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Star Wars Movies – Release and Chronological Order

· Updated by  · ✓Reviewed by Patrick Nolan, Standards & Fact-Checking Lead
TheStarWarsfranchisecompriseselevenlive-actionfilmsspanningthreenarrativeeras,withmultiplewatchordersavailabletosuitdifferentviewingpreferences.Whetherapproachingthesagaforthefirsttimeorrevisitingthegalaxyfar,faraway,understandingthedistinctionbetweenreleasedatesandin-universechronologyprovesessential.

Thisguideexaminesthecompletefilmography,fromtheOriginalTrilogythatbeganin1977totheDisney+integrationofmodernspin-offs.Weaddresstheoptimalviewingsequencefornewcomers,theboxofficeperformanceofeachinstalment,andtheconfirmedupcomingreleasesscheduledthrough2026.

WhatOrderShouldYouWatchtheStarWarsMovies?

Era KeyFilms YearRange
PrequelTrilogy EpisodesI–III 1999–2005
OriginalTrilogy EpisodesIV–VI 1977–1983
SequelTrilogy EpisodesVII–IX 2015–2019
Anthology/Spin-offs RogueOne,Solo 2016–2018
  • Totalcatalogue:Elevenlive-actionfeaturefilmsconstitutethecurrentcanon.
  • Commercialpeak:TheForceAwakensgenerated$2.07billionworldwide,thehighestgrossinthefranchise.
  • Narrativestructure:ThreedistincttrilogiescoverthefallandredemptionoftheSkywalkerfamily.
  • Streamingintegration:Disney+hoststheentirefilmlibraryalongsideinterconnectedtelevisionseries.
  • Beginnerrecommendation:Releaseorderpreservesplottwistsandculturalimpactasoriginallyexperienced.
  • Expandeduniverse:Twostandaloneanthologyfilmsexploreeventsoutsidethecentralsaga.
  • Futurereleases:TheMandalorian&GroguisscheduledfortheatricalreleaseinMay2026.
Film ReleaseYear Era WorldwideGross(USD)
StarWars:ThePhantomMenace 1999 Prequel $1.03billion
StarWars:AttackoftheClones 2002 Prequel —
StarWars:RevengeoftheSith 2005 Prequel —
StarWars:ANewHope 1977 Original —
StarWars:TheEmpireStrikesBack 1980 Original —
StarWars:ReturnoftheJedi 1983 Original —
StarWars:TheForceAwakens 2015 Sequel $2.07billion
RogueOne:AStarWarsStory 2016 Anthology $1.06billion
StarWars:TheLastJedi 2017 Sequel $1.33billion
Solo:AStarWarsStory 2018 Anthology —
StarWars:TheRiseofSkywalker 2019 Sequel $1.08billion

HowManyStarWarsMoviesAreThereandWhatAreThey?

Thecurrentcanoncontainseleventheatricalreleases.ThesedivideintonineepisodesoftheSkywalkerSagaandtwostandaloneanthologypictures.

TheSkywalkerSaga

Thecentralnarrativeconsistsofthreetrilogies.TheOriginalTrilogy(ANewHope,TheEmpireStrikesBack,ReturnoftheJedi)establishedtheconflictbetweentheRebelAllianceandtheGalacticEmpire.ThePrequelTrilogy(ThePhantomMenace,AttackoftheClones,RevengeoftheSith)depictsthefalloftheJediOrderandtheriseoftheSith.TheSequelTrilogy(TheForceAwakens,TheLastJedi,TheRiseofSkywalker)concludesthefamilysagathreedecadesaftertheEmpire’sdefeat.

AnthologyFilms

RogueOne:AStarWarsStory(2016)detailsthetheftoftheDeathStarplansimmediatelyprecedingANewHope.Solo:AStarWarsStory(2018)explorestheearlycareerofthesmugglerHanSolo.Bothfilmsoperateoutsidetheepisodenumberingsystemwhilstmaintainingcanonicalstatus.

Disney+Integration
Disney+streamsthecoreStarWarsmoviesandTVshows,includingspin-offslikeTheMandalorianandStarWars:YoungJediAdventures,withintegrationacrossitslibraryforeasyaccesstothefranchise.Source

StarWarsMoviesinChronologicalOrder

In-universechronologydifferssignificantlyfromtheatricalreleaseorder,presentingthestoryacrossdistincthistoricalperiods.

TheFalloftheRepublic

ThenarrativebeginswithThePhantomMenace,followedbyAttackoftheClonesandRevengeoftheSith.ThesedocumentthepoliticalcollapseoftheGalacticRepublicandthetransformationofAnakinSkywalker.SolofollowsduringtheearlyyearsoftheEmpire.

TheGalacticCivilWar

RogueOneleadsdirectlyintoANewHope,whichcontinuesthroughTheEmpireStrikesBackandReturnoftheJedi.ThiseracoverstheRebelAlliance’ssuccessfulcampaignagainstImperialforces.

TheRiseoftheFirstOrder

Decadeslater,TheForceAwakens,TheLastJedi,andTheRiseofSkywalkerdepicttheemergenceoftheFirstOrderandthefinalconfrontationbetweentheJediandSith.Completefilmlistingsprovideadditionalproductiondetails.

StarWarsMoviesRankedfromBesttoWorst

CriticalandAudienceReception

AggregaterankingsfromcriticsandviewersconsistentlypositionTheEmpireStrikesBackasthehighest-ratedinstalment,followedbyANewHopeandReturnoftheJedi.RevengeoftheSithandRogueOnetypicallyoccupythenexttier.Thesequeltrilogygeneratesmoredividedreactions,withTheLastJediprovingparticularlypolarisingdespiteits$1.33billionboxofficeperformance.Criticalaggregatesreflectthesedivergentassessments.

BoxOfficePerformance

Financialsuccessdoesnotalwayscorrelatewithcriticalacclaim.TheForceAwakensremainsthetopearnerat$2.07billion,whilsttheOriginalTrilogyfilms,thoughlowestinabsolutegrossduetoinflationandera-specificmarkets,maintainthestrongestreputationalstanding.Boxofficedataprovidesunadjustedglobalfigures.

ViewingRecommendation
Releaseorderisrecommendedforbeginnerstopreservetwistsandculturalimpact,mirroringhowaudiencesfirstexperiencedthesaga.

2025TheatricalSchedule
Nomajor2025theatricalreleasesareconfirmedinavailabledata;focusshiftstoDisney+expansionsincludingAndorSeason2andSkeletonCrew.

WhenWeretheStarWarsMoviesReleased?

  1. 1977:StarWars:ANewHopeIMDbreference
  2. 1980:StarWars:TheEmpireStrikesBack
  3. 1983:StarWars:ReturnoftheJedi
  4. 1999:StarWars:ThePhantomMenace
  5. 2002:StarWars:AttackoftheClones
  6. 2005:StarWars:RevengeoftheSith
  7. 2015:StarWars:TheForceAwakens
  8. 2016:RogueOne:AStarWarsStory
  9. 2017:StarWars:TheLastJedi
  10. 2018:Solo:AStarWarsStory
  11. 2019:StarWars:TheRiseofSkywalker
  12. 2026:TheMandalorian&Grogu(scheduled)

WhichStarWarsProjectsAreConfirmedfor2025andBeyond?

EstablishedInformation UncertainorUnconfirmed
TheMandalorian&GrogufilmreleasesMay2026 StatusoftheRey-focusedfilm(rumoured,notconfirmed)
AndorSeason2premieresonDisney+ Anyadditionaltheatricalreleasesfor2025
AhsokaSeason2inproductionforDisney+ Specificpremieredatesbeyondconfirmedwindows
SkeletonCrewreleasingonDisney+ Futureanthologyfilmslatedetails

WhereCanYouWatchStarWarsMovies?

Disney+currentlyservesastheexclusivestreaminghomeforthecompleteStarWarsfilmography,includingtheSkywalkerSagaandbothanthologyentries.TheplatformintegratesthesefilmswithrelatedtelevisioncontentsuchasTheMandalorian,Andor,andAhsoka,positioningthemovieswithinabroadernarrativetimelinethatspansfromthefalloftheRepublicthroughtheriseoftheFirstOrder.

TheDisneyMovies–LegacyOfInnovationAndStorytellingcontextualisesthefranchisewithinthestudio’sbroaderproductionhistory.OfficialStarWarsresourcesprovideadditionalviewingguidesandsupplementarymaterials.

WhatDoOfficialSourcesSayAbouttheFranchise?

TheSkywalkerSagacomprisesninemainfilms:OriginalTrilogy(ANewHope,TheEmpireStrikesBack,ReturnoftheJedi),PrequelTrilogy(ThePhantomMenace,AttackoftheClones,RevengeoftheSith),andSequelTrilogy(TheForceAwakens,TheLastJedi,TheRiseofSkywalker).

—DisneyFandomWiki,referencingDisney+contentcategorisation

Spin-offFilms:RogueOne:AStarWarsStory(2016)andSolo:AStarWarsStory(2018),bothavailableonDisney+.

—DisneyFandomWiki

WhatIstheBestWaytoStartWatchingStarWars?

First-timeviewersshouldfollowtheatricalreleaseorder,beginningwithANewHope(1977)andproceedingthroughtheOriginalTrilogybeforeadvancingtothePrequelsandSequels.Thisapproachpreservesthesaga’smajornarrativerevelationsandculturalimpact.Forcomprehensivesequencingincludingtelevisionseries,consulttheStarWarsMovies–CompleteReleaseandChronologicalOrder.

FrequentlyAskedQuestions

ArethereanynewStarWarsmoviesin2025? Nomajortheatricalreleasesareconfirmedfor2025.Thenextconfirmedfilm,TheMandalorian&Grogu,releasesinMay2026.Disney+seriesincludingAndorSeason2andSkeletonCrewpremiereduring2025.

HowdotheStarWarsTVshowsfitwiththemovies? TheMandalorianslotsbetweenReturnoftheJediandTheForceAwakens.Obi-WanKenobifollowsRevengeoftheSith.AndorleadsintoRogueOne.AhsokaconnectstoTheMandaloriantimeline.Disney+integratestheseviasharedtimelinesandcharactercrossovers.

WhichStarWarstrilogyisconsideredthebest? CriticalandaudienceconsensusfavourstheOriginalTrilogy(1977–1983),particularlyTheEmpireStrikesBack.ThePrequelTrilogyhasgainedretrospectiveappreciation,whilsttheSequelTrilogyremainsmoredivisiveamongviewers.

WhatistheMacheteOrder? MacheteOrderpresentsEpisodesIVandV,thenIIandIII,thenVI,skippingThePhantomMenaceinitiallytopreservenarrativereveals.Itisdesignedforrewatchesratherthanfirst-timeviewing.

HowmanyhoursofStarWarsmoviesarethere? Elevenfilmswithanaverageruntimeofapproximatelytwohoursandfifteenminuteseachprovideroughlytwenty-fivehoursoftheatricalcontent,excludingtelevisionseriesandanimatedfeatures.

IsSolo:AStarWarsStoryessentialviewing? WhilstnotessentialtotheSkywalkerSaganarrative,SoloprovidesbackstoryforthecharacterandconnectstoTheCloneWarsandRebelsanimatedseriesthroughsecondarycharacters.

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Leon Carter
Leon CarterStaff Writer

Leon Carter covers cinema releases, movie cast guides and filmographies.

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