May the fourth be with you: Every Star Wars film and the order to watch them in

I’ll open this one by saying I’m not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world.

I know who Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are. I know there was something up between Luke and Leia and that Chewbacca was a wookie. I also know that at some point in time, Liam Neeson turns up and that his involvement was spoiled by my purchase of the soundtrack for the movie and reading the tracklisting before watching the damn thing.

Go figure.

Anyway, a few years ago, I picked up a Blu-ray box set of the first six movies. There have been more since, plus a rake of spin-off shows according to the Disney+ back-catalogue. I watched the first two movies, shelved the rest, and never got back to them. That’s safely five years ago.

So what’s a guy to do if he wants to immerse himself in a little bit of the Star Wars universe? Do I go back to the box set and watch them as they land? Or do I add in the spin-off TV shows and movies and really get into the whole universe side of things? It’s a bit Marvel-esque in that regard and I’m still wading my way through that chapter of Hollywood.

So, I do some research – given the day that’s in it – and figure there are three easy ways to do this.

First off, watch all the Star Wars movies in chronological order, episode 1 through episode 9. Second, jump into the movies in the order they were released, a little more real-world. Lastly, go the whole hog and mix the movies and TV series together based on where they’re supposed to fit in the Star Wars timeline. Let’s have at it.

Watch Star Wars movies in chronological order (12)

1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
2. Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)
4. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
5. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
6. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
7. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
8. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
9. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
10. Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
11. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
12. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Watch Star Wars movies in their release order (11)

1. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
4. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
5. Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
6. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
7. Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
8. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
9. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
10. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
11. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Watch Star Wars TV shows and movies in chronological order (16)

And yeah, there’s no LEGO movies here, sorry.

1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
2. Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
4. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
5. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
6. Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018)
7. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
8. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
9. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
10. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
11. The Mandalorian (2019-present)
12. The Book of Boba Feet (2021-present)
13. Star Wars: Resistance (2018-2020)
14. Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
15. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
16. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

What do you reckon, is there something I’m missing here?