Image via Disney
Star Wars is one of the most popular franchises in the world, with The Force Awakens grossing over $2 billion at the box office alone! Star Wars is a part of modern culture and we often make jokes about the force, lightsabers, Jedi, and more—usually without even realizing it. Watching the Star Wars movies has become a culturally major point of bringing people together.
However, as more people join the Star Wars community, it can be hard to sift through all the films to find which movies to watch in order. It can be really easy to mix up for new fans, so we’ve made this guide to help you figure out precisely how to watch all the Star Wars movies in order!
All the Star Wars movies, shows, and related projects are available to watch on Disney+ currently.
But before we get into the guide, did you know that the theatrical releases don’t actually line up with the chronological releases? That’s right, the first Star Wars movie to release wasn’t Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It was actually A New Hope!
The Star Wars Movies in Theatrical Release Order
If you want to watch the Star Wars movies (excluding the Disney+ shows, we’ll get to those later) in order according to when they released, you should watch them like this:
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (this is a prequel, so you don’t need to watch it, but it helps to know about too)
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (don’t need to watch, but if you want to you can)
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
The Star Wars Movies in Chronological Order
Technically, watching the Star Wars films in this order is not really good for someone who has never seen any of the movies before. The problem with this order of viewing is that when the movies released, this was not the intention.
The first three episodes serve more as backstories to the main episodes that released way back then. So, if you’re a Star Wars fan, you can watch the story in chronological order, but everyone who hasn’t should stick to the first viewing method.
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Solo
- Rogue One
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
The Disney Timeline for Star Wars
Since Disney+ began to make Star Wars shows, new stories have entered into the cinematic timeline that tell stories related to the movies. Although some have been more successful than others, all of the Disney+ shows technically do contribute to the overall viewing experience in terms of adding new stories and more.
So, if you want to watch the Star Wars projects in full according to the Disney+ timeline, here’s how to do that:
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars The Clone Wars (movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (show)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- The Bad Batch
- Solo
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Star Wars: Rebels
- Rogue One
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian
- The Book of Boba Fett
- Star Wars: Resistance
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
Outside of the main timeline is Star Wars: Visions, the anime anthology where each story takes place in different points in the timeline and the galaxy. It doesn’t really fit in with the other shows and movies, but it can still add more to the overall Star Wars viewing experience.
There you go! That’s how you can watch the Star Wars timeline so far. There’s still more projects to come and even video games somewhere in the mix there, but for the most part, these are the most essential things to know if you’re just getting into Star Wars or you want to learn more about it.
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