The best order for a full Star Wars rewatch

The Skywalker saga is complete, the Clone Wars animated series has come to an finish (sort of), and one of many best Star Wars stories ever told has returned for its remaining season. That’s proper, Andor is again to remind us of simply how nice Star Wars tales may be. The present’s remaining run of episodes will take us proper as much as Rogue One, and fills in one of many richest and most attention-grabbing intervals within the Star Wars timeline. After all, if Andor’s excellence places you within the temper to leap proper again right into a galaxy far far-off, then now we have excellent news: Disney Plus has each film and present that’s at present canon (and a few that aren’t).

However what’s the easiest way to observe all of it? After George Lucas launched his prequel trilogy, Star Wars followers debated the order through which to devour the sequence. Now, with three trilogies, a pair spinoff motion pictures, some animated and live-action sequence, and no less than two spinoffs of spinoffs, the “correct” approach to watch the Star Wars saga is much more difficult. With all that in thoughts, listed below are a number of totally different viewing orders to information you, whether or not you’re a longtime fan trying to revisit the movies and exhibits or a newcomer in want of a Star Wars crash course.

Watching Star Wars in chronological order

This viewing order doesn’t require a lot clarification. That is how the occasions of the Star Wars universe occurred on the BBY (Earlier than the Battle of Yavin)/ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) timeline. It begins with the earliest occasions and strikes ahead in time from there. A few these could occur concurrently, however that’s not our fault.

One factor to notice is that the addition of the The Acolyte now makes this a typically unappealing watch order. That present is constructed nearly completely on our preexisting understanding of the Jedi, which signifies that a first-time watcher is perhaps completely misplaced, and a longtime fan is perhaps lacking the juicy rewatch particulars that would add to the present. However, Skeleton Crew slots very properly into this order, giving us our first actual have a look at life within the galaxy within the quick aftermath of the Empire’s fall and in the course of the rise of the New Republic.

Watching Star Wars in Skywalker Saga order

Taking a little bit of inspiration from the internet-famous Ernst Rister order — initially taken from a now-deleted discussion board submit — this listing makes use of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Again as setup for the prequel motion pictures and places extra give attention to Luke Skywalker. Viewing the flicks and exhibits this fashion makes positive that you understand the place his household got here from.

This order diverges from the Skywalker story after each Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi, nevertheless it offers you a lot better context for Anakin’s heroics in the course of the Clone Wars and units up his redemptive second of siding with Luke over Emperor Palpatine. As you get into the brand new trilogy, it continues to place Luke on the middle.

The trickiest a part of this order is the very squishy center part, which focuses on a number of various things, together with Mandalore, a few Mandalorians, and Ahsoka, for a short time moderately than Luke and the Skywalker household — even when they do crop up from time to time.

The Acolyte can be an advanced addition right here, however the present has sufficient thematic resonance that we will do one thing attention-grabbing with it. To maintain the emphasis on Luke, we’re placing it between The Drive Awakens and The Final Jedi, nearly like a historic Jedi parable that he reads whereas on Ahch-To, a reminder of a well-known story of a Jedi instructor failing a toddler and letting them slip to the Darkish Aspect. It helps counsel that Luke has been sitting and stewing on his failures with Ben for years, and that the story of Sol is especially resonant for him.

This listing additionally consists of Skeleton Crew as a direct follow-up to Return of the Jedi. Since many of the TV and film work within the Star Wars universe doesn’t actually cowl how the remainder of the galaxy handled the autumn of the Empire and the gradual growth of the New Republic, we’re utilizing Skeleton Crew to face in for all of that, and to arrange the state of the galaxy for remainder of the story.

Watching Star Wars in… galaxy-brain order

We advocate this playlist for individuals who’ve seen all of Star Wars sufficient instances that they need to combine issues up with a really bizarre expertise. This doesn’t actually complement anybody character or storyline a lot because the sequence as a complete. This order ought to provide help to catch all of the small references from one film or present and join them to the subsequent — although you’ll most likely nonetheless miss a number of.

Within the first few entries, the main focus is on the Rise up. Then, at its lowest second, we change sides to Anakin to see how he turned Darth Vader. To make Anakin’s story much more attention-grabbing, we use The Acolyte as a short apart, maybe a narrative Anakin would have been aware of, about one other Jedi Padawan who was tempted over to the Darkish Aspect. This concept of The Acolyte as a Jedi legend will get amplified when Anakin hears a Darkish Aspect corollary in Revenge of the Sith, when Palpatine tells him about Darth Plagueis, a much more interesting story, and one which additionally entails utilizing the Drive to create life.

This parallel creates a pleasant little resonant acknowledgement of the methods Star Wars historical past usually rhymes with itself. After that, we see the autumn of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, and the aftermath in The Mandalorian, Skeleton Crew, and The Ebook of Boba Fett.

Ahsoka additionally has a little bit of an odd match on this order, in that she type of simply jumps out and in of the story after her introduction in Clone Wars — which, whereas narratively odd, does most intently match how she truly operates within the sequence.

The final bizarre piece of this order is repositioning the brand new trilogy with Han as a extra central determine. We see his household battle in The Drive Awakens, after which make amends for his backstory with Solo. This order turns Luke giving Han’s fortunate cube to Leia in The Final Jedi right into a barely extra vital second, and makes it clear that that is Luke trying to fix a few of the ache he delivered to Han’s household.

Observe: If you wish to go all the way in which on this order, we advocate watching A New Hope up till the planning assembly for the Battle of Yavin. At that time, swap to Andor seasons 1 and a pair of, then Rogue One, then return to the remainder of A New Hope. This fashion, we get a short interlude of a heroic flashback for the Rise up earlier than leaping into the primary story.

Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media could earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. For extra data, see our ethics policy.