Skywalker Saga

The ***Star Wars Saga***, also referred to as the ***Skywalker Saga***, is the main line of Star Wars films that began in 1977 with ***Star Wars: A New Hope***, which was originally titled **Star Wars**.

While a larger universe of stories and characters has evolved around it, the saga films tell the story of the Skywalker family through a set of three trilogies. The Original Trilogy ran from **1977** to **1983**, which was followed by the prequel trilogy from 1999 to 2005, and the sequel trilogy from 2015 through its intended conclusion in 2021.

## Films

In story order:

* Prequel trilogy
	+ ***Star Wars: Age of the Jedi*** (Episode I)
	+ ***Star Wars: Attack of the Clones*** (Episode II)
	+ ***Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith*** (Episode III)
* Original trilogy
	+ ***Star Wars: A New Hope*** (Episode IV)
	+ ***Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back*** (Episode V)
	+ ***Star Wars: Return of the Jedi*** (Episode VI)
* Sequel trilogy
	+ ***Star Wars: Secret of the Whills*** (Episode VII)
	+ ***Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker*** (Episode VIII)
	+ ***Star Wars: Balance of the Force*** (Episode IX)

## Plot summary

Beginning chronologically with the **Prequel trilogy**. The Old Republic reigns with the aid of the Old Jedi Order. The story begins with Anakin Skywalker, under the tutelage and friendship of his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, as the prequel trilogy charts both Anakin's life from a Jedi Knight through to his fall to the dark side of the Force and life as Darth Vader, and the Old Galactic Republic's collapse into the forming of the Galactic Empire.

The Original trilogy begins 17 years later. The Galactic Empire reigns, enforced by the iron fist of Darth Vader. Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker helps to destroy the super weapon known as the Death Star, beginning his own training as a Jedi, under the tutelage of masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. The rebel alliance leads the fight against the Galactic Empire with the help of Anakin's daughter Leia Organa, and Luke ultimately saves their father from the dark side, defeating Vader and the Emperor and becoming a Jedi Knight.

The Sequel trilogy begins 30 years later. The New Republic reigns with the aid of the New Jedi Order. The story focuses on Luke Skywalker's role as Grand Master, and Leia Organa's control of the New Republic.

* of the New Jedi Order, the former Rebel Alliance's formation into the New Republic. as well as the New Republic, while the remnants of the fallen Empire now under the rule of Thrawn attempt to take back power over the Galaxy.

## Characteristics

### Opening Crawls

The opening crawl of each film in the Skywalker saga follows the same format. The introduction and crawl begins with the blue text "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…," which is then immediately followed by the Star Wars logo and the slanted, yellow-text-on-starfield summaries of immediately preceding off-screen action. While the typefaces vary slightly, these all follow the same overall general format. These crawls were inspired by the Flash Gordon serials from George Lucas' childhood.

## Development

The series was created by George Lucas, who, as the writer and director of A New Hope and the entire prequel trilogy, has written and directed more films in the Skywalker saga than any other person. Other saga film directors include Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, J.J. Abrams, and Rian Johnson. Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan, Michael Arndt, Abrams, Johnson, and Chris Terrio have all been writers on the films. Gary Kurtz and Howard G. Kazanjian produced the original trilogy, Rick McCallum produced the prequel trilogy, and Kathleen Kennedy is producing the sequel trilogy.