Disney’s “Star Wars” has changed and developed the franchise in many ways, including putting an end to a decade-long fan debate about how to watch the Skywalker Saga films. Ten years after Disney acquired Lucasfilm, there has never been so much “Star Wars” content that has been laid out for different media. In particular, the Disney+ platform made sure that at least the TV content of “Star Wars” could continue to be released in long intervals between theatrical releases. Now there are a lot of stories related to various moments in the “Star Wars” timeline that appear almost regularly on the streaming platform.
It’s been almost three years since Star Wars: Skywalker. Taika Waititi’s untitled Star Wars film is the strongest contender to bring the saga back to the big screen, but little is known about the project yet. However, “Star Wars” is still present in pop culture conversations thanks to successful live and animated shows such as “The Mandalorian,” “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” “The Boba Fett Book,” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” This trend will continue in the second half of 2022, when the second season of “Andor and the Bad Party” will appear.
In addition to the long list of “Star Wars” movies and TV programs, the Disney releases of the “Star Wars” era are radically changing how new and old viewers perceive the chronology of “Star Wars” and the order of viewing the saga. After the release of the prequel trilogy, fans discussed the order in which to properly watch the six full-length Star Wars films at that time: by year of release or by chronology of history. However, now that there are so many Star Wars movies and TV series that take place at different points in time and that are released without any regularity, this debate has lost most of its meaning.
Explanation of the “Star Wars” Viewing Order Argument
Before the Disney era, there were only six “Star Wars” films, consisting of the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, as well as the animated film “Clone Wars” and its spin-off series. Thus, and also considering that “Clone Wars” was initially very limited to a niche audience, any discussions regarding the chronology of “Star Wars” and the order of viewing were limited to the original six parts. The question of which order to watch the “Star Wars” movies has been a question since the prequels and up to the Disney era. The answer was either “originals first and then prequels” or “prequels first and then originals”.
When Star Wars, the first of the films, was renamed Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope in 1981, George Lucas made it clear that the stories of Luke, Han and Leia were only part of a much larger story. Even before the original trilogy ended, George Lucas had plans to make Episodes I, II and III of Star Wars so that he could tell the story “before the Dark Ages, before the Empire.” However, Lucas knew that he would have neither the budget nor the technology to make a Star Wars movie, which takes place in the days of prosperity of the galaxy with the participation of the Jedi at the peak of their power. Thus, he had to wait before he became more famous in Hollywood or the methods of filmmaking would develop and become cheaper.
Fortunately for George Lucas, both of these things happened, and the director was able to shoot the Star Wars prequel trilogy starting in 1999, 16 years after Return of the Jedi. Since then, there have been two ways a newcomer could watch the iconic Star Wars franchise—by issue or in chronological order. The first option meant first viewing the original trilogy, and then studying the origin story of Anakin Skywalker in the prequels. The second option meant first watching episodes I, II and III, and then returning to the first three “Star Wars” films.
There has never been a proper order of viewing “Star Wars”
There were pros and cons both chronologically and in the regular order of viewing “Star Wars”. For example, for the chronological version, the audience will be spoiled by Darth Vader’s iconic turn “I am your father”. Not only that, but watching “Star Wars” in chronological order would make someone’s first contact with the saga critically criticized “Star Wars: Episode-The Phantom Menace,” a film that has many good qualities but fails to convey what made the franchise so special.
As for the order of viewing after the release, the viewer will be spoiled by the original “Star Wars” trilogy, consisting of the main events of the “Star Wars” prequels, such as the capture of the Galaxy by the Emperor, the destruction of the Jedi and the transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. . Thus, there has never been a proper order of viewing “Star Wars”.
