Who could have guessed that a weekly entertainment magazine born at the dawn of The Simpsons and CD-ROMs would go on to become its own cultural touc
Who could have guessed that a weekly entertainment magazine born at the dawn of The Simpsons and CD-ROMs would go on to become its own cultural touchstone?
When Entertainment Weekly launched in 1990, the idea — either revolutionary or delusional, depending on your framing — was to create a up-to-date space in journalism, a publication that didn’t just cover what was up-to-date in movies and television and books and music (streaming was yet but a twinkle of a dream) but lived for it, from every angle. And for the past 35 years, EW has shared one promise with its readers: that we are as incurably curious and passionate and outright obsessive about all of it as they are — every failed sitcom and teen-vampire franchise, spiraling popstar and indie auteur on the verge.
As the industry we cover entered the digital age, so did we — evolving from still print magazine covers to award-winning motion covers. You can actually take a look at every cover EW has produced in the video above. They haven’t all aged well, but each one has a story behind the story, and to celebrate our 35th anniversary we’re sharing just a few of them from over the years.
k.d. lang on Entertainment Weekly.
First cover: k.d. lang
Feb. 16, 1990
In 1990, VCRs were balmy, grunge was about to pop, and letter grades were issued only in schools. Along came a feisty PEOPLE spin-off to offer careful pop culture curation and savvy reporting. Behold EW’s first cover, starring up-and-coming singer k.d. lang. “I’m proud of featuring lang on that cover precisely because she was more talented than known,” EW’s creator/first managing editor, Jeff Jarvis said in 2015. “She set her own path, and so did we.”
‘Twin Peaks’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Fall TV Preview
Sept. 14, 1990
Though it wasn’t technically EW’s first preview cover (that would be “Summer’s Hottest Tours” in June), “What’s Hot on Fall TV” established the template for the magazine’s encyclopedic Preview franchises for TV, Movie, Music, and Books. This was also EW’s second cover on Twin Peaks; the first featured David Lynch in April. We championed cult hits from the start, and would continue to venture into places both wonderful and strange.
Arsenio Hall on Entertainment Weekly.
Arsenio Hall
April 17, 1992
Ever the entertainer, Arsenio Hall made headlines as a late-night contender — and with this cover — clearly eager to challenge incoming Tonight Show host Jay Leno. His chest-thumping proclamation (which, by the way, was the very last thing that Hall uttered in his interview with then writer Mark Harris) did not exactly play out as he predicted, but it was sensational enough to be parodied on The Larry Sanders Show.
The ‘Seinfeld’ cast on Entertainment Weekly.
Seinfeld
April 9, 1993
The show allegedly about nothing mastered our domain (nope, not that way) and prompted so much punchline-swapping chatter in our hallways that we felt that it was (sponge-)worthy of being on the cover eight times. Our first venture with the Neurotic Four still ranks as our favorite: A deadpan photo of Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer that winked at the album cover for Meet the Beatles! That’s bold, Jerry! Bold!
John Travolta on Entertainment Weekly.
John Travolta
Oct. 21, 1994
With Pulp Fiction, John Travolta boogied his way back into pop culture relevance and onto his first of eight EW covers. “I am proud of my ability to keep my feet on the ground when the balloons are ready to take me up,” said Travolta, who greeted then writer Jeff Gordinier at his Maine mansion by popping out of a trapdoor in the floor of his son’s playroom. “I’m anchored.”
Entertainment Weekly celebrates the Gay ’90s.
The Gay ’90s
April 17, 1995
EW’s commitment to covering Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ community began here. “It was done over the objections of some at [then parent company] Time Inc., who feared it would be alienating to our readers,” said Mark Harris in 2021. “We got a bunch of ‘don’t force your lifestyle on us’ mail. And cancellations. We got more mail saying, ‘I needed this so much.'”
‘Wild Wild West’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Wild Wild West
July 9, 1999
Not all EW covers were celebrations of pop culture. In fact, this one corralled the bad buzz on the Will Smith-Salma Hayek steampunk Western. Then corpo-cousin Warner Bros. was so irate with our less-than-glossy coverage that then writer Benjamin Svetkey was barred from visiting the studio’s sets for a year. “I wore it as a badge of honor,” says Svetkey. A sheriff’s badge, even.
‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Oct. 1, 1999
Before TV recaps became ubiquitous online, fans turned to EW’s Ultimate Viewer’s Guides, such as this deep dive into Sunnydale — featuring reviews of all 56 episodes to date, an A-to-Z guide to the Buffyverse (M is for “Mr. Pointy”!), and interviews with the men and women behind the scenes who made Sunnydale shine, from special effects to casting to stunts. (Sarah Michelle Gellar has graced seven covers in all.)
The Chicks on Entertainment Weekly.
James White for EW
The Chicks
May 2, 2003
Long before “cancel culture” entered the lexicon, the country superstars felt the wrath of a nation scorned. After singer Natalie Maines criticized then president George W. Bush, radio yanked the Chicks’ music, album sales fell, and proto-trolls spewed hate at the band. One month later, the band (now known as the Chicks) broke their silence in EW. The cover concept was their idea. Summed up Maines: “We’re not defined by who we are anymore. Other people are doing that for us.”
‘Twilight’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Twilight
July 18, 2008
EW’s first Twilight cover (shot before footage was available) was a “leap of faith,” says former editor Jeff Giles. But fans of Stephenie Meyer’s YA books drank it up: “I knew the issue was a hit when I read online that it had sold out in Barnes & Nobles all over Texas.” We ended up doing a few more Twilight covers, as you may recall.
‘The Hills’ on Entertainment Weekly.
The Hills
Aug. 8, 2008
“I go through phases where I wake up in the middle of the night and I think I’m being filmed,” Lauren Conrad told EW. “That’s when I have to take a vacation.” Naturally, we recreated her nightmare for a cover. Speaking of, this line from the piece (written by Tim Stack) still makes us crack up 14 years later: “Heidi and Spencer declined to be interviewed for this story once they learned Lauren was on the cover.”
‘Gone Girl’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Gone Girl
Jan. 17, 2014
Director David Fincher offered to shoot this cover on Gone Girl (based on a novel by former EW writer Gillian Flynn). He provided editors with only one image and an edict that it should not be cropped. (Luckily, it was perfect.) Fincher shot the cover in Los Angeles, during a break in production on the movie — and yes, he knew some fans would probably interpret the image as a major spoiler.
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele on Entertainment Weekly.
Key & Peele
Oct. 3, 2014
EW had turned over its pages to crafty guest editors before (hey, Tina and Amy!), but none took it as seriously as Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, who brimmed with artistic story suggestions as well as a comedy syllabus. In their editors’ letter, they wrote: “When we were asked to guest-edit Entertainment Weekly, we peed a little.” So did we — there wasn’t a dehydrated pant leg in the house.
‘The Walking Dead’ on Entertainment Weekly.
The Walking Dead
Feb. 13, 2015
The substantial, tasty brains at EW have put the zombie hit and its spinoffs on the cover 12 times. (That’s a lot of blood to pair with our sweat and tears.) Former photo editor Michele Romero made a T-shirt for Norman Reedus to wear for his inside portrait during the shoot for cover No. 4. It was so compelling, EW held onto the shot and used it instead for cover No. 5!
Laverne Cox on Entertainment Weekly.
Laverne Cox
June 19, 2015
The Orange Is the New Black star helped launch EW’s annual LGBTQ+ issue — and looked damn good doing it. Photographer Alexei Hay transformed Laverne Cox into Lady Liberty for the shoot, and while the actress was a bit nervous about the concept (“I initially didn’t think it would work”), she thought the outcome was magnifique: “It just turned out to be amazing. I really love it.”
Kit Harington on Entertainment Weekly.
Kit Harington
May 13, 2016
Game of Thrones was an EW staple in the 2010s, (King’s) landing on our cover 10 times. But the Kit-Harington-speaks-after-the-Jon-Snow-twist! scoop required months of secrecy — and even a decoy cover story to throw off our own staff. (Sorry, Channing Tatum.) Recalls then writer James Hibberd: “After two years of worldwide deception, Harington was like a man in a confessional, so relieved at being able to unburden himself — and he never seemed more like the principled Jon Snow.”
The ‘Dawson’s Creek’ reunion on Entertainment Weekly.
Entertainment Weekly
EW reunions: Dawson’s Creek
We never wanted to bid farewell to the projects we loved, so we plunged into denial and created the Reunions franchise. (Given the revival mania to come, the industry felt similarly.) Over the years, EW reconvened the casts of Arrested Development, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Do the Right Thing, Clueless, Family Matters, and more. The reaction to our reunion of Dawson’s Creek, whose cast first hit our cover in 1998? [Insert Van Der Beek crying meme]
‘Crazy Rich Asians’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Entertainers of the Year
Dec. 7, 2018
Staff debates were hottest when choosing the Entertainers of the Year. Here, the leading ladies of Crazy Rich Asians shared EOY honors with Cardi B, The Assassination of Gianni Versace star Darren Criss, and the glorious women of Black Panther. Noted Lupita Nyong’o of Panther’s female characters, “Their personal motivations are what leads them forward. They are not eye candy. Although we do look pretty damn fly, I must say!”
‘Black Panther’ mask on Entertainment Weekly.
Oscar: Black Panther
Feb. 1/8, 2019
With our Oscars issue going to press the same day that nominations were announced, two covers were mocked up, with and without Black Panther. The year before, former artistic director Tim Leong had commissioned photography of a slew of Marvel props, including the Black Panther mask. Staring at a photo of the mask, then deputy design director Faith Stafford suggested that we dress up this potent prop with a bow tie. Stark and stylish.
Taylor Swift on Entertainment Weekly.
Taylor Swift
May 17/24, 2019
“I did an actual interview with a human journalist!!” Tay tweeted, thanking then EW music editor Alex Suskind for “such a wonderful experience.” The singer talked up her up-to-date album, Lover, and worked with staffers on the Easter-egg wealthy button choices for her jacket. Each represented one of her favorite things, including Friends, Selena Gomez, Mr. Rogers, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
First motion cover: Spider-Man: No Way Home
July 1, 2019
Just like the webslinger it highlights, EW covers mutated into the digital age with this, our first digital motion cover.
“I wanted to do something fun, which mostly meant doing something scary. Trying new things. Things that we weren’t sure would work,” Shana Naomi Krochmal, then EW’s digital director, says of spearheading the evolution. “When I started talking about the possibility, it was a lot of explaining: both internally with skeptical colleagues and externally with skeptical publicists. ‘What is it?’ A motion portrait intended to stop the constant social media scroll, attracting readers who may never pick up a print copy. ‘How are you going to pull this off?’ With high-res video cameras and storyboards and a lot of trial and error.”
Grant Gustin as the Flash on Entertainment Weekly.
Carlos Serrao for EW
First monthly cover: The Arrowverse’s Superstars
What was the biggest change in Entertainment Weekly history? No, it wasn’t capping the E in our logo in 1992, it was going monthly in 2019. But we kept up the same level of superhero fascination and launched the up-to-date EW with five active Arrowverse covers. Flash forward a few years, and we’re still going for the gusto. (And Gustin.)
Schitt’s Creek
March 25, 2020
Krochmal says her “two favorite big bets” were our first Dune cover, “shot at magic hour on an island off Venice (and then later remixed by fans into a telenovela promo, my absolute fave fan-cam of our work),” and “of course my beloved Schitt’s Creek. For the big wedding finale, we worked closely with Dan Levy to choose three classic romance moments on screen — Casablanca, and Notting Hill, and Sixteen Candles — and then reimagined them with Levy and costar Noah Reid. The three covers felt as joyous and queer as the show we were covering.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars
June 11, 2020
Continuing to produce covers during a global pandemic provided unique challenges. Photo director Alison Wild recalls getting her nose swabbed next to Timothée Chalamet for that aforementioned 2021 Dune cover, and Charlize Theron added “magazine cover producer” to her resumé while promoting The Old Guard. (Thanks @EW for letting me run around my backyard with a camera,” she tweeted at the time. “My kids are now expert lighting designers, so long as sparklers are involved.”)
But to capture footage of RuPaul and the 10 queens competing on Drag Race All-Stars season 5 during the most strict lockdown era, EW had to strategized how to source, ship, and support the All-Stars set up lighting and backgrounds wherever they were sheltering at home.
“It was a time of so many unknowns, so it was really nice to have a creative problem to pour our energy into,” says director Carly Usdin, who produced the cover with their spouse, photographer Robin Roemer. “Looking back, I really think this project helped keep me and my wife sane. I’m proud of what we were able to do given the constraints. I’m endlessly grateful to the queens for bringing it to life…. It really helped that drag queens are uniquely positioned in the world of entertainment to be people who can do their own hair, makeup, wardrobe.”
Viola Davis on Entertainment Weekly.
Oscars 2021
May 2021
We’ve obsessed over the Oscars since our first preview in 1990. Decades later, director Regina King and nominees Viola Davis and Chloé Zhao led a historic race. Davis, nominated for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, shared her favorite Oscars memory to date: “Getting dressed in 2017, when I won [for Fences]. I got dressed at home, and my mom saw me in the red Armani dress that I had on, and she wept.”
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ on Entertainment Weekly.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
April 2022
A wise man in a galaxy far, far away once said, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” He lives on — via his Disney+ prequel series, and as the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s final subscriber print issue. Oh, and if you want to read about the time star Ewan McGregor lost Obi-Wan’s lightsaber, just click here.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
April 11, 2023
They say it’s an honor to be nominated, but damn winning feels good. EW’s digital covers were first recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors in 2023, when our cover for The Boys season 3 won the ASME for Best Entertainment and Celebrity Cover.
‘That Boys cover was the first one where we really committed to the plan that each cover would tell a story, not just be a moving photo like a portrait in Harry Potter,” says EW’s head of video, Kristen Harding, who alongside Wild has co-directed almost every EW cover shoot since late 2022. “That win was fuel to keep pushing ourselves.”
Most times EW presents a few concepts to talent and we proceed with a shoot from there, but the Maisel team actually brought this “iconic duos” concept to us as we planned to celebrate the Prime Video’s finale. From there, the EW team came up with more than a dozen duos for stars Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein to embody.
“Narrowing down which ones would be most recognizable from the costumes — and that gave the talent something to do — was the hardest part,” says Wild. (The Office’s Michael and Dwight, The Flintstone’s Wilma and Betty, Absolutely Fabulous’ Idina and Patsy, Wayne’s World’s Wayne and Garth, Jersey Shore’s Snooki and JWoww, were just a few that didn’t make the cut.)
“Well,” Wild reconsiders, “the actual hardest part was all the jump cuts to make it seem like one continuous take. Nothing on set could get knocked or moved, which of course didn’t happen.”
But, hey, it still won us the 2024 ASME for Cover of the Year!
House of the Dragon
March 14, 2024
Sometimes things are meant to be. We initially thought of a chess theme for our Dune: Part Two cover. But just days after that didn’t work out, we were presented with the option of shooting Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke for House of the Dragon season 2.
Positioning the two onscreen queens as queen chess pieces was too good to pass up. And since we pay attention to detail here at EW, we wanted their their chess moves to reflect an actual game. To accomplish that, we wanted to turn to our resident chess champion… but we don’t have one on staff, so we recruited Chase Hall, brother of EW editorial director Gerrad Hall.
“We gave him a lot of parameters and he knocked it out of the park,” says Wild. “We only had the budget to 3-D print a certain number of pieces, so it had to be mid-game, only the queens could move, and it had to end in check after just a few moves. Plus, he had to factor in camera positioning.” You may also notice Cooke’s queen is protecting her king (representing her character Alicent’s son Aegon), while D’Arcy is supported by a 6-ft. knight piece modeled by her character Rhaenyra’s dragon, Syrax.
We were thrilled with the end result, as were fans, who went as far to stalk Wild’s Instagram stories, using her behind-the-scenes details of the chess play as “confirmation” that the moves represented what was to play out on the HBO hit.
As for that Syrax piece, it now sits outside our editor-in-chief Patrick Gomez’s office in Los Angeles, right next to the giant thread spool from our recent Project Runway cover shoot.
“We’re starting a whole menagerie,” says Gomez. “We’re turning into hoarders, and I’m okay with it.”
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