How to Watch All the Star Wars Movies and Shows in Chronological Order

As the Star Wars universe has expanded over the last several decades, so too has the discourse about the best order in which to view all the movies. There’s the “Machete Order,” the “Time Machine Order,” and a whole slew of other inventive options.

But with Disney+ tossing more and more TV series into the mix—most recently, Obi-Wan Kenobi—you might want to take a page out of MCU fans’ book and stick to one of the two most intuitive watch orders: either chronologically or by release date.

Given that all events take place in a galaxy far, far away, it’s no surprise that Star Wars doesn’t adhere to Earth’s BCE/CE dating system. You’ll sometimes see CRC—an unspecified initialism used in a 2018 reference book by Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo—which puts Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope in the year 7977 CRC. But far more common is a set of initialisms first created by fans: BBY, for “Before the Battle of Yavin,” and ABY, for “After the Battle of Yavin.” The Battle of Yavin was the destruction of the Death Star at the end of A New Hope, meaning that film occurs in 0 BBY.

This way, you don’t have to do any math to figure out the number of years between A New Hope (the original Star Wars) and any other movie or show. The Phantom Menace, for example, takes place in 32 BBY—32 years before Luke Skywalker enters the picture.

Read on for the rest of the chronological timeline, based on Digital Spy’s comprehensive breakdown, followed by a list ordered by release date.

For now, we’ve only included canonical shows and movies that have already premiered. But the Diego Luna-starring series Andor—which will hit Disney+ on August 31, 2022—is expected to take place around the same time as Star Wars Rebels. And based on Ahsoka’s (played by Rosario Dawson) recent appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, people are predicting that her spinoff series, Ahsoka—which kicked off production in May—will be set after (or at least near) those events.

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*Asterisks denote animated content.

Star Wars in Chronological Order

Fall of the Jedi

1. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) // 32 BBY
2. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) // 22 BBY
3. *Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) // 22 BBY (Movie)
4. *Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014, 2020) // 22-19 BBY (TV Series)
5. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) // 19 BBY

Reign of the Empire

6. *Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-Present) // 19 BBY
7. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) // 13-10 BBY
8. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) // 9 BBY

Age of Rebellion

9. *Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018) // 5-1 BBY
10. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) // 0 BBY
11. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) // 0 BBY - 0 ABY
12. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) // 3 ABY
13. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) // 4 ABY

The New Republic

14. The Mandalorian (2019-Present) // 9 ABY
15. The Book of Boba Fett (2021-2022) // ~9 ABY

Rise of the First Order

16. *Star Wars Resistance (2018-2020) // 34 ABY
17. Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) // 34 ABY
18. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) // 34 ABY
19. Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019) // ~35 ABY

[h/t Digital Spy]

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Heading to a Galaxy Far, Far Away? Here’s How to Watch All the 'Star Wars' Movies and TV Shows in Order

By Ellen Gutoskey | Mar 14, 2023, 5:16 PM EDT