Star Wars Epic Adventures: The Empire Strikes Back was a planned illustrated storybook, spanning ninety-six pages, by the writer S.T. Bende. It was intended to be an adaptation of the events from the 1980 movie bearing the same title. Sandvik Publishing was set to release the book as a part of the Star Wars Epic Adventures monthly subscription series in 2019, but its release was ultimately canceled due to the series' discontinuation after only two months.
The illustrated storybook, The Empire Strikes Back, was authored by S.T. Bende and designed to adapt the 1980 film of the same name from the original trilogy. It was scheduled for publication as part of Star Wars Epic Adventures, a monthly subscription book series by Sandvik Publishing in cooperation with Disney–Lucasfilm Press. The narrative perspective of the book was to be that of the protocol droid C-3PO. The book would have incorporated tie-in informational flashcards, also written by Bende, for the Star Wars Epic Adventures: Galactic Profiles series. S.T. Bende collaborated with Cynthia Stierle, the editorial director at Sandvik Publishing, while working on The Empire Strikes Back and other materials for the Epic Adventures series.
Bende expressed that The Empire Strikes Back was among her most cherished Star Wars projects. She particularly enjoyed writing for Luke Skywalker, the Jedi trainee. As part of the book's development, Bende traveled to Norway, the original filming location for the Battle of Hoth sequence. She characterized this trip as a "dream come true."
The Epic Adventures series commenced in May 2019, but its run was cut short following the release of the initial two subscription boxes. Consequently, all subsequent titles, including The Empire Strikes Back, were never published.