Galaxy, Steven Spielberg’s 2011 war drama War Horse, Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion, and the zombie film World War Z. Before that, he was an award-winning illustrator with 30+ years of art and design across torytelling, games, advertising, and book jackets.
And, of course, he can put multiple Star Wars projects on his resume, including the 2024 Disney+ series The Acolyte, for which he designed the world for a new timeline in the franchise’s TV and film history, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, where he served as production designer, and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, a movie that earned him Lucasfilm’s first Design Supervisor credit for his on-set and post-production design work.
‘I loved the simplicity and its very retro Cold War era feel’
In Phil Szostak’s 2020 book Art of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Kevin talks about borrowing from the past when designing the new version of the Y-Wing Fighter used by the Resistance during the film’s climactic battle. “I’ve always loved Colin Cantwell’s Y-Wing, which Ralph McQuarrie put in his paintings—the very retro version,” he said. “So I took that one but wanted to evolve it, and it’s a bit more elegant.”
When I asked him why he chose Colin’s Y-Wing design, he replied: “I loved the simplicity and its very retro Cold War era feel to the design. As the sequel trilogy was following the design analogy set by the original trilogy, adapting the first Y-wing design seemed in keeping with that.”
Colin actually created two versions of the Y-Wing, as shown below, and when I asked Kevin if the second one also had any influence on his design choices, he replied: “The nose: it reminded me of a Sabre and an early MiG with the air intake at the front. It’s what started the process of going in a more rounded direction.”
The first influence
Colin’s Y-Wing that was a primary influence on Kevin’s Episode IX work. (Click to buy in our store.)
The second influence
This model by Colin also played a role in Kevin’s design choices.
(Click to buy in our store.)
‘[Colin’s] design sensibilities in ships are always a subconscious influence’
While none of Colin’s designs came into play with his work on The Acolyte, Kevin noted that “his design sensibilities in ships are always a subconscious influence.”
Asked about his first encounter with Colin’s work, he replied: “My first knowledge of Colin’s work was seeing the prototype models. I can distinctly remember the X-Wing and being fascinated by the difference between the onscreen versions and his, the dragster, the perfect X, the clinical look. I knew about the models, but it was much later, when I was older, that I started to look into who Colin Cantwell was. When I joined ILM/Lucasfilm as a designer, I found out all about him in detail while working on The Force Awakens.”
Like many of us, Kevin has been a Star Wars fan since childhood. He recalled: “I first saw Star Wars opening week in the UK, which was February 1978. It was the first week of the film being shown on Wednesday night. As a ’space’ fan brought up on Star Trek and Space: 1999, it was like nothing I had ever seen before.
“I first knew about Star Wars from a UK TV show called Tomorrow’s World. They showed the making of the special effects at the then-embryonic ILM: models being blown up, the Dystraflex camera, and the blue screens. As a child, I loved the Flash Gordon adventure, but I was also fascinated by the behind-the-scenes. That was my passion.”
Kevin says of his current career: “I recently designed a fantastic project with director Louis Letterier, a Quatermass 50s paranoia type story. Plus, I’m looking at other projects I can’t discuss at this time. Sadly, no spaceships to do right now.”