The Star Wars timeline explained, fully and succinctly

The Star Wars Timeline is one of the most expansive in media history, with many different eras with stories set in a galaxy far, far away. Originally, the Star Wars Timeline was quite simple. On the release of the first Star Wars Movie in release order, the original trilogy was born. The two subsequent films in the trilogy meant that all three films belonged to one era, with little in the way of wider content in the Star Wars Timeline.

Then came the prequel trilogy, a more divisive era regarding the ranking of Star Wars Movies. With the sequel trilogy movies produced by Disney, the Star Wars Theatrical films make up three different eras of the franchise’s timeline. Then, the explosion of expanded content in the saga that was brought about thanks to Lucasfilm’s insistence on a transmedia franchise only added more to the timeline. With upcoming Star Wars Movies and upcoming Star Wars TV shows planning to continue this, a concise breakdown of the franchise’s timeline is more necessary than ever.

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The Star Wars timeline is centered around the Battle of Yavin

The climactic battle of A New Hope serves as the focal point of the Star Wars timeline

First, before exploring the individual eras of the Star Wars Timeline, it is worth exploring an easy way to mark different events. Figuring out how much time passes in each Star Wars trilogy is made easy thanks to the Battle of Yavin, the climactic Rebellion-Empire battle of A new hope. The Battle of Yavin serves as the center point of the Star Wars Timeline, with events before and after the battle denoted as BBY (before the Battle of Yavin) and ABY (after the Battle of Yavin).

for example, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Takes place 32 years earlier A new hopeAnd so it happens in the year 32 Bibi in the ShTar Wars Timeline. on the contrary, Return of the Jedi Takes place four years after the original film, marking it as 4 ABY in the timeline. This makes it much easier to place major events in the universe, by comparing them with the original Star Wars 1977 movie and its own place in the long timeline of the franchise.

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The dawn of the Jedi era explained

For 25,000 BB

Going back, we have the “Dawn of the Jedi” era. The era was first unveiled by Lucasfilm during Star Wars Celebration 2023, and it takes the franchise further back in time than ever before. This will be discussed in the future Star Wars Movie, James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi story, set at least 25,000 years earlier A new hope. Lucasfilm announced the movie at the 2023 convention, confirming that the expansion of the Star Wars Timeline would just continue through a brand new era.

Given its relative newness, little is known about the Dawn of the Jedi era, which Seeing the Jedi Order founded for the first time, a story that Mangold’s film sets out to explore. The film is expected to center around the first Jedi Star WarsAlso known as the Prime Jedi, when they begin to understand the Force for the first time and dedicate their lives to serving the mysterious power. As Lucasfilm builds toward the film’s as-yet-unconfirmed release date, more stories will undoubtedly be set in the dawn of the Jedi era.

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The old republic era explained

25,000-1,000 BB

The era that follows the dawn of the Jedi era is that of the Old Republic. Interestingly, this era has rarely been explored in Star Wars canon, with the majority of stories instead existing in legends. The most prominent are Star Wars: The Old Republic And Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Stories that Star Wars Canon did not contradict, meaning they could be classified as such. Regardless of whether stories are canon or legends, the concept of the Old Republic era remains largely the same.

The Old Republic era featured the Jedi at the height of their powersAlthough this led to conflict when a splinter group left and created the Sith. Over the millennia, the Jedi-Sith war raged. This culminated in the defeat of the Sith 1,000 years before the Skywalker saga, with the sole survivor – Darth Bane – founding Star Wars Sith Rule of Two. The Old Republic era is also known as the Mandalorian-Jedi War, another major conflict in the Star Wars History. With little outside the main events known, the hope is that upcoming Star Wars Projects will be set in the Old Republic era.

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The High Republic era explained

500-100 BB

The next era in the Star Wars Timeline is the High Republic. With the absence of the Sith after the Old Republic’s Jedi-Sith War, the High Republic saw the Jedi become the dominant force in the galaxy. Along with the members of the Republic began an era of growth and prosperity that eventually became known as the High Republic. This era of the Star Wars Timeline is classified as the four hundred years between 500 BB and 100 BB when the Republic faced relative peace with the Jedi Order as the guardians of the peace.

The bulk of stories in the High Republic era thus far exist in Lucasfilm’s transmedia initiative of the same name, Star Wars: The High Republic. It began in 2021 with a series of novels for adults, young adults and juniors, along with several comic books, and is centered on a conflict between the Jedi Order and a band of murderous pirates known as the Nihil. So far, the only movies or shows that take place in the High Republic era are Young Jedi Adventure And The acolyte.

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What happened between the High Republic and the Skywalker Saga?

The Sith began to rise once more

Between the era of the High Republic and the Skywalker saga, there was a big change. That said, the Sith had little to no presence in the High Republic as they were in hiding, training in secret for so long that the Jedi believed them extinct. However, the time between the High Republic and the Skywalker saga saw the Sith begin to unfold a plan that led directly into the prequel trilogy, masterminded by Star Wars Darth Plagueis and later, his apprentice Darth Sidious.

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The Fall of the Republic and the Clone Wars Explained

32–19 Bibi

After the High Republic, the fall of the Jedi era began. This era saw Darth Sidious, disguised as Republic Senator Sheev Palpatine, carry out his plan to form the Galactic Empire. The plan began with the rise of the separatists, a group of republicans who wanted to secede from the republic. , and are governed internally. Palpatine played both sides against one another, culminating in the outbreak of the Clone Wars nestled between The Phantom Menace And Attack of the clones.

The Clone Wars saw the Jedi Order become warriors, fighting for the Republic against the rising powers of the Separatists. The war and the manipulations of the Sith caused the shroud of the dark side to descend on the Jedi Order, including characters like Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker – the chosen one of the force. Using the Shroud, Palpatine seduced Anakin into becoming his apprentice, used a clone army to carry out a purge against the Jedi – Order 66 – and oversaw the fall of the Jedi and the Republic.

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The Dark Times explained

19-0 BB

The Dark Times of the Star Wars Timeline is also referred to as the rule of the empire. After Sidious’ plan worked in the prequel era, he formed the Galactic Empire and began ruling the galaxy with an iron fist. This saw the galaxy undergo nearly two decades of devastation, from the overbearing rule of the Empire to the lack of freedom and cooperation allowed by the Republic. Given that the empire’s reign affected so many in the Star Wars Galaxy, this era of the timeline contains the most movie and TV show stories Detailing the tyranny of Sidious.

This era saw the rise of some of the greatest heroes in the whole Star Wars Franchise. From the rise of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa to the origins of Han Solo and Chewbacca, the heroes of the Star Wars Original trilogy were born from the oppression of the empire. The same can be said for other heroes integral to the Rebel Alliance from later in the timeline, like Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and Ezra Bridger to name just a small handful.

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The Galactic Civil War declared

0-4 Abby

The era immediately succeeded the empire’s rule in the Star Wars Timeline is the era of the Galactic Civil War, Also known as the Age of Rebellion. The age of rebellion began with Rogue One: A Star Wars Storywhich saw the Rebel Alliance commit their first major offensive against the Empire as a united front. The assault took place on the planet of Scarif, with a team of insurgents led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor managing to steal the plans to the Death Star, leading directly into the events of A new hope.

After the skirmish on Scarif, the Rebel Alliance engaged the Galactic Empire in a series of clashes that lasted about four years. The era became known as the Galatic Civil War, with the Alliance fighting for freedom from the Empire while the Empire tried to stamp out the sparks of rebellion. The Battle of Yavin takes place at the beginning of the Galactic Civil War, days after the Battle of Scarif, with the final official battle of the war coming in 5 Aby with the Battle of Jakku and the signing of the Galactic Concordance.

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The New Republic era declared

4-34 Abbey

After the Battle of Jakku, the Republic reformed under the watch of Mon Mothma. The Republic began attempting to restore the freedom of the last regime before the rise of the Empire, while the remnants of the Imperials formulated plans to strike back from the Outer Rim territories. The majority of stories in this period came from Star Wars‘ Top-ranked TV shows like The Mandalorian And ahsaka, With future TV installments and movies expected to be set in the New Republic timeline as well.

The future stories will center around the resurgence of Star Wars‘ Grand Admiral Thrawn, a character who fought for the Empire before the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War. Thrawn is missing in another galaxy at the end of Star Wars RebelsOnly to return in Ahsoka In the era of the New Republic. Thrawn’s resurgence and reorganization of the Imperial remnants of the galaxy is expected to culminate in the film “Heir to the Empire” by Dave Filoni, all while tying the foundations of the First Order and Emperor Palpatine’s resurrection with Project Necromancer.

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The sequel trilogy era explained

34–35 Abbey

With the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney came the reemergence of Star Wars stories and a point beyond Age of Rebellion in the franchise’s timeline. This era is also known as the Rise of the First Order and details the rise of this organization out of the ashes of the Imperial remnants of the New Republic era. Under the leadership of Supreme Leader Snake, a Palpatine clone, and Kylo Ren, the First Order’s reign of terror became serious with the use of Starkiller Base to destroy the Hosnian system, the seat of the New Republic’s power.

After that, Leia Organa organized what was left of the Republic into the Resistance. The Star Wars Sequel trilogy outlines the efforts of the Resistance against the First Order, initially led by Snoke and then Kylo Ren. However, the war culminated in the discovery of Palpatine’s revival and the final order was unleashed. The Final Order was an initiative in which Star Destroyers with Death Star weapons would travel across the galaxy to destroy any planets that opposed Palpatine’s continued rule. However, Palpatine is defeated once and for all by Rey Skywalker, which is close to the sequel trilogy era of the Star Wars Timeline.

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Rey’s New Jedi Order era explained

50 AB & onwards

Much like Disney Star Wars is taking the timeline further back than it has ever been, it is doing the same going forward. Yet the sequel trilogy is not told a single story in the Star Wars franchise, with Rey’s New Jedi Order story intended to be the first. The story will take place 15 years later Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker And detail Rey’s attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order after the galaxy was without its guardians in number for almost 70 years.

The movie will not only explore how the galaxy is still the First Order, but it will also explore how the perception of the Jedi has changed over the years. Whether Rey will return to the dogmatic teachings of the prequel era or lead the Jedi into a new era with less restrictive customs remains to be seen, with screenwriter Steven Knight and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy expected to explore this. If Rey’s Jedi Order movie becomes a success, there’s no telling how many stories could be told to flesh out the distant current era in the Star Wars Timeline.