Page 32 - South Mississippi Living - June, 2019

PEOPLE coast character
story by Jeff Clark photos courtesy of Ben Hart
Force is strong with Pascagoula native Ben Hart.
So strong, in fact, that he’s become something of a legend in the “Star Wars Universe.” Hart, 27, is the
founder of The Star Wars Underworld, a popular Star Wars website and podcast that is very well-known throughout the galaxy. Well, maybe the galaxy is
too vast, but The Star Wars Underworld is a go-to spot online for fans of the film franchise and all that it encompasses.
“It really just started as me as a teenager
being bored and going online. That was my first introduction to Star Wars fans,” he said. “Eventually,
I started a Facebook page because I just wanted to talk about Star Wars. This was in 2010 and it just blew up
from there. We launched the website about a year later – starwarsundnerworld.com. It was like this snowball effect
– I wanted to see how far we could take it and now we’re here. We tape the show Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and it also streams live online.”
Hart said his first love in the Star Wars Universe wasn’t necessarily even one of the films. Instead, it was an obsession with the animated series The Clone Wars, which takes place before the events of the film Revenge of The Sith. But the purchase of the Star Wars properties by Disney changed Hart’s path and the path of The Star Wars Underworld forever.
“The show got me into Star Wars more than I had ever
32 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • June 2019
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