Set decorator Lee Sandales is the sixteenth guest confirmed as attending Thank the Maker, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, at St Swithun’s School in Winchester, Hampshire on October 17th, 2026.
Lee joins previously announced guests including ILM visual effects professional Claudio Bassi, electronic design and development supervisor Matt Denton, visual effects supervisor Marcus Dryden, vice president of visual effects at Lucasfilm TJ Falls, comic artist Duncan Fegredo, Andor’s lead graphic designer Barry Gingell, editor Col Goudie, Andor’s season 2 graphic designer Tereza Hudkova, senior animatronics designer Josh Lee, VFX supervisor Mohen Leo, Andor’s visual effects supervisor Scott Pritchard, graphics designer Dominic Sikking, Lucasfilm’s vice president of physical production Adam Teeuw, hand props and weapons painter Rut Villamagna and property master Jamie Wilkinson.
Lee Sandales is an award-winning British Set Decorator whose remarkable career has helped shape the worlds of some of the most celebrated films of the past three decades.
Beginning his career in the art department in the 1990s, Sandales worked across productions including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Golden Compass, before progressing to become a Set Decorator on major international productions.
His impressive filmography includes War Horse (2011), Maleficent (2014), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), 1917 (2019), The Batman (2022), Wonka (2023) and Wicked (2024).
For Rogue One, Sandales was responsible for the film’s set decoration, working alongside Production Designers Doug Chiang and Neil Lamont. Among his many contributions was the painstaking recreation of the Rebel Alliance briefing room on Yavin 4. With no surviving original drawings or blueprints for the iconic table from A New Hope, Sandales and his team undertook an extraordinarily detailed forensic study of photographs and footage from the original film to recreate it down to the smallest details.
His work on Rogue One earned him recognition from the Art Directors Guild and British Film Designers Guild, with the production winning the BFDG Award for Best Production Design for an International Studio Feature Film.
Sandales subsequently received an Academy Award nomination and BAFTA nomination for 1917, winning the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design alongside Production Designer Dennis Gassner in 2020.
In 2025, Sandales reached the pinnacle of his profession when Wicked won the Academy Award for Best Production Design, making him an Oscar-winning Set Decorator. The film also earned Sandales his second BAFTA win for Production Design.
From recreating the original Rebel Alliance headquarters in Rogue One to constructing the spectacular world of Oz in Wicked, Lee Sandales’ career demonstrates the extraordinary craft, research and attention to detail that sits behind some of cinema’s most memorable worlds.
Lee Sandales will be appearing as a special guest at Thank The Maker this October, celebrating 10 years of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
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