How to Watch Star Wars Shows Chronologically Ahead of Andor Premiere
Star Wars is a phenomenon. Since that first film came out in 1977, it has captured the imagination of generations of moviegoers and has since expanded into animation and now big-budget TV series.
We have seen everything within the Star Wars universe, from a version of Christmas – Life Day (a spectacularly bad Christmas special) to a range of big-budget, groundbreaking shows with incredible storytelling and special effects that fill in the gaps between the various movies.
Today, that story is continuing to get even bigger, as Disney Plus ramps up for the release of 'Andor ', the new Star Wars series. But where does it fit into the timeline of what is now a complicated myriad of the main movie story, animation, TV shows, and one-off movies? If you want to caught up with Star Wars before 'Andor' hits the screens on September 21, it may be difficult to know where to start.
There are many options when it comes to watching Star Wars. Some will say stick to the release order, but that doesn't really work, you go backwards and forwards in time continually and it can be confusing. Instead, watching in chronological order lets you follow the story right from the beginning, but with a dozen movies and a growing number of TV shows, getting that chronological order right is not as easy as you may think.
However, we are here to help you out! Here is the definitive guide for watching Star Wars in chronological order so that you have everything in place for this new show. This list includes animation, but excludes the various Lego Star Wars content, which some may enjoy but is not considered part of the official story.
- Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002 Movie)
- Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 Animated Series)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 Animated Movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 Animated Series)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005 Movie)
- Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021 Animated Series)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018 Movie)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi ( 2022 Series)
- Star Wars Rebels (2014 Animated Series)
- Star Wars: Andor (Premiere September 21st, 2022)
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983 Movie)
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian ( 2019 Series)
- The Book of Boba Fett (2021 Series)
- Star Wars: Resistance (2018 Animated Series)
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019 Movie)
- Star Wars: Visions (2021 Anime Series)
This is the definitive timeline of the Star Wars story, and by following down the list you will see the entire saga unfold before you. Not all series are necessary to get the full experience, for instance, the original 2003 animated series 'Clone Wars' is not available on Disney Plus, but you don't really miss any major plot points by skipping over it.
However, while this gives the full story of the Star Wars saga in complete chronological order, it does have some issues. The way the movies were made, with huge gaps in time between the production of the original three and both prequels and sequels, there are some glaring continuity problems. In addition, you do get some spoilers by going this route. The big reveal in 'Empire Strikes Back' is entirely spoiled in the prequel trilogy, which is worth remembering if you have never watched any of the movies before. Likewise, although strictly taking place before 'The Force Awakens', the 'Resistance' animated series does include spoilers for that movie, having been created three years after it was released.
For anyone completely new to the world of Star Wars, a different order is suggested to avoid some of those chronological timeline issues. This way of watching is often referred to as the Machete Order. However, this only refers to the movies, and cuts out 'The Phantom Menace' entirely for some reason. We prefer to keep all the content in, and this approach would give new watchers all the best moments intact.
For this approach to the story, the watching order looks like this:
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002 Movie)
- Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 Animated Series)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 Animated Movie)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 Animated Series)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005 Movie)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018 Movie)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022 Series)
- Star Wars Rebels (2014 Animated Series)
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983 Movie)
- Star Wars: The Mandalorian (2019 Series)
- The Book of Boba Fett (2021 Series)
- Star Wars: Resistance (2018 Animated Series)
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017 Movie)
- Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019 Movie)
Whichever way you choose to watch, that is a lot of Star Wars to enjoy before the new series gets going.