PEOPLE has turned its spotlight on filmmaker, producer, and lifelong collector Dan Lanigan, host of The Saga Vault, the new YouTube series bringing viewers inside some of the world’s most significant Star Wars collections.
The feature traces Dan’s collecting journey from his first Kenner toys at age seven to a collection that now includes Star Wars memorabilia and screen used props from films including Blade Runner, Indiana Jones, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. It also reveals the treasure that has eluded him for three decades: one of the original stop motion AT-AT models created for The Empire Strikes Back.
But the story is about much more than rare objects.
Dan describes collectors as “armchair archivists,” preserving pieces of personal, cinematic, and cultural history. That belief is shared deeply at Rancho Obi Wan, where every artifact offers another way to understand how Star Wars was created, experienced, marketed, and embraced around the world.
Through The Saga Vault, Dan brings together renowned collectors including Rancho Obi Wan founder Steve Sansweet, Vic Wertz, Gus Lopez, Jimmy Mac McInerney, and Lisa Stevens. The treasures may provide the competition, but the stories, histories, and people behind them give the series its meaning.
The series also offers an early look at the larger vision behind The Saga Museum. By bringing these extraordinary collections together, The Saga Museum aims to create a permanent home where fans can experience an unparalleled record of Star Wars history in one place.
Read the full feature in PEOPLE, then watch The Saga Vault on the Cinema Relics YouTube channel and discover the stories behind the treasures.