How to Watch All 11 ‘Star Wars’ Movies in Order — Where to Start & Which to Skip

May the Fourth be with you! The fourth day of May is a great time to be a Star Wars fan, and with the “holiday” falling on a weekend this year, it’s also a great time for a movie marathon. But if you’ve never seen any of the films, where should you start? Here, we’re breaking down two of the most popular “viewing orders” for the Skywalker Saga, as well as advising on which movies, if any, a newbie to the galaxy far, far away could skip. Grab a bucket of popcorn and a Star Wars-obsessed friend, and prepare for an epic journey.

What do prequels, sequels, and originals mean?

First, if you’re a total newbie to the Star Wars universe, you might need a quick explainer on how the movies are grouped together. The original trilogy was released from 1977 to 1983, and it contains A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi — it’s referred to as “Original” because those were the original Star Wars movies. The prequel trilogy, released from 1999 to 2005, serves as prequels to the events of the originals. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith focus on the origin story of Darth Vader. Lastly, the sequel trilogy, released from 2015 to 2019, takes place 30 years after the original trilogy. This means that The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker are all sequels to those original films from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

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How can you watch the main films in release order?

If you ask any Star Wars fan on the street how they’d recommend you watch the saga, at least 80% of them would probably suggest this method. Here, you’ll start at 1977’s classic A New Hope and move forward by the year of the movie’s release, not where it takes place on the Star Wars timeline. You’ll watch Luke (Mark Hamill), Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han (Harrison Ford) first, then you’ll learn about Anakin (Hayden Christensen), Padme (Natalie Portman) and Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), and finally you’ll end up with Rey (Daisy Ridley), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac).

To summarize, here’s how you would watch the movies in this order: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi (the original trilogy); next The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith (prequel trilogy); finally The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker (sequel trilogy).

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How can you watch the main films in timeline order?

If you choose not to opt for a release date order, you could watch the movies as they occurred in the Star Wars timeline. This would have you start with the prequel trilogy, then proceed to the originals, and end at the sequels. You’ll first learn how Darth Vader came to be, next you’ll see Luke, Leia, and Han go to battle against him, and then you’ll end up at the more recent sequels.

Here’s how you would watch the movies in timeline order: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith; then A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi; and finally, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.

If you’re only interested in watching the Skywalker Saga — which is to say, the movies with direct connections to the Skywalker lineage and its impact on the galaxy — you can watch those nine movies and stop. However, you’d be missing two major Star Wars theatrical releases. Here’s how to incorporate them into your viewing.

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How can you watch the main films plus the standalones?

There are two self-contained movies in the Disney Star Wars theatrical canon: Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Again, if you walked up to someone wearing a Boba Fett T-shirt on the street and asked them where they’d put those two movies in a traditional marathon, you’d probably get a good answer… although you might stumble on a fan who recommends skipping one of them entirely.

Rogue One is widely considered one of the best Star Wars movies, and we find it hard to believe anyone would advise you not to watch it (plus, it ties directly to the critically acclaimed Disney+ series Andor, which is currently airing its second and final season). The best place to put Rogue One in a viewing order is not, confusingly, when it was released. Because the events of the film link directly to the events of A New Hope and it technically serves as a prequel to the events of that movie, you could watch it before anything else. However, because none of its main characters appear in any of the other films, where it falls in a viewing order is malleable. Some might recommend watching it after Return of the Jedi, while others still might save it until the very end and watch it after The Rise of Skywalker. Whenever you decide to watch it, most fans would at least agree that it’s well worth your time… and it has an iconic Darth Vader moment, too.

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Solo, on the other hand, is more divisive. Released in 2018 to a fanbase in turmoil after the controversial The Last Jedi, Solo didn’t exactly light the box office on fire. Many were skeptical of it as an entry into Star Wars canon and maintained that it wasn’t necessary to see how Han Solo became, well, Han Solo — the smuggler with a heart of gold from the Original Trilogy. We think that’s a shame because Alden Ehrenreich does an excellent job exploring Han Solo’s life in his younger years. The movie also features great performances from Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame, and Donald Glover as a young Lando Calrissian. Solo is technically also a prequel to A New Hope, but we wouldn’t recommend starting with it. Our recommendation would be to add it after Return of the Jedi, or, if you save the standalones for last, to watch it after The Rise of Skywalker. We do think you should give it a chance, though. It’s a fun story. But if you’re going to skip one Star Wars pic, this one would be the one to opt out of because you won’t miss too much in the way of canon.

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