This timeline is intended to be a comprehensive, definitive timeline of every single piece of Expanded Universe story material.
Material is generally kept as one unit, or piece of material, and are listed from where the beginning of the story. The only exception to this is in the Clone Wars Era, which because of the chronology of The Clone Wars (2008) has been broken up into the separate episodes.
Some material is placed for best experiencing order because of how well it flows, but this is really only present around the movies. Otherwise it is in the place where the unit of material starts it’s story proper.
You may see an Unknown Exact Placement list. This means that I do not currently know where they fit in exactly, but will endeavour to do so in the future!
This timeline marks items as best as possible to line up with a pre-2014 mindset in regards to continuity.
The following is a guide to how to read the timeline, and an explanation of how I use it.
Categorisation
Colouring
Each colour in the timeline corresponds to a different type of material. The following is an explanation for the colour coding and a short description of what falls under each category. A legend for the colouring can be found at the top of each page.
Some material, usually magazines or websites where short stories are published, don’t have a reason to be coloured.
Movie
Theatrical releases and direct-to-television movies.
TV Show
Shows that were made for TV, including mini/microseries and cartoons. This also includes some content only available elsewhere online, of a visual nature.
Adult Novel
Novels written for an adult audience.
Junior Novel
Novels intended to appeal to middle grade to young adult readers.
Short Story
A written story, significantly shorter and less elaborate than a novel.
Comic
Graphic novels, including manga.
Video Game
Digital entertainment games.
Children’s Book
Books made for children.
Audio Drama
Audio dramatisations with a full cast.
In-Universe Sourcebook
Sourcebooks of information written as if they are inside the universe of Star Wars.
In-Universe Item
Other miscellaneous items that are written as if they are inside the universe of Star Wars. This includes propaganda and news articles, amongst other things.
Roleplaying Game
Tabletop Roleplaying Game material made for pen-and-paper play. Listed items are officially written adventures, with the majority of other appearances in this timeline because of the books containing short stories.
Game Book
Books written in a way to guide you through scenarios while giving you options to play along with it. e.g. Choose Your Own Adventure.
Canon Tiers
The Canon tiers were an internal categorisation system of where fictional elements are from – made for the Holocron, as used by Lucasfilm.
For the purpose of this timeline, I have taken the framework and adapted it to suit the usage of applying to material.
(G) = George Lucas-Canon
The six episodic movies and elements originating with George Lucas in the movie novelizations, reference books, and other sources.
(C) = Continuity-Canon
Consisting of all works approved by Lucas Licencing after 1991 intended to be part of the main continuity of the Expanded Universe.
(S) = Secondary-Canon
Consisting of mostly older works, this canon tier is a place for works that were released before there was a consistent effort to maintain continuity. All of the events in these stories happened, although details told in the stories may not be 100% accurate. This also includes Roleplaying Game material as it is subject to variation upon anyone actually playing the TTRPGs.
This is my headcanon placement of The Clone Wars (2008).
(N) = Non-Canon
What-if stories (published under the Infinities label) and anything else never intended as part of the main continuity.
Dates
For clarity to the reader, this timeline uses the BBY/ABY dating system. For anyone that doesn’t know, this is “Before the Battle of Yavin” and “After the Battle of Yavin” – the major event in Star Wars (Now retitled Episode IV: A New Hope)
Modifications to the Eras
Given the immense amount of material in the official Rise of the Empire Era, I have broken it up into the Era of the Republic and the Imperial Era, with dates they start and end modified for the change.
Other eras remain the same as the official pre-2014 Lucasfilm eras.
The eras are as follows:
- Pre-Old Republic Era
- Old Republic Era
- Era of the Republic
- Clone Wars Era
- Imperial Era
- Rebellion Era
- New Republic Era
- New Jedi Order Era
- Legacy Era
There is a separate page inside the Clone Wars Era for The Clone Wars (2008) and it’s tie-in material, due to the difficulty of it working together with pre-established EU lore.
Using the Timeline
A lot of my use of the timeline, as I read it, has been word searching and then seeing the context of what is surrounding what I am reading. I would recommend doing the same, although if you wish to peruse it differently I would recommend having the colour coding legend open on another tab and looking at it alongside, to familiarise yourself with the colours
The format for the timeline is as folllows:
(Custom Canon Tier) Title of Material (Year of release), main contributor to the work
(notable publishings, collections, or reprintings with titles)
Main contributer to the work may be interpreted differently for different types of material. For example, for a novel it is the author but for a movie it would be the writer(s) and director.
There is some assumed knowledge to keep in mind when looking at the timeline. Two major things are:
- I haven’t written titles with “Star Wars” at the front of them
- For comics, I have assumed that people would know that most runs of single issues get reprinted as a TPB (Trade Paperback) of the same name.
Callum's Cantina 