It’s a question that’s as old as the franchise itself. From the moment Star Wars was retitled to Episode IV: A New Hope, audiences around the globe had one simple question: Where’s I, II and III? Did we miss them?
I’ve always enjoyed this debate with fellow fans. Some are quite flexible and will have fun with the order of viewing when they do movie marathons, while some will toil for days of how to introduce a friend or a loved one to the franchise and some will never change the way they watch the films…period.
It’s a fascinating topic and will forever be mused upon. Unlike other franchises, the Star Wars films were infamously released in non-chronological order. I’ve been thinking long and hard about this since the start of the new year as some family members, facing the prospect of a long and quiet January, asked me which order they should watch the series in. After a little thought, I gave them the story order to save confusing any matters and placed the two stand-alone films where they should be in the timeline too.
And so, with that, first up…
The Story Order
This one is simple and we all know it but, here in black and white, it looks like this; The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Solo, Rogue One, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker.
Television shows get a little complicated as the ‘Mandoverse’ shows are overlapping and interconnecting. If one were to do the complete story of Star Wars it would look like this; The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith, The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Solo, Andor, Rebels, Rogue One, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker.
Of course, with The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew coming this year that adds even more to the mix. It’s also worth noting that Andor season 1 begins farther out from A New Hope than Rebels, but we know from Tony Gilroy himself that Andor season 2 will take us right into the events of Rogue One.
That’s quite something. Let’s look at some of the other ways that fans can watch.
Release Order
This has been some fans only viewing for years and we discount the sequels here as from my research on forums, people don’t typically include them in their viewing. Release order, as we know, looks like this; A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith.
Lucas himself always said that he was adamant it should always be in story order and never this but if one grew up with the films from their release and only experienced them in this way then it’s clear why this would be your viewing order experience.
Vader’s Story (aka The Machete Cut)
This one is infamous and began many years ago before the Disney acquisition. The idea being that the story of Star Wars is Anakin’s and so the way to view them is with his journey. The order of this version goes as such; A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi.
It’s done this way to preserve the reveal of “I am your father” and once the parentage is revealed then Episodes II and III serve as a flashback. The Phantom Menace is completely omitted for different reasons for different fans but, either way, we finish with Return of the Jedi and its completion of Vader’s arc.
The Rogue One Kick-Off Version
This one is really interesting. A friend of mine did the following version of the films to show to his partner who had never seen any of them. It’s a fascinating look and we’ll come to the ‘whys’ in just a second.
The order goes like this; Rogue One, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, Solo, The Last Jedi, The Rise of the Skywalker.
It’s done this way for various reasons. Rogue One is considered to be one of the strongest films the saga has produced and leads directly into A New Hope so it can almost be done as a double-feature and can also been seen as a ‘prologue’ to the novel that is Star Wars. It also preserves the ‘Vader/Luke reveal’ and then Solo is placed after The Force Awakens as it then serves as a sort of eulogy to Han Solo after the climactic events with son, Ben Solo.
Specific Character Stories
Speaking of Han Solo, there’s a multitude of ways one could cherry pick the films to tell the story of a certain character. For Han Solo, we could go; Solo, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens. This is his full story in chronological order but, again, if one wanted his backstory after his demise then simply tag Solo on at the end. We leave The Rise of Skywalker out of this as Han’s brief return in that film is there to serve the story arc of Ben and his redemption.
For Obi-Wan Kenobi, we would have to include the limited series of the same name but this isn’t too complicated as for now the character hasn’t appeared in any other shows and the series hasn’t been given the greenlight for a second. His story would go; The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi, A New Hope. This would also serve as a different story for Vader too as the limited series really did come down to those two characters and their relationship with each other.
For Princess Leia, again, we would include Obi-Wan Kenobi and the following would tell a rounded and complete story for the character; Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker. We omit Rogue One as she is a cameo at the end and we begin with Sith to establish her bloodline and the fall of her father and to explain her adoption with the Organa’s.
Luke’s story is a little trickier as his appearances in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett make things complicated, however, at a push, then one could simply watch the episodes that he appears in.
With the universe of Star Wars ever-growing then all of this could change at the drop of a hat. What if Han Solo appears in the Lando film? Will Luke show up in Ahsoka Season 2 or The Mandalorian & Grogu movie? If Kenobi gets a second season then the contained and singular story that it told will surely throw things up in the air?
How do you watch the films? Story order? Release order? Or something entirely different? Be sure to let us know if the comments section on our social media feeds.
https://www.youtube.com/@FanthaTracksTV | https://links.fanthatracks.com/ | www.instagram.com/fanthatracks | www.facebook.com/FanthaTracks | www.twitter.com/FanthaTracks | www.pinterest.co.uk/fanthatracks/ | www.fanthatracks.tumblr.com/ | www.tiktok.com/@fanthatracks | www.twitch.tv/fanthatracks | www.threads.net/@FanthaTracks
- Hardcover Book
- Miller, John Jackson (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 432 Pages - 04/09/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House Worlds (Publisher)
