The force has been strong with Tim McDonagh ever since he created the first edition of Star Wars – Galactic Atlas back in 2016. An expansive visual guide to the many worlds of the beloved sci-fi franchise. The book explored iconic locations and delved into the backstories of characters from the then-new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, alongside the original six films that began with Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope in 1977.
With meticulous detail, Tim illustrated characters, spacecraft, planets, moons, pivotal battlegrounds, and major events from across the saga. The result was a rich collection of maps and diagrams - a true superfan’s “Where’s Wally?”-style deep dive into the Star Wars universe.
Ten years on, the galaxy has grown significantly. Since 2016, Disney has completed the sequel trilogy (Episodes VII–IX), released anthology films such as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story, and launched a wave of live-action and animated series including The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi. Clearly, it was time for an update.
Work on the new edition began in summer 2023 and culminated in autumn 2025. The updated book features seven brand-new maps alongside revised originals, all rendered in Tim’s signature intricate style, faithfully capturing the latest characters and locations. Not sure how to spot a Loth-cat or identify a Zillo Beast? This atlas might just save your life.
The franchise’s expansion into animated storytelling under Disney also introduced a bold, highly stylised visual language - one that could challenge any artist tasked with unifying it alongside live-action films. Not so for Tim, whose reinterpretations seamlessly bring animated and live-action characters together in a cohesive, unified style.
This project fulfilled a lifelong ambition for Tim:
It was such a thrill to revisit one of my most memorable projects to date and be able to expand on it in this way. There’s so much new material out there now compared to the original launch of the Galactic Atlas, and being able to dive back into it all made me fall in love again with the stories that meant so much to me growing up. What makes this one especially meaningful is the illustration itself. It’s quite an unusual way of working for me, so returning to these maps was a challenge — but in all the best ways. So often I felt like a kid again, drawing battles between X-wings and TIE fighters. Hopefully I’ve improved a bit since then.
Tim McDonagh - a big Star Wars fan in year 6
Special thanks go to Maddox, Head of Design at Studio Press, for once again commissioning Tim to bring the galaxy far, far away to life.
