Star Wars: viewing order
Choose a way into Star Wars: the nine numbered films, selected stories that expand them, and the adventures of Din Djarin and Grogu. Compare release order with broad story chronology, with notes at the overlaps.
Your viewing route
Selected films and television works within the shared screen canon. All three routes contain the same blocks, arranged for different ways of watching.
First visit and expansions
The nine films in trilogy blocks, followed by complete branches. An editorial recommendation that preserves reveals, rather than a chronology.
Original trilogy: follow the cards in the displayed order.
Episode IV: A New Hope
Recommended entry point for the original trilogy.
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Continue after Episode IV; avoid advance plot summaries to preserve its reveals.
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Complete the original trilogy before exploring other eras.
Now the prequels.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Begin the prequel trilogy. Its story precedes the 1977 film.
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Second prequel step and the starting reference for The Clone Wars.
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Complete the prequels. Part of its period overlaps the end of The Clone Wars.
Complete the nine films. The following branches are expansions.
Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Start the sequel trilogy after the I–VI journey.
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Continue Episode VII’s story rather than treating it as a standalone adventure.
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker
The final film in the nine-episode route.
Animation branch: film, series and continuation. No scene intercutting is required.
The Clone Wars: film
The animated film is separate from the series with the same name.
The Clone Wars: series, seasons 1–7
A block covering the series published from 2008 to 2020. Broadcast order includes internal time jumps.
The Bad Batch: seasons 1–3
An animated expansion set mainly after the Clone Wars. Keep its seasons in order.
Two separate expansions of the Imperial period.
Solo: A Star Wars Story
A branch preceding A New Hope. The recommended route visits it after the central films.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
A character bridge between the prequels and the original trilogy.
A continuous route towards Rogue One.
Andor: seasons 1–2
Both seasons form a route towards Rogue One. The second was released in 2025.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Chronologically placed after Andor and before Episode IV.
Another Rebellion perspective and context for Ahsoka.
Star Wars Rebels: seasons 1–4
An animated Rebellion branch. The block represents its main period; its epilogue reaches further.
Keep the Boba Fett bridge between seasons two and three.
The Mandalorian: season 1
Start Din Djarin and Grogu’s branch in the era after Episode VI.
The Mandalorian: season 2
Continue season one before the bridge through The Book of Boba Fett.
The Book of Boba Fett
Kept between The Mandalorian seasons two and three despite its different lead and use of flashbacks.
The Mandalorian: season 3
Resume the branch after The Book of Boba Fett.
Expansions of the same era, not mandatory simultaneous episodes.
Ahsoka: season 1
An expansion in the New Republic era. This card covers season one only.
Skeleton Crew: season 1
Another entry into the New Republic era; it does not require alternating episodes with The Mandalorian.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
A 2026 film in Din and Grogu’s branch. The route first brings together their three seasons and the Boba Fett bridge.
You can visit this branch after VII–IX without it anticipating the films.
Star Wars Resistance: seasons 1–2
Its narrative period crosses that of episodes VII and VIII. Kept as a block rather than an intercut scene list.
Where to start
For a first visit, our recommended route starts with episodes IV, V and VI, continues with I, II and III, then finishes the central film journey with VII, VIII and IX. This introduces the cinema saga in three blocks without requiring several television series first. The episode numbers describe the films’ place in the story, rather than their theatrical release order.
You can then expand by interest: animation for other wartime perspectives, Andor and Rogue One for a Rebellion route, or The Mandalorian for different leads and a different era. Optional means that an entry expands the nine-film route, not that it lacks connections or value. If you follow Din and Grogu’s branch, keep its bridge through The Book of Boba Fett.
Three orders, three questions
Recommended order is an editorial suggestion for discovering the story while preserving reveals. Release order places each block by its first publication; a complete series occupies its starting year even if later seasons arrived after other films. It does not reconstruct every week of original broadcast.
Chronology orders broad narrative blocks. Several series contain flashbacks, epilogues or storylines that extend across another work. When cards share a step, read its note: it may mark an overlap rather than an instruction to alternate episodes. Displayed years are publication years, not dates within the fictional universe.
Understanding the overlaps
The Clone Wars is both a film and a separate series. The series does not place every episode in internal chronological order, and its final stretch partly overlaps Revenge of the Sith. We retain it as a complete block and mark that crossing. This is not a fabricated scene-by-scene edit, nor does it put all of season seven before Episode III.
Andor and Rebels cover parts of the same period before Rogue One. You can follow one branch and then the other; sharing an era does not require changing series after every episode. Resistance extends across the period of episodes VII and VIII. It is also presented as a block without an invented episode-to-scene alignment.
What this selection includes
The map includes the nine numbered films, Solo, Rogue One, The Clone Wars film and series, The Bad Batch, Rebels, Obi-Wan Kenobi, both Andor seasons, three seasons of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka season one, Skeleton Crew, Resistance and the 2026 film The Mandalorian and Grogu. A card naming a season does not cover future instalments.
This is a selected audiovisual entry and expansion guide. It does not include every production: exclusions include The Acolyte, Maul – Shadow Lord, the Tales anthologies, Young Jedi Adventures, Visions, LEGO and vintage productions outside this continuity, as well as books, comics and games. An omission does not mean that a work does not exist or is unimportant. Check country, edition and languages before subscribing to a service.
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