Star Wars is a franchise that has been expanding upon its many stories and characters for nearly 50 years at this point, becoming one of the biggest franchises of all time. For many people who haven’t dived into the wealth of lore and imagination, it can be rather intimidating. How could anyone, let alone those who weren’t born around 1977, really see themselves getting into the series as a big fan when there’s just so much out there? The truth is that things are a lot simpler to jump on board the train of Star Wars fandom, despite what others may imply. You don’t need to follow every single piece of media released to catch up with other Star Wars fans already in the mix, nor do you need to be scared off by how much there is to catch up on if you’re a new fan exploring the series now.
There are many articles and social media posts online that would have newcomers believe if they missed out on the hype of Star Wars in the past, then there’s no point getting into it now. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Even with the amount of new shows being released by Disney and Lucasfilm nowadays, one can still enter into the Star Wars fandom with solid ground beneath them and not feel left out from everything that has or is going on right now. Here are a few things that newer Star Wars fans can do to follow and get into the fundamental aspects of the franchise, even if you’ve never seen or cared about anything related to Star Wars.
Watching the Six George Lucas Films
This is the most barebones, and scariest, part for newer fans who have never followed Star Wars media. The idea of needing to watch so many films that were released years ago can make some people wince at the time investment they need to make. And when you pair that up with all of the other Disney Plus shows, sequel movies, multiple novels and comic books, and video game releases; it’s enough to scare anybody away. But all of those things are anchored to the stories told in the films made by George Lucas, starting with the 1977 release of the original Star Wars film.
The bottom line is that nobody can get into any series without first starting at step one, the source material. Before Disney purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas for an incredible multi-billion-dollar deal, everyone had the six Star Wars films that George had created and released. No other Star Wars media in any format has any relevance or value without knowing the events of those six films. So it goes without saying that they are required to watch for anyone looking to become a fan, whether you’re young or old.
Getting through these films is a lot easier than you realize. With seven days in a week starting on Sunday, anybody can check out one of the six films on each separate day or night. By the end of the week, you could be caught up with 99% of Star Wars fans who have been following the series for the past 40+ years. When you look at it as a short amount of time, with very little effort, covering an immense amount of ground, it becomes a lot less intimidating. But that can be stretched out even more for those looking to be mindful of their time. Make different days a movie nights, where you can watch one or two of the films within a given week, and you will still catch up with everything in a short timeframe. No matter how one might slice this up, these are the foundation films that need to be seen to have a baseline knowledge of the stories, characters, and concepts that have made Star Wars so important and impactful to people around the world. How you go about seeing them is entirely up to you.
Smartly Exploring the Star Wars Video Games
Ok, so you’ve watched all of the original Star Wars films and the prequels at this point. You know about the series and the characters that are always being used in memes. What comes next? Do you start reading or looking at the crazy amount of books and comics that are out there, or should you dive headlong into the Disney Plus series? You could do any of those, but then there’s a matter of all those video games that fans have been playing for years. Do the games lead into the Disney series or matter in the grand scheme of things? Again, this is a lot simpler to approach than one may realize.
Many Star Wars video games have been released since 1980 when the first official video game The Empire Strikes Back was released on Atari 2600. The majority of them are retellings of the original trilogy films or prequels, as well as reenactments of key scenes from the movies. But others are newer stories that use characters from the films, as well as introduce new characters here and there. But the truth is that the majority of these games do not matter in the long run, as most of them have stories that are not important to follow the canon of the main series. But does that make them completely irrelevant for new Star Wars fans? Not exactly, especially if all you care about is gameplay that is fun or interesting.
But if you want to play the games with Star Wars stories that are interesting and can help you contribute to the conversations about Star Wars media, then there are a few you should look into. The Jedi series developed by Respawn Entertainment (and published by Electronic Arts) are the most relevant video games in the current Star Wars canon set up by Disney. Both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor follows the character of Cal Kestis, whose story is set in between the original trilogy and prequel films. These events matter in the canon, but are far removed enough from them to give you an original story to follow that matches the level of storytelling you experience in the films. At the same time, you don’t need to have watched any of the Disney Plus series to follow and enjoy them.
But what about games that aren’t necessarily seen as canon, should you still play them? Yes, you absolutely can, but it’s not something to lose sleep over if you don’t. The best recommendations for Star Wars video games that are easily accessible now include the recently rereleased Star Wars Battlefront Collection, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy. Each of these games are beloved video game release that fans love to play and discuss, mostly because of how much fun they are to experience. Depending on how much of a gamer you are or what types of games you enjoy playing, each one will vary in the kind of value you get out of it. But you don’t lose out on anything from skipping over or not knowing details about them as a new fan.
Watching the Sequel Films and Disney Plus Series
Now we come to the giant elephant in the room. For newer Star Wars fans, does watching or not watching the newer content from Disney and Lucasfilm make you any less or more of a fan? The answer is no, but is a bit more complicated in some cases. New content that is released for any kind of fandom is always something to look into following and seeing where you stand on it. Being in the conversation with everyone in the Star Wars fandom when a new show is released or a new movie comes out is a great thing, whether positive or negative. But is it necessary to be a “real” fan in any sense? Absolutely not.
Despite the wildly differing opinions about Star Wars from all over, having seen or not seen any of the newer content doesn’t make someone more or less of a Star Wars fan. This is especially true if you’ve already watched the original six films created and released by George Lucas from years ago. Many of the people with diverse opinions of the series and the newer projects released by Disney have already seen those previous films, and are just engaging in the current discourse going on.
Should you watch the latest Disney Plus show if you can if you’re a new fan? Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, contrary to what social media will tell you. Can they be an entry point for any new Star Wars fans even if they’ve never watched the original films? Yes, they can be. But all of those series and films that come out are still dependent on the source of the entire franchise, regardless of the kind of stories they tell or characters they introduce. So as long as someone has watched those previous films, they don’t lose anything or become less of a Star Wars fan by seeing the new content or not. You could have missed out on watching The Acolyte or The Mandalorian and still be a fan of the Star Wars universe in different ways.
The Star Wars Books and Comics Can Be Murky for Everyone
If there’s anything about Star Wars that can be the toughest to navigate and figure out for any fan, it’s the ensemble of novels and comic books out there. The harsh truth is that most Star Wars books are considered Expanded Universe material, or non-canon stories that just exist. After Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the company put these stories under the umbrella of Star Wars Legends, meaning they don’t have any relevance to the canon that Disney has established. They may have been written and published, but they don’t exist in the Star Wars universe as canonical events to the films and Disney Plus shows.
When this happened, many Star Wars fans were divided. For well over 20 years, fans had interesting and wide-ranging stories that were the only source of new content to follow, which heavily expanded the franchise in many ways. But all of that was now considered irrelevant, no matter how good their stories were to fans. At the same time, newer books and comics released under the Disney banner have often found themselves contradicted by the Disney Plus shows and even the films, both original and new releases. This makes getting into any kind of book or comic a very confusing and chaotic endeavor because one can often not know what matters or not.
But for newer Star Wars fans, none of this should be a priority. The stories in Star Wars books and comics are there and can be enjoyed, but you don’t need to invest in them. As sad as it is to say, the current state of the Star Wars franchise doesn’t reinforce the idea of investing time into these books as part of being immersed in the universe. This goes for many of the Marvel comics, the High Republic novels, and even books related to some of the Disney-released Star Wars films like The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker. It’s an overly complicated mess that gets worse over time, with only the most dedicated and crazy fans trying to make sense of it all. For new Star Wars fans, it’s not worth the trouble or the headache to do so. As stated before, the stories are there for anyone to enjoy but they aren’t a requirement, so you shouldn’t treat them as such.
Beyond Everything Else in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
There is so much more that Star Wars has been a part of in pop culture beyond the media people follow. Collectibles are a huge part of the history of Star Wars, including toys and high-value artistic works that showcase the dedication of fans around the world. It’s at this point that fandom takes a wide-reaching view, like other pop-culture fandoms, that relies on the discretion of the individual. Whether you become a new fan through the original movies or the many stories that have come after, it’s a very big galaxy far, far away that is almost infinitely valuable in many ways.
