List of Star Wars films

The Star Wars franchise has spawned multiple films and television series. The franchise started with a film trilogy set in medias res—beginning in the middle of the story—which was later expanded to a trilogy of trilogies. The original trilogy was released between 1977 and 1983, the prequel trilogy between 1999 and 2005, and a sequel trilogy began in 2015.

The last spin-off film produced was a holiday TV special aired in 1978. Two live-action TV films created in the mid-1980s feature the Ewoks. A few theatrical spin-off films have been released, and additional spin-off trilogies have been announced.

Skywalker saga
The Star Wars film series centers around a trilogy of trilogies, colloquially referred to as the "Skywalker saga", which was released beginning with the middle trilogy (Episodes IV, V, VI, 1977–1983), and followed by the prequel (Episodes I, II, III, 1999–2005) and sequel trilogy (Episodes VII, VIII, IX, 2015–2019). Each trilogy centers on a generation of the Force-sensitive Skywalker family. The prequels focus on Anakin Skywalker, the original trilogy on his son Luke, and the main antagonist of the sequel trilogy is Anakin's grandson/Luke's nephew Kylo Ren.

Original trilogy Prequel trilogy Sequel trilogy The episodic films begin with an opening crawl, accompanied by the main Star Wars theme by John Williams, who composes the scores for each film. The first six films have had retroactive changes made after their initial releases, most notably the original trilogy.

Original trilogy


Immediately after directing American Graffiti (1973), Lucas wrote a two-page synopsis for the space opera he had been planning, which 20th Century Fox invested in. Lucas expanded his treatment into an overview called The Star Wars, and by 1974, he had written the screenplay's first draft. Lucas negotiated to retain the sequel rights, and cast American Graffiti actor Harrison Ford as Han Solo.

Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977, followed by The Empire Strikes Back on May 21, 1980, and Return of the Jedi on May 25, 1983. The plot of the original trilogy centers on the Galactic Civil War of the Rebel Alliance trying to free the galaxy from the clutches of the Galactic Empire, as well as on Luke Skywalker's quest to become a Jedi.

Episode IV – A New Hope
The original eponymous Star Wars film opens with a Rebel spaceship being intercepted by the Empire above the desert planet of Tatooine. Aboard, the deadly Imperial agent Darth Vader and his stormtroopers capture Princess Leia Organa, a secret member of the rebellion. Before her capture, Leia makes sure the droid R2-D2 will escape with stolen Imperial blueprints and a holographic message for the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has been living in exile on Tatooine. Along with C-3PO, R2-D2 falls under the ownership of Luke Skywalker, a farmboy who has been raised by his aunt and uncle. Luke helps the droids locate Obi-Wan, now a solitary old hermit known as Ben Kenobi. He reveals himself as a friend of Luke's absent father, Anakin Skywalker, who was Obi-Wan's Jedi apprentice until being murdered by Vader. He tells Luke he must also become a Jedi. After discovering his family's homestead has been destroyed by the Empire, they hire the smuggler Han Solo, his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca and their space freighter, the Millennium Falcon. They discover that Leia's homeworld of Alderaan has been destroyed, and are soon captured by the planet-destroying Death Star. While Obi-Wan disables its tractor beam, Luke and Han rescue the captive Princess Leia. Finally, they deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebel Alliance with the hope of exploiting a weakness.

The first rough draft, titled The Star Wars, introduced "the Force" and the young hero Luke Starkiller. Annikin [sic] appeared as Luke's father, a wise Jedi knight. The third draft replaced (a deceased) Annikin with Ben Kenobi. Some months later, Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to two sequels. By 1976, a fourth draft had been prepared for principal photography. The film was titled The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke's name to Skywalker and shortened the title to The Star Wars, and finally just Star Wars. At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to warrant full-scale sequels. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes to become a self-contained story ending with the destruction of the Empire in the Death Star. The intention was that if the film was successful, Lucas could adapt Foster's novels into low-budget sequels. By that point, Lucas had developed a tentative backstory to aid in developing the saga. Star Wars exceeded all expectations. The success of the film and its merchandise sales led Lucas to make Star Wars the basis of an elaborate film serial, and use the profits to finance his filmmaking center, Skywalker Ranch. After the release of the first sequel, the original film was subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope for a rerelease in 1981.

Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Set three years after the destruction of the Death Star, The Empire Strikes Back begins with the Empire forcing the Rebel Alliance to evacuate its secret base on Hoth. Instructed by Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke travels to the swamp world of Dagobah to find the exiled Jedi Master Yoda. Luke's Jedi training is interrupted by Vader, who lures him into a trap by capturing Han and Leia at Cloud City, governed by Han's old friend Lando. During a fierce duel, Vader reveals a shocking truth about Luke's father.

Owing to financial concerns, Alan Dean Foster's sequel novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978), restricted the story to Luke, Leia, and Darth Vader. But after the success of the original film, Lucas knew a sequel would be granted a reasonable budget, and hired Leigh Brackett to write it from scratch. She finished a draft by early 1978, but died of cancer before Lucas was able discuss changes he wanted made to it. His disappointment with the first draft may have made him consider new directions. Lucas penned the next draft, the first screenplay to feature episodic numbering for a Star Wars story. Lucas found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the yearlong struggle writing the first film, and quickly wrote two more in April 1978. The plot twist of Vader being Luke's father had drastic effects on the series. After writing these drafts, Lucas fleshed out the backstory between Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the Emperor.

With this new backstory in place, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies, designating the first sequel Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in the next draft. Lawrence Kasdan, who had just completed writing Raiders of the Lost Ark, was hired to write the next drafts, and given additional input from director Irvin Kershner. Kasdan, Kershner, and producer Gary Kurtz saw the film as a more serious and adult story, and developed the sequel from the light adventure roots of the first film.

Episode VI – Return of the Jedi
Set about a year after Vader's revelation, Return of the Jedi sees Luke joining Leia and Lando in a rescue attempt to save Han from the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Afterward, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training, only to find Yoda on his deathbed. In his last words, Yoda confirms the truth about Luke's father, and that Luke must confront Vader again in order to complete his training. As the rebels lead an attack on the second Death Star, Luke engages Vader in another lightsaber duel as Emperor Palpatine watches; both Sith Lords intend to turn Luke to the dark side and take him as their apprentice.

Kurtz wanted a bittersweet and nuanced ending they had outlined that saw Han dead, the Rebel forces in pieces, Leia struggling as a queen, and Luke walking off alone (like in a Spaghetti Western)—while Lucas wanted a happier ending, partly to encourage toy sales. This led to tension between the two, resulting in Kurtz leaving the production.

Prequel trilogy
Loose plans for a prequel trilogy were developed during the outlining of the original trilogy. Technical advances in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the ability to create computer-generated imagery, inspired him to consider that it might be possible to revisit his saga.

The prequel trilogy consists of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, released on May 19, 1999; Episode II: Attack of the Clones, released on May 16, 2002; and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, released on May 19, 2005. The plot focuses on the fall of the Galactic Republic, as well as the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side.

Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Set 32 years before the original film, The Phantom Menace begins with two Jedi who, acting as negotiators of the Republic, discover that the corrupt Trade Federation has formed a blockade around the planet Naboo. Sith Lord Darth Sidious has secretly caused the blockade to give his alter ego, Senator Palpatine, a pretense to overthrow and replace the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, encounter a native of Naboo who helps them find the Queen of Naboo. With Queen Padmé Amidala, they escape the blockade, but not without their starship being damaged. Landing on Tatooine for repairs, they meet a nine-year-old slave named Anakin Skywalker. Qui-Gon helps liberate the boy by betting with his master in a podrace, believing him to be the "Chosen One" prophesied by the Jedi to bring balance to the Force. Sidious dispatches his Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, to attack the queen's Jedi protectors. Arriving on Coruscant so the queen can plead Naboo's crisis before the Republic Senate, Anakin is brought before the Jedi Council, where Yoda senses that he possesses too much fear to be trained. The Jedi are ordered to accompany the queen back to Naboo, where she pleads to the natives for their help in the battle against the droid army.

The prequels were originally planned to fill in history tangential to the original trilogy, but Lucas realized that they could form the first half of one long story focusing on Anakin. This would shape the film series into a self-contained saga. In 1994, Lucas began writing the screenplay for the first prequel, initially titled Episode I: The Beginning. Following the film's release, Lucas announced that he would be directing the next two.

Episode II – Attack of the Clones
Ten years after the Battle of Naboo, Attack of the Clones opens with an assassination attempt upon former Queen Padmé Amidala, who is serving as the Senator of Naboo. Obi-Wan and his apprentice Anakin are assigned to protect her; Obi-Wan tracks the killer, while Anakin and Padmé retreat to Naboo. They soon fall in love with each other, albeit secretly due to the Jedi Order's rule against attachment. Meanwhile, Chancellor Palpatine schemes to draw the entire galaxy into the "Clone War" between the Republic army led by the Jedi, and the Confederacy of Independent Systems led by Count Dooku (the former master of Obi-Wan's deceased master Qui-Gon, and Palpatine's new Sith apprentice).

The first draft of Episode II was completed just weeks before principal photography, and Lucas hired Jonathan Hales, a writer from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, to polish it. Lucas used the basic backstory developed for earlier Star Wars films in the concept of an army of clone shock troopers from a remote planet which attacked the Republic and were resisted by the Jedi.

Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Revenge of the Sith begins three years into the Clone Wars, with Anakin and Obi-Wan leading a rescue mission to save Chancellor Palpatine from Count Dooku and the droid commander General Grievous. Anakin begins to have prophetic visions of his secret wife Padmé dying in childbirth. Palpatine, who had been secretly engineering the Clone Wars to destroy the Jedi Order, convinces Anakin that the dark side of the Force holds the power to save Padmé's life. Desperate, Anakin submits to Palpatine and is renamed Darth Vader. Palpatine orders the clone army to fire on their Jedi generals, and declares the former Republic an Empire. Vader participates in the extermination of the Jedi, culminating in a lightsaber duel with Obi-Wan on the volcanic planet Mustafar.

Work on Episode III began before Episode II was released, with one scene shot during the earlier film's production. The climactic duel has its basis in the Return of the Jedi novelization, in which Obi-Wan recounts his battle with Anakin that ended with the latter falling "into a molten pit". A rough draft screenplay includes a scene of Palpatine revealing to Anakin that he had willed his conception through the Force.

Sequel trilogy
Prior to releasing the original film, Lucas planned "three trilogies of nine films", but after beginning work on the prequels, insisted that Star Wars was meant to be a six-part series and that there would be no sequel trilogy. However, in late 2012, Disney agreed to buy Lucasfilm and announced a new trilogy, beginning with Episode VII in 2015.

The sequel trilogy focuses on the journey of the orphaned scavenger Rey following in the footsteps of the Jedi with the guidance of Luke Skywalker. Along with ex-stormtrooper Finn, she helps the Resistance led by Leia fight the First Order commanded by Supreme Leader Snoke and his pupil Kylo Ren (Han Solo and Leia's son). Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released on December 18, 2015, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi on December 15, 2017, and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is due to be released on December 20, 2019.

Episode VII – The Force Awakens
The Force Awakens is set 30 years after the destruction of the second Death Star, by which time Luke Skywalker has gone missing. The remnants of the Empire have become the First Order, who seek to destroy Luke and the New Republic. They are opposed by the Resistance, led by princess-turned-general Leia Organa. On the planet of Jakku, Resistance pilot Poe Dameron obtains a map to Luke's location, but is captured by stormtroopers under the command of Kylo Ren. Poe's droid BB-8 escapes with the map, and encounters a scavenger girl, Rey. Kylo tortures Poe and learns of BB-8. A defecting stormtrooper, FN-2187, frees Poe, who dubs him "Finn", and both escape in a TIE fighter. Poe is seemingly killed in a crash-landing upon Jakku. Finn finds Rey and BB-8, as the First Order pursues them; they escape together in the impounded Millennium Falcon. The Falcon is recaptured by Han Solo and Chewbacca, working as smugglers again. They agree to help deliver the map inside BB-8 to the Resistance.

In early 2013, Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm officially announced J. J. Abrams as Star Wars Episode VII's director and producer, along with Bryan Burk and Bad Robot Productions. The screenplay for Episode VII was originally set to be written by Michael Arndt, but in October 2013 it was announced that writing duties would be taken over by Lawrence Kasdan and J. J. Abrams.



Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
After a battle scene which overlaps with the end of the previous film, The Last Jedi follows Rey's attempt to convince Luke Skywalker to teach her the ways of the Force. She also seeks answers about her past and the conflict between Luke and his nephew Kylo Ren. Unbeknownst to Luke, Rey starts using the Force to communicate with Ren. Meanwhile, Leia leads Poe, Finn, Rose Tico, BB-8, and the rest of the Resistance as they are pursued by the First Order, led by Snoke with Kylo as his second in command. After hearing Ren's perspective, Rey disagrees with Luke and leaves him in an attempt to redeem Kylo and achieve peace. In doing this, Rey unwittingly helps Kylo kill Snoke. However, Ren's intentions are to replace Snoke as Supreme Leader, believing that destroying the Jedi and the Resistance is the only way to achieve peace. Rey must choose between Kylo's offer to rule the galaxy with him, or helping the outnumbered Resistance survive on Crait.

In late 2012, it was reported that Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg would write and produce Episodes VIII and IX. Kasdan and Kinberg were later confirmed as consultants on those films. In addition, John Williams, who wrote the music for the previous six episodes, was hired to compose the music for Episodes VII, VIII and IX. On March 12, 2015, Lucasfilm announced that Looper director Rian Johnson would direct Episode VIII with Ram Bergman as producer for Ram Bergman Productions. When asked about Episode VIII in mid-2014, Johnson said "I'm just happy. I don't have the terror I kind of expected I would... I'm sure I will at some point." Principal photography began in February 2016 and wrapped in July 2016. Carrie Fisher had finished filming her scenes, but died on December 27, 2016, approximately a year before the film's release.

Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
The Rise of Skywalker will be the final film of the Skywalker saga, featuring a climactic clash between the Resistance and the First Order, and the Jedi and the Sith.

Production on Episode IX was scheduled to begin in 2017. After Carrie Fisher's death, it was announced that her role would be created from unreleased footage from the previous two films. By September 2017, original director Colin Trevorrow had left the project following creative differences. J. J. Abrams returned to direct, and co-wrote the film alongside Chris Terrio. Principal photography began on August 1, 2018. Most of the cast of The Last Jedi is set to return, including Star Wars veterans Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels. They will be joined by Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, returning to the franchise onscreen for the first time since Return of the Jedi.

Standalone films
As Lucas was outlining his trilogy of trilogies, he also imagined making "a couple of odd movies ... [that] don't have anything to do with the Star Wars saga." The first theatrical films set outside the main episodic series were the Ewok spin-off films Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985), which were screened internationally after being produced for television. Although based on story ideas from Lucas, they do not bear Star Wars in their titles, and were considered to exist in a lower level of canon than the episodic films.

After the conclusion of his then six-episode saga in 2005, Lucas returned to spin-offs in the form of television series. An animated film, The Clone Wars (2008), was released as a pilot to a TV series of the same name. An anthology series set between the main episodes entered development in parallel to the production of the sequel trilogy, described by Disney CFO Jay Rasulo as origin stories. The first entry, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), tells the story of the rebels who steal the Death Star plans directly before Episode IV. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) focuses on Han's backstory, also featuring Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian.

The Clone Wars
Preceding the airing of the animated TV series in late 2008, the theatrical feature Star Wars: The Clone Wars was compiled from episodes "almost [as] an afterthought." It reveals that Anakin trained an apprentice between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith; the series explains Padawan Ahsoka Tano's absence from the latter film. The character was originally criticized by fans, but by the end of the series the character had become a fan favorite. The film and series exist in the same level of canon as the episodic and anthology films.

Anthology films
Before selling Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, and parallel to his development of a sequel trilogy, George Lucas and original trilogy co-screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan started development on a standalone film about a young Han Solo. In February 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger made public the development of a Kasdan film and Entertainment Weekly reported that it would focus on Han Solo. Disney CFO Jay Rasulo has described the standalone films as origin stories. Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that there was "no attempt being made to carry characters (from the standalone films) in and out of the saga episodes." The standalone films are subtitled "A Star Wars Story".

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rogue One is set directly before Episode IV: A New Hope and focuses on the eponymous group of rebels who obtain the plans to the Death Star. Its laser was developed by scientist Galen Erso (played by Mads Mikkelsen) after the Empire forcibly abducted him, separating him from his daughter Jyn. Galen secretly sends a defecting Imperial pilot, Bodhi Rook, to deliver a message warning of the weapon's existence and revealing its weakness to his rebel friend Saw Gerrera. Under the false promise of her father's liberation, Jyn agrees to help Rebel Alliance intelligence officer Cassian Andor and his droid K-2SO retrieve the message from Saw, now the paranoid leader of an extremist cell of rebels.

The idea for the movie came from John Knoll, the chief creative officer of Industrial Light & Magic. In May 2014, Lucasfilm announced Gareth Edwards as the director of an anthology film, with Gary Whitta writing the first draft for a release on December 16, 2016. The film's title was revealed to be Rogue One, with Chris Weitz rewriting the script, and Felicity Jones in the starring role. Ben Mendelsohn and Diego Luna also play new characters, with James Earl Jones returning to voice Darth Vader. Edwards stated, "It comes down to a group of individuals who don't have magical powers that have to somehow bring hope to the galaxy." The film was the first to feature characters introduced in animated Star Wars TV series, namely The Clone Wars ' Saw Gerrera, portrayed by Forest Whitaker in the film. The movie received generally positive reviews, with its performances, action sequences, soundtrack, visual effects and darker tone being praised. The film grossed over US$500million worldwide within a week of its release.

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Solo, the second anthology film, focuses on Han Solo about 10 years before A New Hope. After an escape attempt from his Imperial-occupied home planet of Corellia goes wrong, a young Han vows to return to rescue his girlfriend Qi'ra. Han "Solo" joins the Imperial Academy; however, he is expelled for his reckless behavior. Han and his newfound Wookiee friend Chewbacca resort to a criminal life, mentored by veteran smuggler Beckett. After angering gangster Dryden Vos, Han and his company's lives depend on pulling a heist for him. Without a ship to travel, they hire Lando Calrissian, the captain and owner of the Millennium Falcon.

Before selling Lucasfilm to Disney, George Lucas had hired Star Wars original trilogy veteran Lawrence Kasdan to write a film about a young Han Solo. The film stars Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca (after serving as a double for the character in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi), Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra, and Woody Harrelson as Beckett. Lucasfilm originally hired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to direct, but they were fired during principal photography, and replaced by Ron Howard. A twist ending acknowledges one of the major story arcs of The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, while leaving the story open ended for sequels.

Planned spin-off trilogies
Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss will write and produce a trilogy of Star Wars films scheduled to be released in December of 2022, 2024, and 2026. Similarly, Rian Johnson, the writer/director of The Last Jedi, is confirmed to write and direct the first film of a new trilogy he is currently outlining and will start working on after completing his film Knives Out. Both trilogies will differ from the Skywalker-focused films in favor of focusing on new characters and possibly different eras than the main film franchise. According to Kathleen Kennedy, Benioff and Weiss are "working very closely with Rian." Additionally, though unconfirmed by Lucasfilm, Buzzfeed has reported that Laeta Kalogridis is writing the script for the first movie in a potential Knights of the Old Republic trilogy.

Produced for television
The first spin-off film (also the first sequel to be released) was a holiday TV special aired in 1978. Two live-action TV films created in the mid-1980s feature the Ewoks; these both had limited international theatrical runs.

Star Wars Holiday Special
Produced for CBS in 1978, the Star Wars Holiday Special was a two-hour television special, in the format of a variety show. Stars of the original film and archive footage from the original Star Wars film appeared alongside celebrity guest stars in plot-related skits, musical numbers, and an animated segment, all loosely tied together by the premise of Chewbacca's family waiting for his arrival for the "Life Day" celebration on his home planet, Kashyyyk. George Lucas loathed the special and forbade it to be re-aired or released on home video, with the sole exception of the 11-minute animated sequence that featured the first appearance of bounty hunter Boba Fett, which was eventually included as a bonus feature in some of the films' Blu-ray releases.

Ewok films
The Ewoks from Return of the Jedi were featured in two spin-off television films, The Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. Both aired on ABC on the Thanksgiving weekends of 1984 and 1985, respectively. Warwick Davis reprised his debut role as the main Ewok, Wicket, in both. They are set between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Both films were released on VHS, Laser Disc, and on a double-feature DVD. Following Disney's acquisition of the franchise, they were excluded from the canon. Both films would be the last live-action Star Wars television projects produced by Lucasfilm until 2019's The Mandalorian.

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure
In a story by Lucas and a screenplay by Bob Carrau, the Towani family spaceship shipwrecks on the forest moon of Endor. While trying to repair their ship, the castaway family is split, when a giant creature known as the Gorax kidnaps the parents. Taking pity on the kids, a group of native Ewoks led by Wicket decides to help little Cindel Towani and her older brother Mace, rescue their parents. Among other stylistic choices making the film unique from the Star Wars episodes is the inclusion of a narrator.

Ewoks: The Battle for Endor
The sequel focuses on the Ewoks protecting their village from marauders led by the evil witch Charal, who kill all the members of the Towani family except for Cindel.

Technical information
All films of the Star Wars series were mostly filmed with an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 in mind. The original and sequel trilogies were filmed with anamorphic lenses. Episodes IV, V, VII, and VIII were filmed in Panavision, while Episode VI was filmed in Joe Dunton Camera (JDC) scope. Episode I was filmed with Hawk anamorphic lenses on Arriflex cameras, and Episodes II and III were filmed with Sony CineAlta high-definition digital cameras. Episode VII and VIII had select footage filmed with 65mm IMAX film cameras, with one scene in Episode VII presented in an aspect ratio of either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1 in most IMAX theaters. Rogue One and Solo were filmed with ARRI Alexa 65 cameras with the former using the Ultra Panavision 70 format.

Music and sound effects


Lucas hired Ben Burtt to oversee the sound effects on the original 1977 film. Burtt's accomplishment was such that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a Special Achievement Award because it had no award at the time for the work he had done. Lucasfilm developed the THX sound reproduction standard for Return of the Jedi. John Williams composed the scores for all eight films. Lucas's design for Star Wars involved a grand musical sound, with leitmotifs for different characters and important concepts. Williams's Star Wars title theme has become one of the most famous and well-known musical compositions in modern music history.

Stunts
Lucas hired 'the Dean of Special Effects' John Stears, who created R2-D2, Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder, the Jedi Knights' lightsabers, and the Death Star. The technical lightsaber choreography for the original trilogy was developed by leading filmmaking sword-master Bob Anderson. Anderson trained actor Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) and performed all the sword stunts as Darth Vader during the lightsaber duels in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, wearing Vader's costume. Anderson's role in the original Star Wars trilogy was highlighted in the film Reclaiming the Blade, where he shares his experiences as the fight choreographer developing the lightsaber techniques for the movies.

Box office performance
The Star Wars films are the second-highest-grossing film franchise of all time worldwide, behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having grossed over $9.2 billion at the global box office.

Academy Awards
The ten live-action films together have been nominated for thirty-four Academy Awards, of which they have won seven. The films were also awarded a total of three Special Achievement Awards. The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi received Special Achievement Awards for their visual effects, and Star Wars received a Special Achievement Award for its alien, creature and robot voices.

Grammy Awards
The franchise has received a total of fourteen Grammy Award nominations, winning six.
 * Notes

Library of Congress
In 1989, the Library of Congress selected the original Star Wars film for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The Empire Strikes Back, was selected in 2010. 35mm reels of the 1997 Special Editions were the versions initially presented for preservation because of the difficulty of transferring from the original prints, but it was later revealed that the Library possessed a copyright deposit print of the original theatrical releases. By 2015, Star Wars had been transferred to a 2K scan which can be viewed by appointment.

Emmy Awards
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure was one of four films to be juried-awarded Emmys for Outstanding Special Visual Effects at the 37th Primetime Emmy Awards. The film was additionally nominated for Outstanding Children's Program but lost in this category to an episode of American Playhouse.

At the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor and the CBS documentary Dinosaur! were both juried-awarded Emmys for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. The film additionally received two nominations for Outstanding Children's Program and Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Special.

Novelizations
The novelizations offer an alternate take on the events of the movie, many time including discarded or slightly alternate plot-lines.
 * Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (novel)
 * Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (novel)
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars (novel)
 * Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (novel)
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story-Expanded Edition
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (novel)
 * Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker
 * The Empire Strikes Back (novel)
 * Return of the Jedi (novel)
 * Star Wars: The Force Awakens (novel)
 * Star Wars: The Last Jedi-Expanded Edition

Unproduced films
In early 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the development of a spin-off film written by Simon Kinberg, reported by Entertainment Weekly to focus on bounty hunter Boba Fett during the original trilogy. In mid-2014, Josh Trank was officially announced as the director of an undisclosed spin-off film, but had left the project a year later due to creative differences, causing a teaser for the film to be scrapped from Star Wars Celebration. In May 2018, it was reported that James Mangold had signed on to write and direct a Fett film, with Kinberg attached as producer and co-writer. By October, the Fett film was reportedly no longer in production, with the studio instead focusing on the upcoming The Mandalorian series, which utilizes a similar character design.

In August 2017, it was rumored that films focused on Jabba the Hutt, Jedi Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi were being considered or were in development. Stephen Daldry was reportedly in early negotiations to co-write and direct the Obi-Wan movie. Ewan McGregor has expressed interest in reprising the role of Kenobi, but as of mid-2018 stated that he had no knowledge of such a project. Former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was later quoted as saying the filmmakers of an Obi-Wan spin-off film had proposed shooting it in Northern Ireland. In February 2019, it was rumored that the project may be produced as a streaming series.

In 2018, critics noted that Solo was intentionally left open for sequels. Alden Ehrenreich and Emilia Clarke confirmed that their contracts to play Han Solo and Q'ira extended for additional films, if required. Felicity Jones, who played Jyn Erso in Rogue One, also has the option of another Star Wars film in her contract; notwithstanding her character's fate in Rogue One, it has been speculated that she could return in other anthology films. Kathleen Kennedy expressed being open to making a spin-off about the younger Lando Calrissian as seen in Solo, but confirmed that none was currently in development.

An unannounced film centered around the Mos Eisley Spaceport was reportedly put on hold or cancelled in mid-2018, leading to rumors of the cancellation or postponement of the anthology series. Lucasfilm swiftly denied the rumors as "inaccurate", confirming that multiple unannounced films were in development.