Austen Goslin
(he/him) is an entertainment editor. He writes about the latest TV shows and movies, and particularly loves all things horror.
The Rise of Skywalker deep dive
The Skywalker saga is complete, the Clone Wars animated series has come to an end (sort of), and one of the best Star Wars stories ever told is between seasons. But Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is back in theaters for its 25th anniversary, and pulling in significant bucks at the box office, with viewers either reconsidering their original takes on the film, or doubling down on what they thought about it the first time. If revisiting Phantom gives you an itch to rewatch more Star Wars, that should be fairly simple in the streaming age. Disney Plus has every movie and show that’s currently canon (and a few that aren’t).
But what’s the best way to watch it all? After George Lucas released his prequel trilogy, Star Wars fans debated the order in which to devour the series. Now, with three trilogies, a couple spinoff movies, some animated and live-action series, and at least two spinoffs of spinoffs, the “proper” way to watch the Star Wars saga is even more complicated. With all that in mind, here are a few different viewing orders to guide you, whether you’re a longtime fan looking to revisit the films and shows or a newcomer in need of a Star Wars crash course.
Watching Star Wars in chronological order
This viewing order doesn’t require much explanation. This is how the events of the Star Wars universe happened on the BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) / ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) timeline. It starts with the earliest events and moves forward in time from there. A couple of these may happen simultaneously, but that’s not our fault.
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated series)
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Star Wars Rebels animated series
- Andor season 1
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian season 1
- The Mandalorian season 2
- The Book of Boba Fett
- The Mandalorian season 3
- Ahsoka season 1
- Star Wars Resistance season 1
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Star Wars Resistance season 2
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Watching Star Wars in Skywalker Saga order
Taking a bit of inspiration from the internet-famous Ernst Rister order — originally taken from a now-deleted forum post — this list uses A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back as setup for the prequel movies and puts more focus on Luke Skywalker. Viewing the movies and shows this way makes sure that you know where his family came from.
This order diverges from the Skywalker story after both Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, but it gives you much better context for Anakin’s heroics during the Clone Wars and sets up his redemptive moment of siding with Luke over Emperor Palpatine. As you get into the new trilogy, it continues to put Luke at the center.
The trickiest part of this order is the very squishy middle section, which focuses on a few different things, including Mandalore, a couple of Mandalorians, and Ahsoka, for a little while rather than Luke and the Skywalker family — even if they do crop up every now and then.
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated series)
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars Rebels animated series
- Andor season 1
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian season 1
- The Mandalorian season 2
- The Book of Boba Fett
- The Mandalorian season 3
- Ahsoka season 1
- Star Wars Resistance season 1
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Star Wars Resistance season 2
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Watching Star Wars in… galaxy-brain order
We recommend this playlist for those who’ve seen all of Star Wars enough times that they want to mix things up with a truly weird experience. This doesn’t really complement any one character or storyline so much as the series as a whole. This order should help you catch all the small references from one movie or show and connect them to the next — though you’ll probably still miss a few.
In the first few entries, the focus is on the Rebellion. Then, at its lowest moment, we switch sides to Anakin to see how he became Darth Vader and how the Empire gained control of the galaxy. After that, we see the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, and the aftermath in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett.
Ahsoka also has a bit of a strange fit in this order, in that she sort of just jumps in and out of the story after her introduction in Clone Wars — which, while narratively odd, does most closely match how she actually operates in the series.
The last weird piece of this order is repositioning the new trilogy with Han as a more central figure. We see his family struggle in The Force Awakens, and then catch up on his backstory with Solo. This order turns Luke giving Han’s lucky dice to Leia in The Last Jedi into a slightly more important moment, and makes it clear that this is Luke attempting to mend some of the pain he brought to Han’s family.
Note: If you want to go all the way on this order, we recommend watching A New Hope up until the planning meeting for the Battle of Yavin. At that point, swap to Rogue One, watch the whole thing, then watch Andor season 1, then go back to the rest of A New Hope. This way, Rogue One plays a little like a heroic flashback for the Rebellion.
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Andor season 1
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the animated series)
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Star Wars Rebels
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian season 1
- The Book of Boba Fett (first four episodes)
- The Mandalorian season 2
- The Book of Boba Fett (episodes 5, 6, and 7)
- The Mandalorian season 3
- Ahsoka season 1
- Star Wars Resistance season 1
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Star Wars Resistance season 2
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
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Source: Polygon
