How to Watch Star Wars
Hello my friends. Welcome back to my blog.
Today I wanted to go back to what I said about finding the best Watch Order for things, by looking more at my prime example, which is Star Wars.
Now as I alluded to in the blog post where I first discussed finding the best Watch Orders for things, Star Wars is the perfect franchise to discuss in this context, as there are several different ways to approach it and the search for a perfect way to watch the films has been a source of much fan debate ever since the completion of the Prequel Trilogy nearly 20 years ago. The two most argued approaches were the chronological or episode order, which involved watching the Prequel Trilogy followed by the Original Trilogy, or the release order, the way most fans experienced them, which involved watching the Original Trilogy followed by the Prequels. Then the Machete Order was introduced and revolutionised the discussion, by suggesting watching Episodes 4, 5, followed by 2 and 3 as a large flashback and concluding with Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. There were plenty of great reasons to justify that choice, and I discussed them in the previous blog if you wish to read further, but will elaborate a bit more in a section further down this blog.
The problem is that then Star Wars was purchased by Disney, and Disney immediately began production of new tie-in material for the franchise. Now Star Wars already had a large and expansive Expanded Universe of novels and comics, as well as animated productions and video games of various canonical standing (I explored Star Wars' unique approach to canon in one of my earliest podcasts), but Disney immediately decided unilaterally that the only things remaining in line with their new canon were the existing six live-action films and the six seasons and film of The Clone Wars, however to counteract what had been lost they would release new films, including a sequel trilogy. But more than that, they would explore multiple time frames of the setting, with a cartoon series set between the two existing trilogies, comics set during the original trilogy, novels set just afterwards, a final season of the Clone Wars series, and then continuing with more stories scattered all over in novels, comics, television and film. This means that finding the best order to watch the story changes depending upon which characters and plot lines you wish to follow, or merely following a straight forward timeline.
Since purchasing Star Wars, besides the long list of novels and Marvel comics they have published they have released the films Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story, as well as the four season Rebels, the two season Resistance, three season The Bad Batch, the seventh season of The Clone Wars, The Young Jedi Adventures and the Tales of the Jedi and Tales of the Empire animated shows and the Forces of Destiny shorts, as well as the three season The Mandalorian and the single season The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Andor, The Acolyte and Obi-Wan Kenobi live-action shows. That is obviously a lot of content, and doesn't count the projects that were developed but abandoned for whatever reason, such as Rangers of the New Republic or Rogue Squadron, as well as other upcoming content, most of which is informed by elements of those classic six films. And so now more than ever there are plenty of discussions that can be made about how to watch the Star Wars Saga, and what parts to focus on.
So that is what I want to discuss further here - the different ways to approach Star Wars, both as an overall setting, and as separate storylines and eras. As a result this will be broken up in a very different way to my previous Watch Orders, but I hope that somehow you find a new way to approach either this whole franchise, or elements of it, and that watching in that new way helps to improve this franchise for you.
So since Disney completed their sequel trilogy they have taken to approaching the entire film series as the Skywalker Saga. So presumably their intention is to watch the entire series in episode order, so namely:
Now this is a perfectly serviceable Watch Order in a lot of ways, but I don't think its the best way to watch the series. As I said when I discussed the Machete Order previously, watching in episode order, especially for a first time viewer, undercuts two of the biggest twists in the series, twists that are actually best preserved by the Machete Order.
For a brief reminder the Machete Order involves watching Episodes 4 and 5 to start, revealing the twist in Empire that Darth Vader is Luke's father, before watching Anakin's fall in 2 and 3 as a large flashback, giving us the reveal that Leia is Luke's twin sister there, and setting Return of the Jedi up as a dramatic conclusion and dovetailing of both Luke and Anakin's stories.
So perhaps something more closely matching the release order might be the best way to watch the series instead? Watching the Original Trilogy (4, 5. and 6), followed by the Prequels (1, 2, and 3) and then finally the Sequels (7, 8, and 9). Or perhaps a somewhat modified version of the Machete Order, for example watching 4 and 5, then the Prequels (I'd leave Episode 1 optional at this point), following but Episode 6 before going from there directly to the Sequel Trilogy? Its not perfect, but it does keep the benefits of the Machete Order intact in a better way than a simple release order does.
So if not the Skywalker Saga, what might be the best way to experience the series? Well first, let's discuss the Star Wars Timeline.
- An upcoming film by Logan director James Mangold is currently planned to explore this era. In Legends it was over 20,000 years before the Original Trilogy and was explored in a comic series.
- At present there is no Canon material taking place here, but as I said many games under Legends take place in this era, including the classic Knights of the Old Republic, and the Old Republic MMORPG, both by Bioware.
- A multimedia project of comics, novels, and the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse game, this era spans several hundred years and features the cartoon Young Jedi Adventures and the recently concluded The Acolyte, which is set over 100 years before the Original Trilogy.
- This is the era of the Prequel Trilogy, set several decades before the Originals. Besides Episodes 1-3, the Clone Wars and the Tales of the Jedi series take place here. I will get into more details on the placements of things in a little bit.
- A period of about twenty years between the two trilogies that remained largely unexplored in Legends, but in Canon has been elaborated on extensively, with Rebels, Solo, Andor, Rogue One, The Bad Batch, Tales of the Empire, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the two Jedi games Fallen Order and Survivor all taking place in this period, along with several novels and comics.
- This is the era of the Original Trilogy, and even in-universe the timeline is based around the first Star Wars film, A New Hope, however it also continues for a brief time after the Trilogy concludes, mainly through the narratives of the video games Star Wars Battlefront II and Star Wars Squadrons, along with many of the current Marvel comics including Doctor Aphra. The new Star Wars Outlaws game is also set here.
- This was the most developed era in Legends, with decades of novel storytelling showing Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and their children as they battled against new Imperial and Sith threats as well as far worse, but the Canon is developing its own interconnected story here, with The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and the upcoming Skeleton Crew all creating an ongoing plot which looks like it will continue and possibly conclude in the upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu film.
- An era completely unique to the Canon, focusing on the Disney Sequel Trilogy, as well as the Resistance animated series, Battlefront II's Resurrection DLC, and the Tales from the Galaxy's Edge VR game. I have personal issues with a lot of this era, but I think future development could help it to become as rich as the others in time.
- While there was a Legends book series of the same name, which I very much enjoy and recommend, this is referring to the newly announced Canon era, which will start with a new film focusing on Rey building a new order of Jedi.
And this is all without delving in the fact that what we as an audience perceive as the Star Wars franchise is in fact entries from the Journal of the Whills, describing events, as every entry says "A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away". But let's not even dig into that.
So if you really did want to watch everything that has been released in order with the timeline, then following entry by entry, I would do it like this:
- Young Jedi Adventures
- The Acolyte
- Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- The Clone Wars film
- The Clone Wars season 1-7 - a bit disjointed at times as an anthology, for better or worse
- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- Tales of the Jedi - technically an anthology with entries intersecting with the previous.
- The Bad Batch seasons 1-3
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Rebels shorts and seasons 1-4
- Tales of the Empire - again another anthology with one entry set much later, but it mainly fits here
- Andor season 1 and the upcoming season 2
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Episode IV: A New Hope
- Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian seasons 1-2
- The Book of Boba Fett
- The Mandalorian season 3
- Ahsoka
- Skeleton Crew - upcoming series
- The Mandalorian & Grogu - upcoming film
- Resistance shorts
- Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- Forces of Destiny - an anthology focusing on characters across the timeline, including Rey
- Resistance season 1 - most of it is set before Episode 7, but the finale is afterwards
- Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
- Resistance season 2
- Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
However in many ways I think this has a lot of the same issues as watching the Skywalker Saga in order, and in some cases is worse, as there are plenty of divergences from what could be considered the core story of the Skywalkers, in favour of side characters who become far more prominent, such as Bo-Katan Kryze, Ezra Bridger, Din Djarrin, and Cassian Andor. Now I personally am a pretty big fan of most of those characters, and I do think the expanded Canon provides a much richer universe than the main films of the Skywalker Saga, but as with most things your mileage may vary, especially depending on your views on all-ages CGI animation, with so much of what is here being in that format. I will add though that not only does this make the universe feel larger, but it also makes the Skywalkers feel less important, with a character like Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's former Padawan, being much more of a central character here, appearing in Clone Wars, Tales of the Jedi, Rebels, Mandalorian and her self-titled series. Again your mileage may vary, but I personally am a huge fan of her character and I find her development fascinating. However I would only really recommend this watch order if you are familiar with what Star Wars is, and want to dive deeper.
Instead I would separate the franchise along the timeline eras, especially if you are introducing someone new to the franchise. Go with the Machete Order, or perhaps the release order, and then go and explore more based on what your audience enjoyed more. A fan of Anakin, Obi-Wan and the Prequels? Then dig deeper into Clone Wars and maybe the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. A fan of the Rebellion versus the Empire? Take a look at Rebels, Andor and Rogue One. So in that case I'll go a bit more in depth on the best chronological watch order for each of these eras to allow you to get the most complete experience from them. I will also list the in-universe dates of the properties, defined as either Before or After the Battle of Yavin (the final events of the first Star Wars film Episode IV: A New Hope).
While it is still relatively recent, and so it is unclear what will happen with it going forward, it seems that certain elements of The Acolyte are designed to end the High Republic era and foreshadow the Jedi's downfall, and so I will be including it here. As a result the best chronological watch order I have here is as follows
The Acolyte 101-108
- Episode 3 Destiny and Episode 7 Choices are both set around 16 years before the rest of the series, but I would still recommend watching it in release order due to plot reveals.
- 148BBY-132BBY
- Approx 60BBY
- Approx 47BBY
- Approx 35BBY
- 32BBY
Forces of Destiny 210: Monster Misunderstanding
- Before 28BBY
- As I said Clone Wars is an anthology series, and as a result the stories can jump around a bit, especially early on - it does become more chronological later - but I will list them here in chronological order for anyone who wishes to watch the stories in order. Unlike with the other anthology series Forces of Destiny though I will not list episode titles, as online ordering Clone Wars seems to be far more accurate and consistent than with Forces of Destiny.
- 22BBY
The Clone Wars 204-214
The Clone Wars 220-222
The Clone Wars 305-307
The Clone Wars 302
The Clone Wars 304
The Clone Wars 308
Forces of Destiny 111: Teach you, I Will
Forces of Destiny 106: The Imposter Inside
Forces of Destiny 202: Unexpected Company
Forces of Destiny 112: The Starfighter Stunt
Forces of Destiny 104: The Padawan Path
The Clone Wars 122
The Clone Wars 309-311
The Clone Wars 215
- 21BBY
The Clone Wars 312-322
The Clone Wars 401-419
Tales of the Empire 101: The Path of Fear
The Clone Wars 420-422
The Clone Wars 502-513
- 20BBY
The Clone Wars 501
The Clone Wars 514-520
The Clone Wars 601-613
The Clone Wars 705-708
The Clone Wars 701-704
The Clone Wars 709-710
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
The Clone Wars 711
- Several important flashbacks in many later entries also take place alongside many of these stories, especially the events of Order 66 from Episode 3
- 19BBY
The Clone Wars 712
- The main part of the episode takes place just after 711, but the epilogue takes place a couple of years later in 17BBY
Tales of the Jedi 105: Practice Makes Perfect
- Mostly telling the story of an element of Ahsoka's training, it leads directly to the finale of 712
This era then directly continues into the next.
Reign of the Empire
- A lot of this starts in the immediate aftermath of Order 66, alongside Episode 3, however the plot takes different directions, and keeps itself somewhat more self-contained here.
- 19BBY
The Bad Batch 201-216
The Bad Batch 301-315
- 18BBY
- This begins in 19BBY alongside the end of Episode 3, however the majority of the events take place several years later.
- Approx 14BBY
Forces of Destiny 216: Triplecross
- 11BBY
Solo: A Star Wars Story
- A prologue set in 13BBY, but main events are set in 10BBY
Obi-Wan Kenobi 101-106
- 9BBY
Andor 101-112
Rebels Shorts 1-4
Rebels 101-107
- 5BBY
Rebels 108-115
Forces of Destiny 215: A Disarming Lesson
Forces of Destiny 107: The Stranger
Rebels 201-208
- 4BBY
Rebels 209-215
Forces of Destiny 108: Bounty of Trouble
Forces of Destiny 201: Hasty Departure
Rebels 216-220
Forces of Destiny 109: Newest Recruit
Rebels 221-222
Forces of Destiny 113: Accidental Allies
Tales of the Empire 102: The Path of Anger
- 3BBY
Forces of Destiny 116: Crash Course
Rebels 301-316
Forces of Destiny 211: Art History
Rebels 317-322
- 2BBY
Rebels 401-416
Forces of Destiny 204: Jyn's Trade
Tales of the Empire 106: The Way Out
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Rebels ends with an epilogue that takes place in 9ABY but is later expanded upon in Ahsoka, and Rogue One ends leading directly into A New Hope.
- 1BBY
Age of Rebellion
This is probably going to be my shortest section so far, as most of the development in this era takes place in novels and comics rather than in films or television.
Episode IV: A New Hope
- This is where the timeline changes to 0ABY
Forces of Destiny 105: The Beast of Echo Base
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Forces of Destiny 207: The Path Ahead
- The Path Ahead takes place off-screen during Episode 5
- 3ABY
Forces of Destiny 206: Bounty Hunted
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Forces of Destiny 103: Ewok Escape
Forces of Destiny 114: An Imperial Feast
Forces of Destiny 214: Traps and Tribulations
Forces of Destiny 209: Chopper and Friends
- Like The Path Ahead, Ewok Escape takes place off-screen during Episode 6
- 4ABY
The New Republic
This part of the timeline is one of the most busy, yet also one of the most straight-forward. For the most part everything can be watched in release order, yet this era is still being actively added to, and seems to have no direct ties to the later era of the First Order as yet, with that being set up a lot more clearly in the story mode and DLC of Star Wars Battlefront II. There is a slight canon conflict however in that while producer Jon Faverau has stated that there is a two year gap in the timeline after the second season of The Mandalorian that this is not reflected in any of the works themselves.
- 9BBY
Skeleton Crew and The Mandalorian & Grogu film will continue this era, and supposedly conclude the ongoing narrative. Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron film was believed to take place in this era as well, but its current status is unknown. The Rangers of the New Republic spin-off based around Cara Dune was also supposed to be included here, but that was scrapped after actress Gina Carano was fired by Disney.
- Approx 32ABY
Resistance Short 1
Resistance 107-111
Resistance Short 2-12
Resistance 112-116
Forces of Destiny 205: Run Rey Run
Resistance 117-119
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Forces of Destiny 101: Sands of Jakku
Forces of Destiny 102: BB-8 Bandits
Forces of Destiny 110: Tracker Trouble
Forces of Destiny 213: Perilous Pursuit
Resistance 120-121
Resistance 201
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Forces of Destiny 208: Porg Problems
Forces of Destiny 213: Porgs!
Forces of Destiny 203: Shuttle Shock
Resistance 202-219
- 34ABY
- 35ABY
And so for now, this is the furthest point in the canon timeline. At least until the New Jedi Order films.
So that's it right? That's all that Star Wars offers on screen surely?
Well not quite.
Besides the aforementioned video games, novels and comic books there are several other Star Wars series that are now defined as Legends rather than the Canon, and for the most part, just like much of the old Legends Expanded Universe, they are pretty good.
First is the two season Star Wars: Visions anthologies. These are essentially anime shorts created by some of the leading anime studios and licensed by Disney, however they are all essentially non-canon stories.
Secondly there were two older cartoon series that are available on Disney+, developed in the 80s to expand on some of children's favourite characters from the saga, namely the Droids and the Ewoks. There are also two Ewok focused live-action films, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Neither was particularly well-received, but would be fun films to show any children that enjoyed the Ewoks especially.
There is also the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, however only the animated short that introduces Boba Fett, The Story of the Faithful Wookiee, is officially available. The rest can be found online if you are willing to look however.
Lego has a huge relationship with Star Wars, and many animated specials exist featuring the Lego versions of the characters, and some of them even incorporate elements from comics and novels, such Ben Solo falling to the Dark Side tutelage of Ren, or Finn telling Rey of his own Force Sensitivity, however all of these are done in ways that suggest that this is still a more irreverent and light-hearted take on the material, in perhaps a more family-friendly version of the old Robot Chicken Star Wars specials.
Finally I want to give a special shoutout to the original Clone Wars microseries. This was originally developed as part of a multimedia project between the releases of Episodes 2 and 3, and as a result it was developed to fill gaps, like explaining how Asajj Ventress came to Count Dooku, and how General Grievous took Palpatine hostage. It conflicts in several ways with the existing Canon now, but it is stunning to watch, being developed by Genndy Tartovsky of Samurai Jack fame, and is a satisfying and short watch.
Beyond that, maybe just get deeper into the comics or novels. All of the old Legends Dark Horse published comics as well as all of the Canon Marvel comics are available on Marvel Unlimited, which I still argue is the best comic streaming app available. Many of the newer Canon novels also have amazing audio versions incorporating music and sound effects to create a truly immersive experience.
I hope this has been of help to people, and has helped you to find a new way to explore Star Wars.
As always my friends please do the best to look after yourselves as best as you can, both physically and mentally. I'm not sure what my next update will be but my run of productivity seems to be holding so far.
Until next time, bye for now.
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