Star Wars Insider

• 1. Introduction

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  Star Wars Insider began not as a magazine but as the official publication of The Lucasfilm Fan Club, launched in 1987. For decades, it served as the primary printed connection between the Star Wars franchise and its most devoted followers. The questions worth asking about it are not just what it covered, but how it changed hands so many times, why it outlasted so many competitors, and what finally brought it to a close after 237 issues.

• 2. From Fan Club to Newsstand

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  1987 marked the debut of what would become one of the longest-running licensed entertainment magazines in print. It started life as the official magazine of The Lucasfilm Fan Club, covering issues 1 through 22 under that banner. The name Star Wars Insider arrived with issue 23, published by Fantastic Media. The rename in 1994 was timed to coincide with the release of Star Wars: TIE Fighter, hitching the rebrand to a moment of renewed franchise energy. From there, the title passed through Wizards of the Coast for issues 51 through 61, then to Paizo Publishing for issues 62 through 76, then to IDG Entertainment for issues 77 through 92.

• 3. The Titan Era

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  At Star Wars Celebration IV, the magazine relaunched under the banner of Titan Magazines, the publisher that would carry it to its final issue. Titan took over at issue 93 and held the title through issue 237. The UK had its own Star Wars Magazine until 2007, when Titan absorbed it into Star Wars Insider, merging the two publications. Germany followed a different path entirely. The German market was served by its own licensed publication, Star Wars -- Das offizielle Magazin, which ran quarterly rather than bi-monthly and drew heavily on articles and short stories taken directly from Star Wars Insider. The last editor of the magazine was Jonathan Wilkins.

• 4. What Was Inside

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  Beyond news and previews, Star Wars Insider maintained a section called "Bantha Tracks" that was created entirely by the fans. The magazine ran fan fiction, short stories, excerpts from comics and books, interviews, and a question-and-answer column. Humor was a consistent thread. The now-defunct "Dear 2-1B" column gave the magazine a recurring comic voice. Advertising appeared throughout, covering both Star Wars merchandise and non-Star Wars products, alongside a catalog of franchise items. In February 2021, the magazine reached its 200th issue, a milestone that marked nearly 34 years of continuous publication.

• 5. The Final Chapter

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  On the 10th of November 2025, it was announced that Star Wars Insider would end with issue 237, scheduled for release in early 2026. The announcement closed out a run that had stretched across seven publishers, two name changes, and nearly four decades. The magazine's last section to carry the "Bantha Tracks" name connected the final issue back to the fan-club newsletter that gave the publication its original reason for existing.