George Lucas campaigned for one particular performance in The Empire Strikes Back to be nominated for an Academy Award, but sadly it was not meant to be. The Empire Strikes Back is widely regarded as the best installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, if not the entire Skywalker saga. It elevated the ground-breaking narrative and cinematic techniques pioneered by the first Star Wars film later retitled A New Hope and changed everything we thought we knew about Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and, most of all, the Force.