How To Watch Every 'Star Wars' Movie And Show In Chronological Order
With the large amount of Star Wars content currently available, and much more close on the horizon, it can be difficult to keep straight when and where everything happens in a galaxy far, far away. Before diving into such projects as The Bad Batch, The Acolyte, and The High Republic books and comics, a quick refresher on the current Star Wars timeline is certainly in order. Here is a compiled chronological list of all canonical Star Wars movies and TV shows, including information about the year it was released and where it falls in the timeline relative to A New Hope; events are noted to be Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or After the Battle of Yavin (ABY).
32 BBY - The Phantom Menace(1999)
Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan learner Obi-Wan Kenobi are dispatched to the Mid-Rim planet of Naboo to settle a trade dispute. Under constant attack from the greedy Trade Federation, the Jedi are tasked with escorting Queen Amidala out of the capital city of Theed and to the galactic capital of Coruscant. During their travels across the stars, they discover a young slave named Anakin Skywalker, a child strong in the Force. With his midi-chlorian count higher than that of any Jedi, Qui-Gon is convinced that he has discovered the Chosen One. As Jinn attempts to free young Skywalker, agents of the Sith close in, and the fate of Naboo and the entire galaxy hang in the balance.
22 BBY - Attack of the Clones (2002)
A decade after the Battle of Naboo, Senator Padme Amidala has come under several assassination attempts by the Separatist movement, a group of star systems banding together to leave the Republic. Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker are tasked with protecting the senator after another attempt on her life as she arrives at the capital to vote on the creation of a Grand Army of the Republic. Kenobi tracks a weapon used by the senator's attacker, a Mandalorian bounty hunter named Jango Fett, to a mysterious planet that has been hidden from the Jedi Archives. Meanwhile, his apprentice escorts the senator to her homeworld of Naboo and strays further and further from the Jedi path.
22 BBY - The Clone Wars (2008)
Sometime after the Battle of Geonosis, Anakin and Obi-Wan lead the Clone Army into battle on the planet of Christophsis against the Separatist droid army. While the Republic is embroiled in war with the Separatists, the son of infamous crime lord Jabba the Hutt is kidnapped. It falls to Anakin and his new Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, to rescue the innocent Huttlet and return him to his father on Tatooine.
22 BBY - 19 BBY - Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
As the Clone Wars spread like wildfire across the galaxy, the Jedi are called upon to lead the Grand Army of the Republic into battle. The 501st Legion, led by Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Clone Commander Rex, are a crack unit in the Grand Army of the Republic, and as such are assigned some of the most dangerous missions of the war. These are the chronicles of their adventures across the entirety of the galaxy and the Clone War as they fight to preserve the Republic. However, not everything is as it seems, as the dark noose of the Sith tightens around the Jedi Council.
19 BBY - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
In the final days of the Republic, the Clone Wars rage on with both the Republic and Separatists growing weary of the destruction and bloodshed. Sinister droid commander General Grievous puts a plan into action to bring a swift end to the war, forcing Obi-Wan and Anakin to be called back from the battlefront. The Jedi Knights are spread thin across the galaxy, with only their clone units watching their backs. Deception, schemes, and meddling fester on Coruscant, the the heart of the Republic. With the dark side and the fog of war obscuring all, Yoda and the other members of the Jedi Council are blind to the moves their enemies make to destroy them.
10 BBY - Solo (2018)
While huge armies and powerful factions clash across the galaxy, even a simple smuggler has to make a living. Han Solo is an orphan living on Corellia, running schemes and boosting speeders. But when that life is taken away from him, Solo's only chance is to throw in with the Imperial Navy. Determined to be a pilot, the hot-headed Solo jumps at the chance to fly for the Empire until opportunity knocks in the form of Tobias Beckett and the organized crime gang Crimson Dawn. When a job goes wrong, their only hope is to break even and save their necks is a dangerous heist on the mining world of Kessel.
5 BBY - 0 BBY - Rebels (2014-2018)
While the Republic and the Jedi may be gone, those who hold their ideals true are not. On the industrial savannah world of Lothal, young Ezra Bridger is taking his first steps into a larger world. Growing up under Imperial occupation has made him resent the Empire for what it has done to his people. This sentiment is shared by the crew of the Ghost, a heavily modified VCX-100 light freighter that has made theft, mayhem, and sabotage against the Empire its M.O. While this crew and Ezra are brought together by their shared disdain for the Empire, one person on the Ghost will change Ezra's life forever.
0 BBY - Rogue One (2016)
As the Empire grows stronger, conquering and dominating the entire galaxy, the Rebel Alliance frantically attempts to find a way to bring them down. Rebel spies whisper about a technological terror that has the firepower to annihilate an entire planet. Their only hope to discover a way to destroy this battle station is the daughter of the Imperial Science Officer responsible for its creation. Jyn Erso, who has ties to Saw Gerrara's Partisans, is a wildcard who is not what one would describe as a team player. Cassian Andor and the droid K-2SO are dispatched by Rebel Command to bring Erso to Yavin 4, where Rebel soldiers prepare to fight and die to destroy this new Imperial weapon, the Death Star.
0 BBY - A New Hope (1977)
Escaping from the carnage at Scarif, Princess Leia, custodian of the stolen Death Star plans, races for Yavin 4 to deliver the plans to Rebel Command. Darth Vader has other plans, however, as his Star Destroyer attacks and disables Princess Leia's ship. Now the fate of the Rebellion and the galaxy rest on the white and blue shoulders of R2-D2. Escaping the battle aboard the Tantive IV, R2 and his protocol partner C-3PO land on the desert planet of Tatooine. Dispatched to find Old Ben Kenobi, the droids instead find a young moisture farmer named Luke Skywalker, who may be more powerful and important than his whining about power converters would let on.
3 ABY - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
With the Death Star destroyed, a furious Darth Vader tracks the fleeing Rebels across the Outer Rim. Determined to find young Skywalker and bring an end to the Rebellion, Vader deploys a fleet of Viper probe droids to scan remote star systems for the hidden Echo Base. While Luke's path to becoming a Jedi and learning the ways of the Force leads him to a strange world teeming with life and a wise Jedi Master, Han, Leia and the rest of the crew of the Millennium Falcon are forced to seek refuge with a shady character from Han's past.
4 ABY - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Luke, Leia, Chewie, and Lando return to the palace of Jabba the Hutt to confront the crime lord and his small army of henchmen led by Boba Fett, who delivered carbonite Captain Solo to the Hutt after the events at Cloud City. While the battle commences on Tatooine, the Rebel Alliance is horrified to learn of a second Death Star being built in the Endor system, even more powerful than the first dreaded battle station. This weapon would spell certain doom for the Alliance and any hope of restoring freedom to the galaxy. However, it also presents an opportunity to topple the Empire as the Emperor himself has arrived on-station to oversee the final stages of construction. As the Empire and the Alliance head to a fateful showdown, Luke Skywalker must confront Darth Vader one last time.
9 ABY - The Mandalorian (2019- )
After the fall of the Empire, the Outer Rim has once more become the lawless territory of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and warlords. A Mandalorian gunslinger travels from his covert on Navarro to seek fortune bringing in wanted beings, warm or cold. When a unique opportunity presents itself, "Mando" agrees to meet with a client still clinging to the Imperial way of life. Secretive and suspicious, but with deep pockets, the client sends the bounty hunter on his way to hunt his quarry, which will be unlike any target Mando has hunted before.
34 ABY - Resistance (2018-2020)
After the death of the Emperor, the Imperial fleet was pushed back into the Outer Rim until they were finally defeated at the Battle of Jakku. With the Imperial Remnant forming the First Order in the Unknown Regions and most in the New Republic failing to act, new faces are forced to step up to protect the galaxy. Kazuda Xiono is recruited by General Leia's Resistance to spy on the First Order and make the first steps in keeping the New Republic safe.
34 ABY - The Force Awakens (2015)
Luke Skywalker has vanished, and the Resistance (led by his sister Leia) and the First Order (led by his nephew Kylo Ren) both race to find him. Poe Dameron is dispatched to Jakku to retrieve a map to Luke from an old ally of Leia, but Ren is hot on his heels. In need of allies, Poe befriends a defecting Stormtrooper, FN-2187 (dubbed Finn) and caches the map in BB8, his astromech. However, a map to Luke Skywalker isn't the only reason Jakku is of interest; BB-8 falls into the hands of a scavenger named Rey, who may be more powerful than even she could imagine.
34 ABY - The Last Jedi (2017)
In retaliation for the Resistance's victory at Starkiller Base, General Hux and the First Order arrive at D'Qar and chase General Leia's forces from their hideout. Tracked, battered, damaged, and low on fuel, the Resistance, unable to jump to lightspeed, races at sublight to outdistance the cannons of Supreme Leader Snoke's flagship. Rey seeks out Master Skywalker to start her on her Jedi path, but what she finds isn't the legendary rebel fighter or Grandmaster of a new Jedi Order.
35 ABY - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The voice of the long "dead" Palpatine echoes across the galaxy, declaring himself the Emperor once again and enacting the "Final Order." Poe and Finn race to learn the truth of the Sith Lord's return while fighting and providing for their friends at the rebel base. While the Resistance rebuilds on Ajan Kloss, Rey trains in the ways of the Force to prove herself worthy of wielding the Skywalker saber. Supreme Leader Ren rallies his forces and prepares to eliminate any and all threats to his lordship of the galaxy, starting with the mysteriously resurrected Palpatine.