So you’ve decided that you want to get into Star Wars and join the millions of Star Wars fanatics across the globe. Congratulations! You’ll now be able to understand the Star Wars references that are common in pop culture! Anyway, you want to watch the movies, but you’re a little confused. You’ve heard that the fourth movie was actually made first, and there are nine films, plus two other additional films in “Rogue One” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story”. So which one do you watch first? Well fear not my friend! Allow me tell you the order that I would watch them in!

Now before I begin, let me just say that, yes, a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but this is the order that I would recommend.

First you should start off with “The Phantom Menace”. Yup, that’s right. We’re going to get Jar Jar Binks out of the way ASAP. Luckily, he only appears in the first couple of movies in the trilogy, so we won’t have to see him for long. “The Phantom Menace” takes place around the same time as or slightly after the events of “Solo: A Star Wars Story”, which is why it’s the second movie you should watch.

Next up is “Attack of the Clones”. This is one of the more “forgotten” movies of the Star Wars franchise. While this movie did have its share of epic battles and memorable scenes, to me, it was mainly used as a buildup to the next movie.

That movie would be “Revenge of the Sith”. Known for its quotable scenes, its epic lightsaber fights, and the creation of Darth Vader. So many memes arose from this movie (not because it’s bad, but because it’s so quotable). It also has what is considered to be one of, if not THE best CGI fight scene of all time.

After that is“Solo: A Star Wars Story”. Now I know that this movie wasn’t anything special, and it’s honestly totally optional to watch this movie because it’s not really relevant to the plot of the other movies. However, it DOES take place before the rest of the movies, so we’ll put it in its rightful spot. Plus, it will give you a little bit of background on Han Solo when we come back to him in “A New Hope”.

Then after that, we move on to Rogue One. Which is the predecessor to “A New Hope”. Speaking of which do you remember those “secret plans” the rebels had in “A New Hope”? Well this is a movie about how they obtained those secret plans. It’s actually really good, and is a perfect segue into the next movie in the trilogy.

That movie would be “A New Hope”. Released in 1977, it’s the movie that started it all. A wild concept that turned out beautifully for director George Lucas. However, the only “con” about this movie is that it probably has the weakest lightsaber fight of them all. I guess it was just because this was the first time they had ever done it, so it was kind of simple, but still. Actually, you can find pretty good recreations of this fight on YouTube that are actually really entertaining, and really well made! Anyway, this movie is a timeless classic.

Next up is (arguably) what the Star Wars fan base would consider to be the creme de la creme of all Star Wars movies: “Star Wars, Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back”. Featuring a great plotline, a lightsaber battle for the ages, and the probably the most notorious line in all of Star Wars, “The Empire Strikes Back” is hard to beat.

To top off the “original three” movies, we’ve got “Return of the Jedi”. One of my favorites in the series, this movie features a bigger part for everyone’s favorite gigantic puppet (Jabba the Hutt), Ewoks, and the final battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Personally, I kinda think that the series should’ve ended here, but whatever. Money talks I suppose.

Now we move into the new trilogy with “The Force Awakens”. This movie was probably the best of the newest movies. It introduces us to the “new Darth Vader” with Kylo Ren (who, in my opinion, actually had the best character development out of all of the characters in the new movies), our ex-stormtrooper friend FIN, and our new force-sensitive character Rey. This movie is a little similar to the original three movies in terms of the way that it’s set up, with multiple unknown characters, planets, and background context, which is probably why it was more highly rated over the other two movies.

Next is the movie that I saw, but remember almost nothing about: “Star Wars, Episode 7: The Last Jedi”. Why do I not remember anything about this movie? I guess because it kinda worked the same way that “Attack of the Clones” did, it was more of a stepping stone for the next movie. There’s also a really unnecessary relationship that’s started in this movie between FIN and some random side character. Why is that important you might ask? Well, think about it this way: I’m asking the same question. Think about it like this: Mark Hamill HIMSELF said that he didn’t care for this movie (or the previous one).

Lastly, comes the last (and, for some reason, probably most disliked) of the three new movies: “Star Wars, Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker”. Personally, I thought this movie was actually pretty good, and so did my uncle, apparently though, the rest of the Star Wars fan base disagreed with us. This movie shows us the force in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. This movie answers some questions we’ve had from the beginning, but it also has a bit of a confusing (and sorta cheesy) ending. It’s not exactly the way I think I would’ve ended the series, at least for now, but whatever.

Anyway, that’s my opinion on what order you should watch the Star Wars movies in. Hopefully you enjoy the series, and may the force be with you!