There Are Now 11 Movies and 12 Shows. Here's How to Handle It.
Star Wars has a watch order problem. When it was just six movies, it was easy. Now there are three trilogies, two standalone films, and over a dozen TV shows across Disney+, Cartoon Network, and whatever platform picked up the scraps. If you're trying to get into Star Wars or introduce someone to it, the question of "what order do I watch this in" is genuinely complicated.
Here's the honest answer: for first-timers, go release order. That's it. There are three approaches people argue about, and I'll break them all down, but the machete order — the clever one everyone used to recommend — doesn't hold up anymore now that the shows exist. Release order is the safe play.
Option 1: Release Order (What I'd Actually Recommend)
Watch everything in the order it came out. A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005), The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
The advantage: you get the reveals in the right order. The "I am your father" moment hits because you don't know. The prequels recontextualize everything. This is the order that preserves the surprises, and it's the one most people now recommend for newcomers.
The disadvantage: the visual jump from 1983 to 1999 is jarring, and the prequels are a significant drop in quality from the originals. Some people bounce off the prequels hard. That's fine.
Option 2: Chronological Order (The Story Route)
Watch in the in-universe timeline. The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Solo (optional), A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker. Rogue One slots in right before A New Hope.
The advantage: the story flows in one direction. You see Anakin's fall and then Vader's redemption as a single arc. The disadvantage: you start with The Phantom Menace, which is a rough entry point, and the big reveal in Empire is spoiled because you already know Anakin becomes Vader. For a first-timer, I wouldn't do this.
Option 3: The Machete Order (Clever, But Broken Now)
This is a fan-created order from 2011 that used to be the smart pick. A New Hope, Empire, then skip Phantom Menace and flash back to Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, then Return of the Jedi. The logic: you get the Vader reveal in Empire, then flashback to see how Anakin fell, then resolve everything in Jedi. Dropping Phantom Menace entirely because it adds almost nothing to the main story.
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It's elegant. It works for the movies. But here's the problem: the moment you bring in the shows — Clone Wars, Andor, Mandalorian — the machete order falls apart. The shows reference Phantom Menace characters and events. Clone Wars picks up threads from Episode 2 that machete deliberately repositions. The whole thing was designed for a six-movie world, and that world doesn't exist anymore. Most people who used to swear by machete now say release order for anyone starting fresh. Purists still argue. Ignore them.
What People Actually Ask
Does the machete order still work? For the movies alone, yes — it's a clever way to preserve the Vader reveal and skip the weakest film. But the moment you add any of the shows, it breaks down. They reference events and characters you skipped. Go release order if you plan to go beyond the films.
Is chronological or release order better for a first-timer? Release order. Chronological starts with Phantom Menace, which is a rough entry point, and it spoils the Empire reveal. Release order preserves the surprises and the original impact.
Do I need to watch the shows? No. The movies stand on their own. But Andor is the best written thing in the franchise, and The Mandalorian is the best live-action Star Wars since Empire. Clone Wars deepens Anakin's story if you want more.
What if I only have a weekend? A New Hope and Empire. Five hours, the core of the entire thing.
How to Watch It All Without Losing Your Mind
Don't try to watch everything in one month. Star Wars fatigue is real — the sequels already burned a lot of goodwill, and the Disney+ shows have been inconsistent. Do the movies first. Take a break. Then pick a show. Andor season 2 is out now. The Mandalorian has a movie coming. There's plenty to catch up on, but you don't have to rush.
Disney+ runs about $11 a month with ads or $16 without. That's the cheapest way to get everything Star Wars in one place.
