Here Is The Official 'Star Wars' Timeline, Updated With Different Era Names
In 2015, in the lead up to The Force Awakens, the main Star Wars saga was broken up into three eras. These came to be known as the "Age of Republic," "Age of Rebellion," and "Age of Resistance." All the movies, shows, books, comics, and video games that made up the official canon of Star Wars took place in one of these three periods of time. With the launch of Star Wars: The High Republic from Lucasfilm publishing, as well as The Mandalorian on Disney+, these three eras are no longer enough. Now, Lucasfilm has updated their official timeline as shown in Justina Ireland's High Republic middle-grade novel, A Test of Courage.
The Star Wars timeline is now broken up into six eras: "The High Republic," "Fall of the Jedi," "Reign of the Empire," "Age of Rebellion," "The New Republic," and "Rise of the First Order". Let's break down each of these eras and show where some of Lucasfilm's upcoming projects fit.
The High Republic era is where the new High Republic novels and comics take place. This era takes place around 200 years before the prequel trilogy of movies. The Jedi Order is in its golden age, at the height of their power. There is peace throughout the galaxy, and the Republic is expanding its reach fully into the Out Rim, where planets like Mon Cala and Tatooine are located.
The next era is the Fall of the Jedi. This is the era where the prequel films, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith, take place. The animated TV show The Clone Wars, which introduced Ahsoka Tano, also takes place in this era. This is when the Sith return, and the Jedi order is almost completely destroyed.
The Reign of the Empire is the era that immediately follows. This is the time period where Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader take full control of the galaxy. The upcoming animated show The Bad Batch, as well as 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, take place here.
Now we come to the Age of Rebellion. This is the time period that begins with the animated show Star Wars Rebels and then weaves through Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the original trilogy films: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. This is when the Galactic Civil War happens, pitting the Rebel Alliance against Palpatine's Empire. It is a time of great strife and upheaval.
Now we come to the time period where The Mandalorian takes place, the New Republic. This era takes places in the years after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the second Death Star. The remnants of the Empire have spread throughout the galaxy in smaller groups led by warlords like Moff Gideon. The Rebel Alliance has formed the New Republic, a new galaxy-wide government hoping to bring back an era of peace.
Lastly, we have the Rise of the First Order era. This is where the animated show Resistance and the sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker take place. Now we can look at where some of the new projects will fall.
The Acolyte will take place near the end of High Republic era, which according to Lucasfilm is around 50 or so years before The Phantom Menace. "Emerging Dark side powers" are at the heart of the story, and given the time period, maybe we will see The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise played out on our screens. A young Sheev Palpatine could appear on this show if Lucasfilm changes his year of birth a bit.
Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ will take place during the Reign of the Empire. The show will pick up around 8-10 years after Revenge of the Sith and follow the titular character during his exile on Tatooine as he watches over a young Luke Skywalker. Andor, also coming to Disney+, seems to be the only project that will take place in the Age of Rebellion era.
Lucasfilm has said that Rangers of the New Republic, Ahsoka, and The Book of Boba Fett all take place in the same time period as the show they have spun-off from, The Mandalorian. This means that they fall into the New Republic era. Based on comments by Kathleen Kennedy, these four shows seem like they will be building toward a massive crossover event. There is some speculation among fans that Thrawn will act as a Thanos-like threat connecting all four shows. Could we see a new canon interpretation of the story from the Heir to the Empire trilogy of novels? We really do not have enough info to really guess where A Droid Story, Visions, and Taika Waititi's untitled film will fall in the timeline. Lando is rumored to feature both a younger Lando and an older Lando, so it could take place in multiple places in the timeline through some flashbacks or just diff from episode to episode.
Finally, we have Patty Jenkin's Rogue Squadron film. Kathleen Kennedy has said that this film will move the story into an exciting future era. Does this mean past the events of The Rise of Skywalker and into the unknown? We have no concrete info currently, so it is all speculation. If I were to wager a guess, my money would be on Rogue Squadron taking place after The Rise of Skywalker. We could get a look at what the galaxy looks like as it rebuilds itself after the war with the First Order.
Between books, shows, comics, and movies, there will be a lot of Star Wars content over the next several years. Thanks to this updated timeline, it is really easy to know where everything takes place.
Source(s): Nerdist