How The Acolyte fit in the Star Wars timeline explained (2024)

The Star Wars universe has grown once again with the arrival of The Acolyte. Starring Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae and The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss, the Disney+ conspiracy thriller revolves around an investigation into a shocking crime spree that pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past.

The Acolyte forms just a tiny part of the expansive Star Wars universe, which has grown exponentially since George Lucas’ original film trilogy. The multi-billion dollar franchise now spans countless films, TV shows, comic books, video games and more.

With recent titles like The Mandalorian, Andor and upcoming series Skeleton Crew – launching later this year – there’s endless amounts of Star Wars content to get lost in. The entire Star Wars saga is available to stream exclusively on Disney+, which fans can join from £4.99 a month.

READ MORE Here's everything on The Acolyte episode release schedule on Disney+

Amandla Stenberg stars as Mae in The Acolyte (Image: Lucasfilm/Disney )

Disney+ members can get the equivalent of two months free by paying for a year upfront, bagging 12 months for the price of 10 on the Standard or Premium plans. A 12-month subscription now saves up to £21.98 compared to paying monthly and includes higher video quality up to 4K UHD and HDR on the Premium plan, plus the ability to stream on four devices simultaneously.

So as sci-fi fans around the world get stuck into the franchise’s latest blockbuster series, many may be wondering exactly where The Acolyte fits in the wider Star Wars timeline. Read on as we dive in.

The Star Wars timeline anchors around one key event, the Battle of Yavin, otherwise known as the destruction of the Death Star in A New Hope. Everything in the franchise is anchored around this event, so anything before takes place ‘Before the Battle of Yavin’ (BBY), while anything later takes place ‘After the Battle of Yavin’ (ABY).

The original Star Wars trilogy takes place from 0 BBY (A New Hope) to 4 ABY (Return of the Jedi) while the sequel trilogy takes place from 34 to 35 ABY. We know the first prequel, The Phantom Menace, takes place in 32 BBY and The Acolyte is set 100 years prior, meaning the series is set in 132 BBY, decades before anyone in the galaxy had heard the name Skywalker.

This period is known as the High Republic era, which spans from 500 BBY to 100 BBY. This ends with the re-emergence of the Sith but still long-before the galaxy was ruled by the iron grip of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader’s Galactic Empire during a period of prosperity and growth for the Republic.

Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen and Charlie Barnett are among the new Jedi in The Acolyte (Image: Lucasfilm/Disney )

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The High Republic era has featured in a series of novels and comic books – beginning with 2021’s Star Wars: Light of the Jedi – but has previously been unexplored in live-action films or TV shows. During this time, the Jedi Order – the peacekeepers of the galaxy – were at the height of their power, as Obi-Wan Kenobi explains to Luke Skywalker in A New Hope: “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice.”

As far as the citizens of the High Republic were aware, there were no Sith active during this time, though as we now know, they remained active deep in the shadows. Speaking to StarWars.com, series showrunner Leslye Headland explains that The Acolyte explores a period when encountering a Sith was as likely as coming across a dinosaur by today’s standards

“Like it’s a thing I’ve heard of, but it’s not a thing that you would ever consider you’d be interacting with,” she said.

Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae as Jedi Master Sol (Image: Lucasfilm/Disney )

The Acolyte is set to reveal how the galaxy’s dark forces returned and began their decimation of both the Republic and the Jedi, which eventually lead to the emergence of Palpatine and his apprentice Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. Hopefully that clears things up, but to break things down even further, here’s every Star Wars film and TV show in chronological order.

• The Acolyte (2024)
• Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2022)
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
• Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
• Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-2024)
• Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
• Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
• Star Wars: Rebels (2014-2018)
• Andor (2022)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
• Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
• Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
• The Mandalorian (2019-present)
• The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
• Ahsoka (2023)
• Star Wars: Resistance (2018-2020)
• Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
• Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
• Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
• Star Wars: Visions (2021)

Star Wars: The Acolyte is streaming now on Disney+, watch it here.

Alternatively, a host of new shows are streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video, including post-apocalyptic action-adventure Fallout and the upcoming fourth season of The Boys. Both shows can be streamed absolutely free with an Amazon Prime 30-day trial.

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