What Is The Best Order To Watch Star Wars?
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
We are weeks away from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. This movie is supposed to be the conclusion to the Skywalker saga that will have spanned nine installments proper and a few spin-offs to fill in some backstory. Given that these movies date back to 1977 and there have been long stretches in between these movies being made in bunches, several generations of Star Wars fans have had their own personal unique entry into a galaxy far, far away.
Because of this, no one can seem to agree on what the best order is for watching these movies to maximize the viewing experience. Do you start with Episode I and work your way through the chronology of the story? Do you go in chronological order of when the movies were released? I have come up with what I believe is the best order to watch the movies in a way that enhances the story being told while maintaining narrative cohesion. And we’re only talking the live-action movies, so no Clone Wars or The Mandalorian. So, I give you the definitive order for watching Star Wars, from a certain point of view.
1. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
Honestly, there is no other place to start. It’s the one that started it all and, frankly, it should always be the entry point into this saga. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, with the help of Old Ben Kenobi take on the galactic empire and the evil Darth Vader. It’s got everything you need to set the stage for everything that is to come. Someone may argue, “Why not start with Rogue One, which ends by leading right into A New Hope?” Well here’s why…
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
That’s right, we’re going Quentin Tarantino and we’re going nonlinear to tell this story. To go forward, we must go back. Rogue One tells the story of how the rebellion obtained the plans of the Death Star that gets destroyed at the end of A New Hope. Jumping back here does a few things for us. First, when A New Hope was originally released, people had to wait three years before they got Empire Strikes Back. Throwing Rogue One in here helps maintain at least some semblance of that anticipation for Episode V. Second, it gives us the great Vader scene at the end which enhances the menace of the character going into Empire.
3. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
After the Rogue One interlude, we get back into the main story and the heart of the story. Empire is rife with substance that reverberates throughout the franchise. Everything goes wrong for our heroes. We get introduced to Lando. Han ends up frozen in carbonite. Luke goes to train with Yoda. He confronts Vader and loses a hand for his efforts. And then we get the bombshell of a revelation that Vader is Luke’s father. World’s collide, our entire belief system of good and evil and everything that we thought we knew from this franchise is upended by this revelation. Our heroes have suffered greatly in this, and we need to pause once again. And we could use some help to process this information.
4. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
5. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
6. Star Wars – Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Enter the prequels. Look, in my opinion, they’re a step below the rest of the Star Wars saga, but we must make do with what we’ve got. Throwing them in here maintains the surprise of Vader being Luke’s father, and then we journey back to see how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.
The only thing that can’t be avoided is spoiling the revelation that Leia is Luke’s twin sister. When Luke leaves in Empire to confront Vader, Obi-Wan says, “That boy was our last hope.” Yoda replies, “No, there is another.” You could argue that the end of Empire then hints that Leia is the person that Yoda is talking about when Luke is dangling from the bottom of Cloud City and Leia hears him reaching out to her in the Millennium Falcon and she guides Lando to where he is, but the actual reveal is saved for Return of the Jedi. Overall, though, I’d say this is only a minor spoiler of events in Return of the Jedi.
This also gives us a more in-depth intro to Emperor Palpatine as we are first introduced to him in Empire talking to Vader via hologram. The prequels also give us plenty of backstory for him too. But before we return to jump back to Episode VI, we need one more diversion…
7. Solo: A Star Wars Story
Honestly, this movie is the toughest one to place. It takes place after the prequels, but before Rogue One and Episode IV. It has the fewest ties to the rest of the movies in terms of importance to the overall narrative. I’m placing it here because at this point of the re-watch, Han has been left frozen in carbonite to be handed over to Jabba the Hut. Lando and Chewie have gone in pursuit of bringing him back. Putting Solo here gives us the connective tissue between Han, Chewie, and Lando leading into…
8. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Han gets rescued by his friends, Luke returns to Dagobah and is told that he must confront his father to become a Jedi while also learning that Leia is his sister. The rebellion engages the Empire in the Battle of Endor in the shadow of a fully armed and operational Death Star. Luke confronts his Vader and the Emperor, and turns his father in the process, and the Emperor is defeated. And there are Ewoks involved. And there is the happily ever after ending.
9. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens
10. Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
11. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
This is the most jarring part of the watch, because there is something like a 30-year jump between the end of Jedi and The Force Awakens and there is no way to really soften that. Putting Solo here was an option, given that so much of Episode VII is Han’s swan song, but it felt right to put it where I placed it. Like the prequels, this trilogy is presented uninterrupted. Given that Episode IX is not out yet, it remains to be seen how this will serve as a culmination of not just the modern trilogy, but a combination of the trilogy of trilogies (which may be an impossible task).
So there you have it. This order maintains as much of a spoiler-free narrative as possible for anyone watching Star Wars for the first time and it is a fun jaunt through as a re-watch. It jumps around a bit in the first half, but then balances out into a narrative straight line at the end. Give it a try, especially in the lead up to the release of The Rise of Skywalker on December 20th.
And may the Force be with you.