Obi-Wan Kenobi is the latest series in the ever-growing Star Wars franchise. The Disney+ show stars Ewan McGregor as the eponymous Jedi, with Hayden Christensen returning as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
The Disney+ show's casting may make it seem obvious where Obi-Wan Kenobi falls in the Star Wars timeline: Between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. But, of course, it's not quite that simple.
Where does the story fit in the timeline compared to, say, Solo? Or The Bad Batch? If the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi has persuaded you to do a rewatch of all the Star Wars shows and movies, and you want to watch them in in-universe chronological order, here's how to go about doing it.
Where does Obi-Wan Kenobi fit in the Star Wars timeline?
Series writer Joby Harold told Entertainment Weekly: "It takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith, in a time of darkness in the galaxy. The Empire is in the ascendancy. And all the horrors that come with the Empire are being made manifest throughout the galaxy. And the Jedi Order as we know them are being all but wiped out. So everything that was in the prequels has crumbled."
What does this mean for Obi-Wan? With Darth Vader gaining ever more power, and his Inquisitors looking to destroy all Jedi, he is on the run, trying to survive in an ever-more-hostile galaxy.
Plus, in the Disney+ show, he finds himself undergoing a crisis of faith as life under Vader makes the galaxy seem ever more bleak.
According to the official Disney timeline (more on that later), Obi-Wan Kenobi is set around the year 9 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin, the battle that leads to the destruction of the Death Star). Solo, meanwhile, takes place in 10 BBY (with a prologue in 13 BBY).
This also means that the story that follows the series is Star Wars Rebels, which begins in 5 BBY. 0 BBY, of course, is the first ever Star Wars movie, A New Hope – by making it the point where years switch from BBY to ABY, it will always be in the center of the timeline.
Full Star Wars chronological viewing order
Establishing a canon of Star Wars is tricky. Until fairly recently, a lot of Star Wars spin-offs were made by people who were not necessarily thinking about how their show or movie fit into the wider story. As such, there is some stuff that directly contradicts other stuff.
From this, two main canons have emerged. One is the "Legends" timeline, a largely fan-led attempt to create a timeline that reconciles some of the contradictory timelines of various pieces of Star Wars media. The second is the canon timeline, a Disney-sanctioned chronology that discounts numerous things that the Legends timeline includes.
We are using the canon timeline here for two reasons: It is more official due to its link to Disney, and it means you do not have to watch some of the lesser products of the Star Wars universe like the animated Droids show or the Ewok TV movies. The canon timeline suggests viewing the TV shows and movies in this order:
- Episode I: The Phantom Menace (movie)
- Episode II: Attack of the Clones (movie)
- The Clone Wars (movie)
- The Clone Wars (TV)
- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (movie)
- The Bad Batch (TV)
- Solo (movie)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV)
- Rebels (TV)
- Rogue One (movie)
- Episode IV: A New Hope (movie)
- Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (movie)
- Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (movie)
- The Mandalorian (TV)
- The Book of Boba Fett (TV)
- Resistance (TV)
- Episode VII: The Force Awakens (movie)
- Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (movie)
- Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (movie)
Obi-Wan Kenobi Episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now. The remaining episodes air Wednesdays on Disney+.
Correction 5/27/22 5:47 a.m. EDT: This article was updated to correct timing of future episodes.
Uncommon Knowledge
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