Today is May the 4th, a single day a year where it’s not only okay to shout about your love for all things Star Wars but encouraged. Star Wars has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember, thanks to my dad taking me to watch the movies, and it has remained a part of my life ever since.
However, as much as I love all things Star Wars, it is easy to feel entirely overwhelmed by the sheer number of things that exist in the universe. As of putting together this list, there are 12 Star Wars movies, 22 Star Wars TV Shows and over 100 different Star Wars comic series.
This year in the spirit of May the 4th and celebrating all things Star Wars, I thought I’d tackle this extreme barrier to entry, and I would figure out the chronology and where everything fits together so that you don’t have to. Enjoy.
Everything Before The Phantom Menace:
Everything Before Revenge of the Sith:
Everything Before SOLO: A Star Wars Story:
Three years later, Han is serving as an infantryman on Mimban. He encounters a trio of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers, led by Tobias Beckett. Beckett has Han Solo arrested and thrown into a pit to be fed to a Wookiee prisoner named Chewbacca. Able to understand Chewbacca’s language, Han persuades him to cooperate to escape.
Han and Chewbacca volunteer to help Beckett steal another shipment to repay the debt so that Vos will not kill him. They travel to Vos’s yacht, where Han finds Qi’ra, who has joined Crimson Dawn as Vos’s top lieutenant.
Everything Before A New Hope:
Comic Book: SOLO
Solo is a comic book miniseries adapting the movie of the same name.
Comic Book: Han Solo – Imperial Cadet
Star Wars: Han Solo focuses on Han Solo just after joining the Imperial Military.
Comic Book: Thrawn
Star Wars: Thrawn is a comic book adapting a novel of the same name. The series takes place between Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and follows the life of Mitth’raw’nuruodo, Thrawn, as he rises through the ranks of the Galactic Empire.
TV Show: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi is watching over Luke Skywalker on Tatooine when he finds himself embarking on an adventure.
Comic Book: Rogue One – Cassian & K2-SO
Cassian Andor is one of the top intelligence agents in the ranks of the Rebel Alliance, ably assisted by his reprogrammed Imperial security droid, K-2SO. But naturally, the two weren’t always on the same side of the Galactic Civil War.
TV Show: Star Wars Rebels
Fourteen years after the fall of both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order and the rise of the Galactic Empire, a group of rebels unite aboard a light freighter called the Ghost and begin to conduct covert operations against Imperial forces on and around the planet Lothal and on other planets that are menaced by the Empire.
Comic Book: Vader – Dark Visions
Darth Vader has been many things: a Sith warrior, a commander, a destroyer. Darth Vader is, to many, a symbol of fear, but some have seen him in a different light. There are some corners of the galaxy so dark and desperate that even Vader can be a knight in shining armour.
TV Show: Visions
A Star Wars anthology series that showcased some of the world’s best anime creators talent as they brought their own Star Wars stories to life.
TV Show: A Droid Story
Not much is known about A Driod Story yet other than that the Disney+ show will introduce a new hero, guided by legendary duo R2-D2 and C-3PO.
Comic Book: Rogue One
The Rogue One crew makes the leap from the big screen to the comic-book page in this action-packed adaptation.
Movie: Rogue One
Research scientist Galen Erso and his family are hiding on the planet Lah’mu when Imperial weapons developer Orson Krennic arrives to press him into completing the Death Star, a space station-based superweapon capable of destroying entire planets. Galen’s wife, Lyra, is killed in the confrontation, while their daughter, Jyn, escapes and is rescued by rebel extremist Saw Gerrera.
Fifteen years later, cargo pilot Bodhi Rook defects from the Empire, taking a holographic message recorded by Galen to Gerrera on the desert moon Jedha. Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor learns of Rook’s defection and the Death Star from an informant. Jyn is freed from an Imperial labour camp at Wobani and is brought to the Rebel leader Mon Mothma, who convinces her to find and rescue Galen so the Alliance can learn more about the Death Star.
Movie: A New Hope
Amid a galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen plans for the Galactic Empire’s Death Star, a massive space station capable of destroying entire planets. Imperial Senator Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, secretly one of the Rebellion’s leaders, has obtained its schematics, but her starship is intercepted by an Imperial Star Destroyer under the command of the ruthless Darth Vader. Before she is captured, Leia hides the plans in the memory system of R2-D2, who flees in an escape pod to the nearby desert planet.
The schematics reveal a hidden weakness in the Death Star’s thermal exhaust port, which could allow the Rebels to trigger a chain reaction in its main reactor with a precise proton torpedo strike. Guided by the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan’s spirit, Luke uses the Force to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, destroying the Death Star moments before it fires on the Rebel base.
Everything Before The Empire Strikes Back:
Comic Book: Star Wars: Princess Leia
The series follows Leia as she deals with the destruction of Alderaan, her homeworld.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Chewbacca
The story sees Chewbacca, the titular character, temporarily stranded on a planet during a mission for the Rebel Alliance.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Han Solo
Set between the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, the comic series follows Han Solo in his early days with the Rebel Alliance.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Darth Vader
Star Wars: Darth Vader takes a deep dive into the previously unseen past of Darth Vader himself.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra
With the Rebel Alliance back on the run after their defeat at the Battle of Hoth, it’s never been a more dangerous time for outlaws, scoundrels and the errant rogue archaeologist to make their way in the galaxy. But after a string of bad luck and near escapes, Doctor Aphra is back on the job.
Comic Book: Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel
Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel is a crossover event that takes place between Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Target Vader
Star Wars: Target Vader focuses on the character Beilert Valance during his time as a bounty hunter.
Comic Book: Star Wars: Lando
To clear an old debt, Lando assembles a crew to pull a heist: to rob a valuable spacecraft.
Movie: The Empire Strikes Back
Three years after the destruction of the Death Star, the Imperial fleet, led by Darth Vader, dispatches Probe Droids across the galaxy to locate Princess Leia’s Rebel Alliance.
Alerted to the Rebels’ location, the Empire launches a large-scale attack using AT-AT walkers to capture the base, forcing the Rebels to evacuate. Han and Leia escape with C-3PO and Chewbacca aboard the Millennium Falcon, but the ship’s hyperdrive malfunctions.
Meanwhile, Luke travels with R2-D2 in his X-wing fighter to Dagobah, where he crash-lands. He meets Yoda, a diminutive creature who reluctantly accepts him as his Jedi apprentice after conferring with Obi-Wan’s spirit. Yoda trains Luke to master the light side of the Force and resist the negative emotions that will seduce him to the dark side, as they did Vader. However, Luke struggles to control his anger and impulsiveness and fails to comprehend the nature and power of the Force until he witnesses Yoda use it to lift the X-wing effortlessly from the swamp telekinetically. Luke experiences a premonition of Han and Leia in pain and, despite Obi-Wan’s and Yoda’s protestations, abandons his training to rescue them.
Luke arrives and engages Vader in a lightsaber duel over the city’s central air shaft. Vader overwhelms Luke, severing his right hand and separating him from his lightsaber. He urges Luke to embrace the power of the dark side and help him destroy his master, the Emperor, so they may rule the galaxy together. Luke refuses, citing Obi-Wan’s claim that Vader killed his father, prompting Vader to reveal that he is Luke’s father.
Everything Before Return of The Jedi:
Comic Book: Star Wars: Bounty Hunters
Star Wars: Bounty Hunters features the bounty hunters Beilert Valance, Boba Fett and Bossk, and takes place between the events of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.
Comic Book: Star Wars: The Fighter
Star Wars: The Fighter takes place between Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and goes about Shadow Wing, a group of elite TIE fighter pilots.
Movie: Return of The Jedi
A year after Han Solo’s capture, C-3PO and R2-D2 are sent to crime lord Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine in a trade bargain made by Luke Skywalker to rescue Han, who is still frozen in carbonite. Disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, Princess Leia infiltrates the palace under the pretence of collecting the bounty on Chewbacca and unfreezes Han, but is caught and enslaved. Luke soon arrives to bargain for his friends’ release, and having hidden his new lightsaber inside R2-D2, Luke frees himself and his friends, and they battle Jabba’s men aboard the crime lord’s sail barge.
As the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training with Yoda, whom he discovers is dying. Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once the Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker, is Luke’s father and reveals that there is another Skywalker before vanishing and becoming one with the Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Force spirit then tells Luke that Leia is his twin sister and that he must face Vader again to finish his training and defeat the Empire.
Everything Before The Force Awakens:
Comic Book: Shattered Empire
The Shattered Empire comic book series is set immediately after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and it explores the galactic implications of Emperor Palpatine’s death in the Battle of Endor.
Movie: Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.
TV Show: The Book of Boba Fett
The TV Show for The Book of Boba Fett goes about how Boba Fett and Fennec Shand attempt to make a name for themselves in the galaxy’s underworld by taking over the territory once controlled by Jabba the Hutt.
TV Show: The Mandalorian
Starting five years after the events of Return of the Jedi during the fall of the Galactic Empire, The Mandalorian follows Din Djarin, a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy.
TV Show: Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic
Set within the same timeline of The Mandalorian, this upcoming TV Show promises to intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.
TV Show: Ashoka
Ashoka follows the adventures of Ahsoka Tano and is a spin-off from The Mandalorian.
Comic Book: The Rise of Kylo Ren
Young Ben Solo is legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker’s most promising pupil. As the son of Rebel Alliance heroes Leia Organa and Han Solo, as well as Luke’s own nephew, Ben has the potential to be a great force for light in the galaxy. But the Skywalker legacy casts a long shadow, the currents of the dark side run deep, and Darth Vader’s blood runs in Ben’s veins.
Comic Book: Poe Dameron
The comic book series Poe Dameron focuses on events prior to the film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens and events before and after the film Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi.
TV Show: The Resistance
Set shortly before and during the events of the sequel trilogy, The Resistance follows Kazuda Xiono, a New Republic pilot who is recruited by the Resistance to spy on the growing threat of the First Order.
Movie: The Force Awakens
Thirty years after the Galactic Civil War, the First Order has risen from the fallen Galactic Empire and seeks to end the New Republic. The Resistance, backed by the Republic and led by General Leia Organa, opposes the First Order. Leia searches for her brother, Luke Skywalker, who has gone missing.
On the desert planet Jakku, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron receives a map to Luke’s location from Lor San Tekka. Aboard the Falcon, Han explains that Luke attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order, but exiled himself when an apprentice turned to the dark side, destroyed the temple, and slaughtered the other apprentices.
At the Resistance base on D’Qar, BB-8 finds R2-D2, who had been inactive since Luke’s disappearance. Han confronts Kylo, calling him by his birth name Ben, and implores him to abandon the dark side. Kylo seems to consider this but ultimately kills Han instead. Devastated, Chewbacca shoots Kylo and sets off the explosives, allowing Poe to attack and destroy the base’s thermal oscillator.
Everything Before The Last Jedi:
Comic Book: The Force Awakens
A comic adaption of the 2015 film of the same name.
Comic Book: Captain Phasma
Set during the events of The Force Awakens, but this time everything is told from Phasma’s perspective.
Movie: The Last Jedi
Shortly after the battle of Starkiller Base, General Leia Organa is leading the Resistance forces in evacuating their base when the First Order fleet arrives. Against Leia’s orders, Poe Dameron leads a costly counterattack that destroys a First Order dreadnought. The remaining Resistance escapes into hyperspace, but the First Order uses a device to track them and attacks again. Kylo Ren hesitates to fire on the lead Resistance ship after sensing his mother Leia’s presence on board, but his wingmen destroy the bridge, killing most of the Resistance’s leaders.
Ordered to kill Rey, Kylo instead kills Snoke and defeats his Praetorian Guard with her help. Rey hopes that Kylo has abandoned the dark side, but he instead asks her to rule the galaxy with him. Refusing, she battles him for control of Luke’s lightsaber, bisecting the weapon. Holdo sacrifices herself by slicing through Snoke’s flagship at lightspeed, crippling the First Order fleet. Rey escapes the destruction while Kylo declares himself Supreme Leader.
Everything Before The Rise of Skywalker:
Comic Book: The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Adaptation is an adaptation of a movie of the same name.
Comic Book: Allegiance
Star Wars: Allegiance is set before the events of Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker.
Comic Book: Galaxy’s Edge
Galaxy’s Edge is a comic book miniseries and the story ties into the theme park of the same name.
Comic Book: The Rise of Skywalker
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a comic book adaptation of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Movie: The Rise of Skywalker
Following a threat of revenge by the resurrected Emperor Palpatine, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith wayfinder that leads to the planet Exegol. Kylo initiates a Force bond with Rey to discover her location.
Rey transmits her coordinates to R2-D2, allowing the Resistance, now led by Poe and Finn, to follow her to Exegol. There, she confronts Palpatine. He demands she kill him to let his spirit to pass into her. Weakened, Rey hears the voices of past Jedi, who give her strength. Palpatine attacks her with lightning, but Rey deflects it using Luke and Leia’s lightsabers, killing Palpatine before dying. Ben uses the Force to revive Rey, and they kiss before he dies. The Resistance defeats Palpatine’s remaining forces while people across the galaxy rise up against the First Order.
The Resistance celebrates their victory. Rey visits Luke’s abandoned homestead on Tatooine and buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. A passerby asks her name; seeing Luke and Leia’s Force spirits nearby, she responds, “Rey Skywalker”.
We hope you now have a good idea of where everything fits into the Star Wars chronology, from the TV Shows to Comics and Movies alike. If this list inspired you to go out and pick up some Star Wars comics, remember to head over to Critters and Comics, and if you’re looking for the best comics to start with, you can check out our post here. May the 4th be with you.