Star Wars film and TV shows timeline: best order to watch Star War franchise in - and where to watch

The Star Wars timeline is a complicated beast, even the movies are confusing - episode one is really the fourth film, and episode four is the first. There are sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, plus plenty of TV series as well.

We all know that Star Wars is set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but that information doesn’t exactly help when it comes to deciding how to tackle the franchise. In the Star Wars calendar, time is divided into BBY and ABY, in the same way that we have BC and AD.

BBY refers to a time before the Battle of Yavin, a major battle in the Galactic Civil War, in which the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star - this is covered in the first Star Wars film, A New Hope.

ABY stands for after the Battle of Yavin, and follows the deaths of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and the collapse of the Galactic Empire. Since the original trilogy was released in the 1970s and ‘80s, the Star Wars universe has expanded greatly.

This is a guide to the order that the Star Wars films and TV shows were released in, and how to watch them in chronological order.

Star Wars films and TV shows in release date order

• Episode IV – A New Hope 1977
• Star Wars Holiday Special 1978
• Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back 1980
• Episode VI – Return of the Jedi 1983
• Episode I – The Phantom Menace - 1999
• Episode II – Attack of the Clones - 2002
• Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - 2005
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2008
• The Clone Wars (seres) 2008-2020
• Rebels (series) 2014-2018
• Episode VII – The Force Awakens 2015
• Rogue One 2016
• Episode VIII – The Last Jedi 2017
• Solo 2018
• Resistance (series) 2018-2020
• Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker 2019
• The Mandalorian (series) 2019-present
• The Bad Batch (series) 2021-2023
• The Book of Boba Fett (series) 2021-present
• Obi-Wan Kenobi (series) 2022
• Andor (series) 2022-present

Star Wars films and TV shows in chronological order

• The Phantom Menace - 32 BBY
• Attack of the Clones - 22 BBY
• The Clone Wars (movie) - 22 BBY
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (season 1-7) - 22-19 BBY
• Revenge of the Sith - 19 BBY
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch - 19 BBY
• Solo - 13-10 BBY
• Obi-Wan Kenobi - 9 BBY
• Andor - 5-0 BBY
• Rebels - 5-0 BBY
• Rogue One - 0 BBY
• A New Hope - 0-3 ABY
• Star Wars Holiday Special - 3 ABY
• The Empire Strikes Back - 3 ABY
• Return of the Jedi - 4 ABY
• The Mandalorian - 9 ABY
• The Book of Boba Fett - 9 ABY
• Resistance (season 1) - 34 ABY
• The Force Awakens - 34 ABY
• The Last Jedi - 34 ABY
• Resistance (season 2) - 34-35 ABY
• The Rise of Skywalker - 35 ABY

All of the above TV shows and films (excluding the Holiday Special which George Lucas would prefer is scrubbed from history) are available to watch on Disney+ now.

Upcoming Star Wars projects

There are several upcoming Star Wars projects on the way - these include season three of The Mandalorian which lands on Disney+ on Wedensday 1 March, Visions volume 2, Young Jedi Adventures, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew.

Star Wars movies currently in development include Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Rogue Squadron, and untitled Kevin Feige, Taika Waititi, Shawn Levy, Rian Johnson, and Damon Lindelof and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy films.