Star Wars Watch Order: Where to Start

Star Wars is over forty years of movies and shows, and “just start at the beginning” doesn’t have one answer. Enlist is a free quiz that picks your starting point for you. Answer 12 questions, no spoilers, and it assigns your posting: the first thing to watch and the full watch order that follows.

Updated October 2026. Ahsoka season 2 (January 2027) will be added when it airs.

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Every watch order below is a good one, but only one is right for you. It depends on what you’ve already seen, what you like (spy thrillers, space westerns, cartoons, big space opera) and how much homework you’re up for. The quiz weighs all of that in about two minutes and hands you one order, with every episode and season laid out in sequence.

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The three classic orders

If you would rather pick one yourself, these are the three orders fans argue about most, listed in full.

Release order

Everything in the order audiences first saw it.

The original trilogy (1977–1983)

1. Episode IV: A New Hope
2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The prequels (1999–2005)

1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
3. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The animated era (2008–2018)

1. The Clone Wars (film) (optional)
2. The Clone Wars, Season 1 (optional)
3. The Clone Wars, Season 2 (optional)
4. The Clone Wars, Season 3 (optional)
5. The Clone Wars, Season 4 (optional)
6. The Clone Wars, Season 5 (optional)
7. The Clone Wars, Season 6 (optional)
8. Star Wars Rebels, Season 1 (optional)
9. Star Wars Rebels, Season 2 (optional)
10. Star Wars Rebels, Season 3 (optional)
11. Star Wars Rebels, Season 4 (optional)

The sequel era (2015–2019)

1. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
2. Rogue One
3. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
4. Solo
5. Star Wars Resistance, Season 1 (optional)
6. Star Wars Resistance, Season 2 (optional)
7. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

The streaming era (2019–2026)

1. The Mandalorian, Season 1
2. The Mandalorian, Season 2
3. The Clone Wars, Season 7 (optional)
4. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 1 (optional)
5. The Bad Batch, Season 1 (optional)
6. The Bad Batch, Season 2 (optional)
7. The Bad Batch, Season 3 (optional)
8. The Book of Boba Fett
9. Obi-Wan Kenobi (optional)
10. Andor, Season 1
11. Tales of the Jedi (optional)
12. The Mandalorian, Season 3
13. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 2 (optional)
14. Ahsoka (optional)
15. Tales of the Empire (optional)
16. The Acolyte (optional)
17. Skeleton Crew (optional)
18. Andor, Season 2
19. Tales of the Underworld (optional)
20. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 3 (optional)
21. Maul: Shadow Lord (optional)
22. The Mandalorian & Grogu

Full route, with notes →

Story (chronological) order

Everything in timeline order, first event to last.

The High Republic

1. The Acolyte (optional)

The fall of the Republic

1. Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
3. The Clone Wars (film) (optional)
4. The Clone Wars, Season 1 (optional)
5. The Clone Wars, Season 2 (optional)
6. The Clone Wars, Season 3 (optional)
7. The Clone Wars, Season 4 (optional)
8. The Clone Wars, Season 5 (optional)
9. The Clone Wars, Season 6 (optional)
10. The Clone Wars, Season 7 (optional)
11. Tales of the Jedi (optional)
12. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The rise of the Empire

1. The Bad Batch, Season 1 (optional)
2. The Bad Batch, Season 2 (optional)
3. The Bad Batch, Season 3 (optional)
4. Tales of the Empire (optional)
5. Tales of the Underworld (optional)
6. Maul: Shadow Lord (optional)
7. Solo
8. Obi-Wan Kenobi (optional)

The Rebellion forms

1. Andor, Season 1
2. Star Wars Rebels, Season 1 (optional)
3. Star Wars Rebels, Season 2 (optional)
4. Star Wars Rebels, Season 3 (optional)
5. Star Wars Rebels, Season 4 (optional)
6. Andor, Season 2
7. Rogue One

The Galactic Civil War

1. Episode IV: A New Hope
2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The New Republic

1. The Mandalorian, Season 1
2. The Mandalorian, Season 2
3. The Book of Boba Fett
4. The Mandalorian, Season 3
5. Skeleton Crew (optional)
6. Ahsoka (optional)
7. The Mandalorian & Grogu

The First Order

1. Star Wars Resistance, Season 1 (optional)
2. Star Wars Resistance, Season 2 (optional)
3. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
4. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
5. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Outside the timeline

1. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 1 (optional)
2. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 2 (optional)
3. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 3 (optional)

Full route, with notes →

Machete order

IV, V, then the prequels as a flashback, then VI.

The saga, twist intact

1. Episode IV: A New Hope
2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
3. Episode II: Attack of the Clones
4. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
5. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

The next generation

1. Episode VII: The Force Awakens
2. Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
3. Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Before A New Hope

1. Andor, Season 1
2. Andor, Season 2
3. Rogue One
4. Solo
5. Obi-Wan Kenobi (optional)
6. Episode I: The Phantom Menace

The New Republic

1. The Mandalorian, Season 1
2. The Mandalorian, Season 2
3. The Book of Boba Fett
4. The Mandalorian, Season 3
5. Skeleton Crew (optional)
6. The Mandalorian & Grogu

Deep archives

1. The Clone Wars (film) (optional)
2. The Clone Wars, Season 1 (optional)
3. The Clone Wars, Season 2 (optional)
4. The Clone Wars, Season 3 (optional)
5. The Clone Wars, Season 4 (optional)
6. The Clone Wars, Season 5 (optional)
7. The Clone Wars, Season 6 (optional)
8. The Clone Wars, Season 7 (optional)
9. Tales of the Jedi (optional)
10. The Bad Batch, Season 1 (optional)
11. The Bad Batch, Season 2 (optional)
12. The Bad Batch, Season 3 (optional)
13. Tales of the Empire (optional)
14. Tales of the Underworld (optional)
15. Maul: Shadow Lord (optional)
16. Star Wars Rebels, Season 1 (optional)
17. Star Wars Rebels, Season 2 (optional)
18. Star Wars Rebels, Season 3 (optional)
19. Star Wars Rebels, Season 4 (optional)
20. Ahsoka (optional)
21. Star Wars Resistance, Season 1 (optional)
22. Star Wars Resistance, Season 2 (optional)
23. The Acolyte (optional)
24. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 1 (optional)
25. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 2 (optional)
26. Star Wars: Visions, Vol. 3 (optional)

Full route, with notes →

The ten postings

Each one is a full watch order you can open and follow. They’re the ten possible results of the quiz.

• Release order: start with A New Hope — Everything in the order audiences first saw it.
• Machete order: the saga with the twist intact — IV, V, then the prequels as a flashback, then VI.
• Story order: start with The Phantom Menace — Everything in timeline order, first event to last.
• Start with Rogue One — One mission movie that hands straight into A New Hope.
• Start with The Mandalorian — A space western first, then the war everyone in it keeps mentioning.
• Start with Andor — A spy thriller about joining the Rebellion. No Jedi, no homework.
• Start with The Clone Wars — The deepest version of the prequel era, then everything it leads to.
• Start with Star Wars Rebels — A found-family crew, then the war they're part of.
• Start with Skeleton Crew — A kids' adventure first, then the classics.
• Start with Star Wars: Visions — Short anime films first, then the saga.

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