'A long time ago': A Star Wars timeline

Rogue One takes place about two decades after the events depicted in Revenge of the Sith and just before those in A New Hope — which means 11 years after the Gorse Conflict and four before Operation Cinder. Yes, the Star Wars timeline is complicated, but we've plotted the essential points for you here, using the Blockade of Naboo as Year Zero.

The democratic Galactic Republic, led by an elected Supreme Chancellor and supported by the Jedi Order, governs the galaxy through a thousand-year era of peace and prosperity.

Senator Palpatine of Naboo (a.k.a. Darth Sidious) secretly orchestrates the Trade Federation's invasion of his homeworld.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.

Qui-Gon Jinn, Jar Jar Binks, astromech droid R2-D2, and Princess Padmé Amidala (the ruler of Naboo in disguise) land on the planet Tatooine to repair their ship after escaping the Federation's blockade. They meet a young boy named Anakin, whom Qui-Gon believes is the prophesied "Chosen One" who will bring balance to the Force.

—As seen in The Phantom Menace.

In an effort to regain control of Naboo, Padmé aligns herself with the Gungans to face the Trade Federation's droid army in battle, while she and the Jedi fight to capture Viceroy Nute Gunray. Though the fighting claims the life of Qui-Gon, Anakin, piloting a fighter ship with droid R2-D2, is able to destroy the Federation's ship from within, dismantling the droids on the battlefield.

—As seen in The Phantom Menace.

The Galactic Senate passes a vote of no confidence on the sitting chancellor Finis Valorum. Palpatine succeeds him as Supreme Chancellor.

—As seen in The Phantom Menace.

Mon Mothma, who would go on to be the civilian leader of the Rebel Alliance, is elected Senator to represent Chandrila.

Under the supervision of his master, Sidious, Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus) stirs up discontent and sets the stage for the Separatist Crisis by creating a competing government: the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

The Senate votes to give Palpatine emergency military powers, which he uses to build a clone army created from the DNA of the mercenary Jango Fett.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones.

The Republic's clone army, under the leadership of Jedi generals, faces off against the Separatists' droids. The relationship between the clones and Jedi, who are used to working independently, slowly sours.

—As seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Ahsoka Tano, a major figure in the Clone Wars, becomes Anakin's Padawan. Ahsoka ultimately leaves the Jedi Order, coming to believe that they had a blinkered perspective on the Force and the world around them.

—As seen in The Clone Wars.

In one of the final battles at the tail end of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano leads a Republic squadron to rid the planet Mandalore of Darth Maul's influence. The epic skirmish that ensues leads to a lightsaber duel between Ahsoka and Maul, who had intended to lay a trap for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man who chopped Maul in half years earlier. Kenobi and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker were called away to fight in the Battle of Coruscant, leaving Ahsoka to lead the charge. Maul was eventually captured, but Ahsoka released him to cause a diversion during the chaos of Order 66. 

— As seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Anakin Skywalker discovers Palpatine's true identity as a Sith Lord and backs him instead of the Jedi Masters who intended to arrest the duplicitous chancellor.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.

Palpatine announces he has uncovered a plot by the Jedi to overthrow the Senate and activates Clone Protocol 66, an order implanted in the clone troopers to shoot down their Jedi commanders, including the young Padawans.

—As seen in Revenge of the Sith.

Palpatine reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, a "safe and secure society," and pronounces himself Emperor.

—As seen in Revenge of the Sith.

Padmé Amidala dies in childbirth after delivering twins fathered by Anakin (now Darth Vader). Bail Organa adopts the girl, and Obi-Wan Kenobi takes the boy to Tatooine, where he is raised by Anakin's stepbrother Owen Lars.

—As seen in Revenge of the Sith.

Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa are disturbed by the founding of the Empire and begin to meet in secret to discuss Emperor Palpatine.

Vader leads Inquisitors trained in the Force to wipe out the remaining Jedi who escaped Order 66.

—As seen in Star Wars: Rebels.

The Inquisitors, under direction from the Empire, begin efforts to kidnap young, Force-sensitive beings and convert them into Imperial operatives.

Cal Kestis, a young Padawan who survived Order 66, is exposed on the planet Bracca. Hunted by the Inquisitors, Cal joins forces with former Jedi Knight Cere Junda, pilot Greez Dritus, droid BD-1, and Dathomirian Nightsister Merrin on the Mantis ship. Together, they hope to rebuild the Jedi Order by locating a hidden holocron containing the names of Force-sensitive children.

—As seen in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

The leader of the Twi'lek Resistance, Cham Syndulla, tries and fails to kill Vader and the Emperor after luring them to the planet Ryloth.

The ex-Republic Intelligence agent Berch Teller attempts to betray the Empire from within but is foiled by Tarkin, whom the Emperor rewards with a promotion to Grand Moff and a new role supervising the construction of a superweapon above Geonosis.

Orson Krennic captures scientist Galen Erso, an expert in crystallography, to use kyber crystals in the construction of the Death Star.

—As seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

A young Han and his childhood friend Qi'ra attempt to escape Corellia and their servitude with the White Worms criminal organization. Qi'ra is left behind, but Han, buying his way on an outbound transport, inevitably enrolls in the Imperial Navy and adopts the name "Solo," being that he has no family.

—As seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Unsafe conditions on the mining world of Gorse and its moon Cynda force Kanan Jarrus (a Jedi survivor of Order 66) to take a stand against the Empire. He teams up with the pilot Hera Syndulla, daughter of Cham.

—As seen in Star Wars: Rebels.

Han makes the Kessel Run in approximately 12 parsecs to avoid Imperial forces after stealing unrefined coaxium from the mining planet for the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate, which counts Qi'ra as a member.

—As seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

A cell of Resistance fighters on the Outer Rim planet Lothal bands together and calls itself the Spectres, operating out of Hera's Ghost ship. Kanan Jarrus leads Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger, the Mandalorian Sabine Wren, and the Lasat warrior Garazeb Orrelios in various plots against the Empire.

—As seen in Star Wars: Rebels.

Bail Organa, working with his old Senate friends to undermine the Empire, sends his daughter, Princess Leia, to assist the Lothal rebels.

—As seen in Star Wars: Rebels.

Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker's former Padawan, reveals herself as the mysterious Fulcrum who has been feeding information to the Ghost team on behalf of the Rebellion.

—As seen in Star Wars: Rebels.

The Emperor dissolves the Senate, the last functioning remnant of the Republic, and moves to centralize powers under the planetary governors.

A strike team of Rebel forces, led by Jyn Erso (daughter of Galen Erso), infiltrates a key Imperial military base on the tropical planet Scarif and steals the blueprints for the Death Star. The team is killed in a massive explosion, but they are able to transmit the blueprints to Princess Leia Organa, giving the Rebels an edge in the coming war. Darth Vader pursues and commandeers Leia's ship, but not before she hides the Death Star plans with R2-D2, sending the droid and its companion C-3PO to Tatooine.

—As seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

After rescuing Leia from the Death Star, Luke and Han Solo take down the superweapon in the first major victory for the Rebellion.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope.

Shortly after the destruction of the first Death Star, the Empire began working on a second version of the weapon with the same vulnerabilities that allowed the first to be destroyed.

The Empire tracks Rebel forces to a secret frozen base on the ice planet Hoth. Han, Luke, and Leia are forced to split up in the aftermath.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode VI — The Empire Strikes Back.

After leaving Hoth, Luke hears Obi-Wan tell him to head to Dagobah to continue his training as a Jedi. Once on the planet, Luke has to choose between staying and finishing his training or leaving to save his friends, who are imperiled in Cloud City.

—As seen in The Empire Strikes Back.

Darth Vader lures Luke to the mining installation of Cloud City by using Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as bait. During a lightsaber duel, Vader drops the ultimate truth bomb on Luke: "I am your father."

—As seen in The Empire Strikes Back.

As the Imperial Fleet and the Rebellion dogfight in space, and Han, Leia, and Chewie battle Empire forces on the ground, Luke and Vader duel on Death Star II. But when the Emperor tortures Luke for rejecting the dark side, Vader musters up his last shred of humanity and kills his former master to protect his son. Before the two Skywalkers can escape the exploding Death Star, what is left of Anakin Skywalker dies.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi.

Sometime after the events of the fall of the Empire, Luke Skywalker trains his Force-sensitive sister in the ways of the Jedi in secret, including how to wield a lightsaber. Leia abandons her training after receiving a vision of her future son's death, but would later impart her guidance in the Force onto Rey.

— As seen in Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker.

The death of Emperor Palpatine sets off a series of disasters on his home planet of Naboo and at least a dozen other worlds, one final act of terror from the late Sith Lord.

The fleet of the Rebellion, now calling itself the New Republic, routs the Empire in the largest battle since Endor. After a Star Destroyer crashes onto Jakku's surface, the two militaries sign a historic peace treaty: the Galactic Concordance.

—As seen in Star Wars: Battlefront II video game, DLC Battle of Jakku.

Mon Mothma, now Supreme Chancellor, leads the New Republic in the demilitarization stipulated by the treaty that ended the war. Active forces are reduced by 90 percent.

Leia and Han welcome a son, Ben Solo — a powerful Force user who is eventually trained by Luke Skywalker, and then turns to the Dark Side and adopts the name Kylo Ren.

A lone Mandalorian bounty hunter encounters all manner of underworld thugs amid the power vacuum left after the destruction of the Empire. Accepting a mission from a mysterious client with ties to the fallen Empire, Mando retrieves a "package," a mysterious child of the same species as the late Jedi Master Yoda who maintains similar Force abilities. Instead of killing the child or turning him in, Mando takes the 50-year-old lil' tyke in search of a safe place for him while dodging other bounty hunters and what remains of the Imperial forces.

—As seen in The Mandalorian.

From the ashes of the Empire rises the First Order, a new group hellbent on finishing the work of Vader and Palpatine.

Senator Leia Organa discovers a new danger stirring in the galaxy: the First Order. Once the New Republic learns that Leia and Luke's father was the deceased and war-hungry Imperial Darth Vader, the New Republic refuses to rearm. Leia quietly begins to gather like-minded individuals to her side.

Luke agrees to train Leia and Han's son in the ways of the Force, but his fear over Ben turning to the Dark Side prompts an unspeakable act: Luke tries to kill Ben in his sleep, but the Padawan stops him. The betrayal ends up leading Ben towards the Dark Side, while Luke, consumed with shame and guilt, goes into self-imposed exile.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi.

Snoke, supremely skilled in the ways of the Force and the Dark Side, emerges as the leader of the First Order. Fascinated by the lineage of the Skywalker bloodline, he takes Ben Solo as his apprentice.

—As seen in Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens

Under the tutelage of Snoke, Ben, taking the name Kylo Ren, took leadership of The Knights of Ren, a group of Force-wielding warriors who were neither Jedi nor Sith.

—As seen in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

An X-wing pilot, Kaz takes an assignment out of the independent fueling station, the Colossus, to serve as a spy for the Resistance.

—As seen in Star Wars: Resistance.

First Order Stormtrooper FN-2187 decides to defect after watching Kylo Ren command his forces to massacre civilians in the village Tuanul in pursuit of information related to Luke Skywlker's whereabouts. Aboard the Finalizer, FN-2187, taking the name Finn, helps captured Resistance pilot Poe Dameron escape to the planet Jakku, where Finn meets Rey, a scavenger unknowingly skilled in the Force. When First Order troops pursue, they escape in the Millennium Falcon, which had been stationed there after Han and Chewbacca lost it.

—As seen in The Force Awakens.

While the Resistance fighters lead an attack on Starkiller Base, the First Order's planet-sized weapon of mass destruction, Finn leads Han and Chewie inside the station to destroy it from within. Before that happens, Kylo kills his father and loses a lightsaber battle against Rey, who is now awakened to her Force abilities.

—As seen in The Force Awakens.

After the Resistance finds all the pieces to a map, Rey follows its path to Luke Skywalker's location. After much hesitance from the Jedi master to take on another pupil after Ben, Luke agrees to train Rey in the ways of the Force...at least while their growing tensions remain bearable.

—As seen in The Last Jedi.

After hearing what Luke tried to do to Ben, Rey leaves the Jedi and is taken before Snoke. The Supreme Leader wants to convert her to the Dark Side, feeling that her power is greater than Kylo's. But Kylo, feeling a connection through the Force to Rey, kills Snoke. When Rey still rebuffs his offer to join the First Order with him, Kylo assumes the role of Supreme Leader.

—As seen in The Last Jedi.

Resistance forces take refuge on the planet Crait after the First Order use their lightspeed trackers to chase them down. They are able to survive because Luke, using the last of his powers, astral projects himself across the galaxy to the battlefield. The act costs him his life, but it allows the Resistance to flee.

—As seen in The Last Jedi.

The Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, regroup on the garbage planet Anoat, while Finn and Poe go on a secret mission to retrieve a weapons cache to increase their dwindling arsenal. Rey, continuing her Jedi training under Leia, seems to have difficulties accessing her Force abilities while grappling with a creature on Anoat, which has a unique sensitivity to the Force.

—As seen in the Star Wars: Allegiance comics.

Though his body may have been destroyed during the Battle of Endor, Palpatine survived in secret for years by transferring his essence to clone bodies. He finally revealed his presence during the fight between the Resistance and the First Order by broadcasting a threatening message across the galaxy, leading Supreme Leader Kylo Ren to track him down to the ancient Sith home world of Exegol. There, Sith cultists had been working to keep Palpatine's vision for a New Empire alive by building an unstoppable armada. Palpatine's re-emergence confirmed the true lineage of Rey, who was revealed to be the Sith's granddaughter.

— As seen in The Rise of Skywalker.

Sensing Kylo Ren battling Rey on the remains of a fallen Death Star on the planet Kef Bir, General Organa uses the last of her strength to reach out to her son through the Force from across the galaxy. Her brother had performed a similar act that claimed his life. This ultimately led to Leia's death, but it helped shift Kylo back to the side of light. 

— As seen in The Rise of Skywalker.

A Force dyad is an occurrence in the Force wherein two Force-sensitive beings collectively share the powers of an individual. It's a phenomenon that hadn't been seen in generations until the emergence of Rey and Ben. Their abilities allowed them to sense and speak to each other no matter the distance, as well as transfer physical objects to each other. As they faced Palpatine on Exegol, the Sith Lord recognized the dyad and leached off their joint power to restore himself to full power. 

— As seen in The Rise of Skywalker.

Palpatine sought to take over the galaxy through the formation of a new empire he called the Final Order. In a last stand, the Resistance and their allies fight to stop the launch of Palpatine's armada on Exegol. On the ground, Rey and Ben battle Palpatine himself. Palpatine and his ships are defeated, though Ben loses his life. 

— As seen in The Rise of Skywalker.