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Epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of GaN epilayers on a sapphire substrate was studied by using a laser-patterned graphene interlayer. Monolayer graphene was transferred onto the sapphire substrate using a wet transfer technique, and its quality was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The graphene layer was ablated using a femtosecond laser, which produced well-defined patterns without damaging the underlying sapphire substrate. Different types of patterns were produced for ELO of GaN epilayers: stripe patterns were ablated along the <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mrow><mrow><mo>[</mo><mrow><mover accent="true"><mn>1</mn><mo>¯</mo></mover><mn>100</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></mrow><mrow><mi>sapphire</mi></mrow></msub></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><msub><mrow><mrow><mo>[</mo><mrow><mn>11</mn><mover accent="true"><mn>2</mn><mo>¯</mo></mover><mn>0</mn></mrow><mo>]</mo></mrow></mrow><mrow><mi>sapphire</mi></mrow></msub><mo> </mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> directions, a square island pattern was ablated additionally. The impact of the graphene pattern on GaN nucleation was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The structural quality of GaN epilayers was studied by cathodoluminescence. The investigation shows that the laser-ablated graphene can be integrated into the III-nitride growth process to improve crystal quality.