The timeline of Star Wars is a beast of its own. With 40 years under its belt, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of everything.

When Disney purchased Lucasfilm, one of the first things it did was to announce the Expanded Universe would be rebranded as "Legends," and going forward the only items still in canon were the six main films (at that time), The Clone Wars movie, The Clone Wars series and Rebels, which was about to be released. From that point forward there would be people in charge of making sure everything stayed on track and nothing would contradict what had happened in Legends.

The good news is now when you pick up a Star Wars novel you know that it is a true part of the overall canon of the Star Wars universe. That being said, a lot has been published since that original announcement, so in celebration of the 40th anniversary on May 25th, we've cataloged everything as it currently exists.

A few notes:

  • BBY stands for "Before Battle of Yavin"
  • ABY stands for "After Battle of Yavin"
  • We note the date a story starts, but some of them continue well beyond that as in Lost Stars
  • A few items are somewhat official, but not written in stone as of yet such as the Han Solo movie as well as The Last Jedi and Episode IX.

Episodes I – III

Not much has been done as of yet in the time period of the Prequel trilogy. This is partially because The Clone Wars animated series brilliantly covered so much of it.

Between Episodes III & IV

The 30 year span between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope has become a fertile ground for exploration, and one that Lucasfilm seems keen to keep exploring.

Episode IV – VI

The time gap between the films of the original trilogy has allowed people to explore what our favorite band of Rebels was up to more in-depth.

After Episode VI

The 30 years after Return of the Jedi is a time period I suspect we will see visited far more often in the future as they can fill in the histories of Rey, Poe and Finn as well as those who survived the original trilogy.