A new installment into the Star Wars universe brings about clarity to the galaxy's everchanging eras with a new franchise timeline, including new era titles.
After the release of Marvel's Star Wars: The High Republic #1, as well as the release of the new novel Star Wars: The High Republic - Light of the Jedi, the sci-fi franchise is preparing to enter an uncharted era in the galaxy's history. This new time period referred to as the High Republic, is secured in place to reshape the Star Wars timeline. The reconfigured timeline divides up specific event periods, simplifying the timing of the Star Wars world between comics, novels, films, games, and shows.
Prior to the new timeline, the Star Wars lore was punctuated by years that were based around The Battle of Yavin 4, which took place at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Time periods were established by using BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) and ABY (After the Battle of Yavin).
Star Wars refuses to be confined by the Skywalker Saga and finds its start from the High Republic era, 600 years prior to Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Now that the lore has secured a defined starting point, creators are jumping on the chance to clean up the progression of the Star Wars timeline in an orderly fashion.
Following the High Republic era comes The Fall of the Jedi, which is mostly composed of the prequel trilogy, the dissolving of the Galactic Republic, the events of Order 66, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020). The Reign of the Empire pinpoints exactly when the Empire was in its most powerful state, where Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) and Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-) take place.
The original trilogy, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) and Star Wars: Rebels (2014-2018) call The Age of Rebellion home, marking the growth of Rebels and the fall of the Empire. The New Republic era trails after, where The Mandalorian (2019-) stands as its initial window in the time period and establishes the point where the galaxy attempts to reclaim the galactic government into a reformed Republic.
Another timeline found Star Wars: The High Republic - Light of the Jedi breaks down where each novel fits within the cinematic eras that have been distinguished from one another. Light of the Jedi, Dooku: Jedi Lost, and Master and Apprentice all take place during the era of the High Republic. Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising, Dark Disciple: A Clone Wars Novel, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel, Lords of the Sith and Tarkin exist during the Fall of the Jedi era, and Reign of the Empire houses Thrawn, A New Dawn: A Rebels Novel, Thrawn: Alliances and Thrawn: Treason.
The New Republic era and The Age of Rebellion marry together and host the highest number of novels, including Battlefront II: Inferno Squad, Heir to the Jedi, Doctor Aphra, Battlefront: Twilight Company, The Alphabet Squadron, Last Shot, Bloodline, Phasma, and Canto Bight. The Rise of the First Order, by comparison, offers the least amount of novel lore, with Resistance Reborn and Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire.
There may be no slowing down the expansion of the Star Wars universe, but now with the eras carved out and a new timeline established, events will be able to be pieced together in a more coherent manner, and the lore of a galaxy far, far away will be more accessible and organized.
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