Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (later released as Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner, produced by Gary Kurtz, and written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, with George Lucas writing the films story and serving as executive producer. Of the six main Star Wars films, it was the second to be released and the fifth in terms of internal chronology.