Dec. 31, 2022

How to Watch the Star Wars Movies In Order

Okay, so a whole bunch of your friends have screamed at you. “WHAT?! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN STAR WARS?!” Shoot, you might not even know what Star Wars is! And that's okay. You get to take your first step into a larger world.

And, when you look at this larger world, you might get intimidated. There's SO MUCH Star Wars. And there are so many different ways to watch it. We're here to lay it out for you straight, along with links to the legal versions you can watch, apocrypha, and so much more.

You're in good hands! Here are all the ways you can watch Star Wars.

What Are The Star Wars Movies I Have To Watch?
Film Release Order
Machete Order
Rister Order
Flashback Order
Alternating Order
Polygon's Galaxy Brain Order
Chronological Order
What is the Best Way to Watch All the Star Wars Movies?
A Brief Vocabulary Lesson on Star Wars

What Are The Star Wars Things I Have To Watch?

_{Estimated Run Time = 6 hrs. 17 min.}

Recommended: For folks who want to get Star Wars FAST.

If you want to get the references when new Star Wars episodes and movies come out, just watch these 3 movies. These will explain most of the memes, iconography, famous lines, and all the other stuff that's in the zeitgeist.

Bonus Points: The Mandalorian: Season One This is only here because Baby Yoda was so big when this came out. If you want to know what Baby Yoda is about, watch the first season.

How to Watch All the Star Wars Movies in Release Order

This is the release order of all the Star Wars movies as released in the United States.

Recommended: For folks who want the closest experience to how the world experienced Star Wars.

_{Estimated Run Time of All Movies = 26 hrs. 38 min.}

Bonus Points:

Here is the release order of all the Star Wars movies as released in some international territories:

_{Estimated Run Time of All Movies = 29 hrs. 50 min.}

How to Watch the Star Wars Movies in Machete Order

What is the Machete Order?

The Machete Order was invented by Rod Hilton to preserve certain twists in the complete Star Wars viewing order. If you're going through chronologically within the Star Wars universe and NOT by release order, you're going to have stuff spoiled. The Machete Order offsets that while also allowing you to explore some emotional beats a bit further.

Original Machete Order of Star Wars

Recommended: For folks who want twists preserved, but don't want to double back.

_{Estimated Run Time of Original Machete Order = 10 hrs. 59 min.}

Modified Machete Order of Star Wars

Do you just need a bigger Machete Order? Here is a different, longer version that tells a self-contained story. We've omitted Rise of Skywalker because, in our opinion, The Last Jedi serves as a great ending for the Star Wars movies so far.

Recommended: For people who don't want twists revealed, but have time to burn.

_{Estimated Run Time of Modified Machete Order = 17 hrs. 57 min.}

Rister Order

The Machete Order is about expanding what's great about the first three released movies. So it leaves out Episode I, the Sequel Trilogy, and the stand-alones. The "Rister Order", from massive Star Wars fan Ernest Rister, keeps in The Phantom Menace. Also known as the "Godfather Order"

Recommended: For folks who want twists preserved, have an additional 2ish hours on their hands, but don't have more time than that.

_{Estimated Run Time of Modified Machete Order = 13 hrs. 12 min.}

Flashback Order

According to GamesRadar, this is a modified Rinster order, but helps provide even more context to the original Star Wars by including almost all of the movies. GamesRadar also says, "Flashbacks work best when used sparingly...." Take that as you will.

Recommended: For folks who want more context, but with some twists preserved.

_{Estimated Run Time of Flashback Order = 25 hrs. 00 min.}

Alternating Order

The Star Wars films, as of this writing, are in 3 sets of trilogies. This order organizes the viewing according to their placement in their respective trilogies. The "Alternating Order," as GamesRadar labels it, can show viewers all of the commonalities that these movies have with each other. In the famous words of George Lucas: "It's like poetry. They rhyme."

Recommended: For folks who love easter eggs and noticing patterns.

_{Estimated Run Time of Alternating Order = 20 hrs. 32 min.}

Polygon's Galaxy Brain Order

Author Austen Goslin and the industrious team at Polygon came up with this truly ludicrous way to watch the entire Star Wars franchise*. The point of this watch through is to "focus on the Rebellion," then "switch sides to [Darth Vader]...and how the Empire gained control." Then we see the "fall of the Empire" and a repositioning of Han Solo as a "central figure" for the final sequence of movies.

Bonus Points: Goslin recommends that you watch A New Hope until the Battle of Yavin, then stop the movie, switch to Rogue One, watch all of Andor, the TV show, then finish A New Hope. Truly not for the faint of heart.

Recommended: For folks who think watching movies is too easy.

_{Estimated Run Time of Alternating Order = 26 hrs. 38 min.}

_{* We omitted the TV shows because this is already getting crazy enough. We'll introduce TV shows to newcomers later with another blog article. If you want to check out the entire order, go to Polygon}

How to Watch All the Star Wars Movies in Chronological Order

Chronological Order puts the movies in order of how they happened within the Star Wars universe. If this is how you're watching the Star Wars movies for the first time, things may not make sense to you.

Recommended: For folks who want to experience Star Wars the way it happened canonically in-universe.

_{Estimated Run Time of Alternating Order = 26 hrs. 38 min.}

Bonus Points: For those that want to watch the internationally released theatrical movies in chronological order, we've got you covered, too:

_{Estimated Run Time of Alternating Order = 29 hrs. 50 min.}

What is the Best Way to Watch All the Star Wars Movies?

Release order.

Watching in chronological order will spoil important emotional beats.

Watching the Star Wars movies in release order, you will experience the movies the way audiences did: discovering things along the way.

Machete Order isn't something we've tried yet, so maybe it's fun to watch Return of the Jedi serve as a little "Avengers" meet-up of important characters we've met along the way. Really, it's up to you.

A Brief Vocabulary Lesson on Star Wars

Your friends might use the following words around you. Here's what they mean.

The Original Trilogy - the first 3 movies that were released in the 1970s/1980s. These are the ones with Harrison Ford, Yoda, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, and Luke Skywalker. These movies also go by:

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

The Prequels - the next 3 movies that were released in the 1990s/2000s. However, these are supposed to take place BEFORE the Original Trilogy. Also known as The Prequel Trilogy, as well as:

Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The Sequel Trilogy - 3 Star Wars movies that were made in the late 2010s. These are the ones with Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac. Also known as:

Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Stand-alones - There are 2 other movies your friends might talk about:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Solo: A Star Wars Story

Also, there is a theatrically released Star Wars movie called Star Wars: The Clone Wars. No one talks about that as a movie, but as part of a TV show. You don't need to worry about The Clone Wars.