‘Star Wars’: Official Website Delves into Eras of the Galaxy Far, Far Away
The official Star Wars website has provided insight on the various eras across the thousands of years of history of the galaxy far, far away, albeit with two notable omissions. If nothing else, though, it might hint that Lucasfilm is insisting on keeping their timeline in order and making it clear to the audience specifically when each project is set.
The “Eras” section on the website can be accessed in a tab under the “Databank” section. Let’s start off by talking about which two eras aren’t talked about in the page – Dawn of the Jedi and New Jedi Order. While both of these are present on the page itself, there is no flavor text explaining them or even acknowledging the existence of the two announced film projects from directors James Mangold and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The former era is confirmed to take place 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope, while the latter will be set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, and will feature Rey Skywalker in its story.
From there, the focus shifts over to all of the eras that we have content for, with the exception of one – The Old Republic, an era which covers approximately 25,000 years before A New Hope to 1,000 years before A New Hope in the Legends continuity. While there is a remake of Knights of the Old Republic that’s been announced (with a release date seemingly a long way off), its story being so heavily tied to the Legends continuity may mean that the remake is not part of the canon timeline. As of right now, there is no confirmation that a canon timeline project is being developed for this era, though the announcement of the era at this year’s Star Wars Celebration implies that something could be in early development at Lucasfilm.
Here are the remaining eras, the projects associated with them, and the approximate timelines of when each is set based on how Lucasfilm has defined them:
- The High Republic: The High Republic multimedia project and Young Jedi Adventures. Covers an unspecified amount of time between eras representing The Old Republic and Fall of the Jedi, but is mostly based around works set hundreds of years before The Phantom Menace.
- Fall of the Jedi: The Phantom Menace, Tales of the Jedi, Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith. Covers the time between at least 68 years before A New Hope to 19 years before A New Hope, from the gradual disillusionment of Count Dooku from the Jedi Order to the end of the Clone Wars and the beginning of the Great Jedi Purge.
- Reign of the Empire: The Bad Batch, Jedi: Fallen Order, Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi: Survivor, Andor, Rebels, Vader Immortal, and Rogue One. Covers the time between 19 years before A New Hope to minutes before the events of A New Hope, from the Galactic Republic’s transformation into the Galactic Empire to the successful theft of the Death Star plans.
- Age of Rebellion: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Battlefront II, and Squadrons. Covers approximately five years from A New Hope onwards, beginning with the skirmish between the Tantive IV and the Devastator above Tatooine and ending with the Battle of Jakku that concluded the Galactic Civil War (which happened a year after Return of the Jedi).
- The New Republic: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. Covers approximately 29 years of history after the Battle of Jakku until the events in the weeks before The Force Awakens, but most stories are set about five years after Return of the Jedi, or shortly after that period of time.
- Rise of the First Order: Resistance, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, Tales from Galaxy’s Edge, and The Rise of Skywalker. Covers a little over a year or so in a period representing 34 to 35 years after Return of the Jedi, beginning with the First Order mobilizing to decapitate the New Republic and ending with the final death of Darth Sidious, the collapse of the First Order, and the end of the original Skywalker bloodline.
These timelines notably mostly exclude non-visual media and leave out upcoming projects, such as Skeleton Crew for The New Republic and The Acolyte for The High Republic. As of right now, there are three major films in the development pipeline that we can place on this timeline – the two aforementioned Dawn of the Jedi and New Jedi Order projects, along with the spin-off film to The Mandalorian set to be written and directed by Dave Filoni, which will be set in the New Republic era. If you want more clarity on what each of these eras means in the context of the larger Star Wars mythology, then you can take a look at our editorial going more in-depth into each one here.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
