We’ll see the new Star Wars movie. Of course we’ll see it. Dark Rey! Folding dual-bladed lightsabers! More porgs (or not)! But here’s the worst-kept secret in the galaxy: Star Wars hasn’t been about the movies in a long time. In the 42 years since Luke watched twin suns set on his moisture-farming boyhood, the franchise has gone supernova, expanding every which way. And not just to the obvious places (games, TV, toys). There are costuming guilds. Cookbooks. Fan cons. VR immersions. Endless behind-the-scenes ephemera. Even billion-dollar theme parks. So, in the following articles, three writers—two resident superfans and a novelist—travel to the outer edges of the Star Wars storyverse, where they survey the true scene.
More on the Expanded Universe
Words by Meghan Herbst / Illustrations by Violet Reed
Wookieepedia has more than 150,000 entries.
Kanye West modeled a prototype for a low-income housing project on Luke’s childhood home (but he lacked a permit and was shut down).
The Star Wars canon has 59 original novels; expanded-universe tomes number in the hundreds, with nearly 100 contributing authors.
Rey and Kylo started popping up frequently on birth certificates in 2016, but Luke remains the most popular Star Wars name, surging 636 percent in the rankings since 1977.
There are more than 45,000 fan-generated Star Wars stories on the literary fandom hub FanFiction.net. The four most popular are “Vader redemption fic.”
The 12,000 members of the 501st Legion—the cosplay organization that also calls itself Vader’s Fist—spend about 200,000 hours a year doing charity work.
The soon-to-open Rise of the Resistance ride at Galaxy’s Edge will be at least 15 minutes long.
Lucasfilm’s VR wing, ILMxLAB, partnered with Oculus to launch Vader Immortal in May, a three-part VR game for the new Quest headset.
Star Wars Celebration, the official fan festival, attracted about 65,000 people this year. Two of the four days for the 2020 event are already sold out.
In 2017, Lego unveiled the Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon. With 7,541 pieces, it’s the largest (and, at $800, most expensive) Lego set ever sold.
If you want to craft your own lightsaber at Galaxy’s Edge, reserve 20 minutes and $200.
About 800 pieces of Star Wars merch can be purchased at Disney’s online store, from TIE Fighter-printed shoes to Death Star picnic blankets.
Le Creuset released a nine-piece collection of Star Wars-themed cookware this year, including a Han Solo Carbonite Signature Roaster.
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