Published Jun 18, 2026, 9:01 AM EDT
Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.
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The Star Wars movies are phenomenal, but they look small next to the franchise's best Jedi series. Since the first Star Wars film was released in 1977, the narrative scope has steadily expanded between the original trilogy, prequel trilogy, sequel trilogy, and standalone movies.
That scope only widened with Star Wars Legends, which introduced Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire and other books, comics, and video games. From the animated Clone Wars to the live-action Andor, the franchise's television shows have also continued to extend the universe and push boundaries, with the latter series proving how successful a story can be without the inclusion of any Jedi or Sith characters.
Andor, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Rogue One are some of the most celebrated additions to the Star Wars canon since the Disney acquisition in 2012, but there have also been many stellar books and comics published since then. This includes Claudia Gray's Bloodline, Charles Soule's Darth Vader comics, Delilah Dawson's Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, and Alyssa Wong's Doctor Aphra comics.
When it comes to the best series of books and comics focused on the Jedi, though, The High Republic is unmatched. Set hundreds of years before The Phantom Menace, the ambitious and interconnected publishing initiative tells a vast story unlike anything Star Wars has done before.
The High Republic’s Scope Is Massive Compared To The Star Wars Movies
From 2021-2025, The High Republic released 25 novels, 139 comic book issues, 22 short stories, six manga original graphic novels, and five original audio stories. They were spread across three phases, all of which tell an interconnected story about the Jedi Order and a group of marauders known as the Nihil, who were formed from a cult known as the Path of the Open Hand.
In the Star Wars timeline, Phase I takes place about 200 years before The Phantom Menace, when the Nihil become a major threat to the galaxy and as the Jedi Order and the Republic work to combat them. Phase II then jumps back 150 years prior, to the time of the Path of the Open Hand and an ever earlier version of the Jedi. Phase III, which brings the publishing initiative's story to its conclusion, returns to the time period of Phase I and culminates the conflict with the Nihil and the dangers they've unleashed.
The authors of The High Republic are Charles Soule, Cavan Scott, Claudia Gray, Justine Ireland, Daniel José Older, Tessa Gratton, George Mann, Lydia Kang, Zoraida Córdova, and Alyssa Wong.
Considering the sheer volume of stories and being set across centuries, The High Republic's scope is inevitably much larger than the Star Wars movies. By comparison, there are 13 canon movies between the original trilogy, prequel trilogy, The Clone Wars, the sequel trilogy, Rogue One, Solo, and The Mandalorian and Grogu. As for how much time passes in Star Wars movies, it's only 67 years across the entire Skywalker saga and the standalone films set in between those installments.
Beyond the length, The High Republic explores more of the galaxy than the movies do. Most of the films only take place on a few different planets, but The High Republic inevitably goes to more locations across its various stories, including brand-new parts of the galaxy.
The High Republic Dives Deeper Into The Jedi Order
One of the best aspects of The High Republic is its ability to explore the Jedi in-depth. The books and comics feature a massive cast of Jedi that continually expands, and due to the publishing initiative's structure, readers get to see these characters develop gradually. This is true for Jedi Masters, Jedi Padawans, and younglings, with all of them getting their due between the adult, young adult, and middle-grade stories.
When Phase I begins, it is a peaceful golden age, and unlike during the Clone Wars or the reign of the Empire, the Jedi are widely regarded as heroes. The High Republic showcases what the Order is like at the height of this influence, long before their descent toward destruction in the prequel trilogy, or before only a handful of survivors were left after Order 66. While they live up to their reputation on numerous occasions, these Jedi are also revealed to be fallible individuals who make mistakes and struggle with their own fears and insecurities.
The High Republic also features a unique, sometimes weird, and mystical exploration of the Force. Various Jedi see the Force differently, from Avar Kriss experiencing it as a song to Elzar Mann experiencing it as an ocean. Meanwhile, there are creatures known as the Nameless who feed on the Living Force and have a terrifying, even lethal effect on the Jedi. The planet that the Nameless come from is truly surreal, unlike any other in Star Wars, and utilizes the Force in game-changing ways as well.
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far, Far Away · Eight Questions How Well Do You Know Star Wars? “The Force will be with you. Always.”
🗡️Jedi OrderLight-side guardians
⚡The SithRule of two
⚙️The RebellionA new hope
🪓Bounty HuntersThis is the way
👑The EmpireOrder 66
PUNCH IT! →
01
The original Star Wars film — later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope — opened in just 32 American theatres and proceeded to become the highest-grossing film of its era, redefining what summer blockbusters could be. In which year did it premiere?
A1975 B1977 C1979 D1980
✓ Correct! 1977 — specifically May 25. 20th Century Fox had so little faith in the project they only opened it in 32 theatres at first; queues quickly stretched around the block, and the film expanded to over 1,000 screens within months. It earned $307 million in its initial domestic run, won six Academy Awards (with another four nominations) and inverted Hollywood’s economics for the next 50 years.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 1977. 1975 is when the script was being shopped around. 1979 is when Star Trek: The Motion Picture released as a Star Wars-shaped countermove. 1980 is The Empire Strikes Back. The original Star Wars is May 25, 1977.
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02
A New Hope’s writer-director was a then-32-year-old American Graffiti veteran who’d struggled to get the project greenlit and famously took back-end profit and merchandising rights in lieu of a higher salary — the deal that would build a billion-dollar company. He returned to direct the prequels but stepped away from the original-trilogy sequels. Name him.
ASteven Spielberg BGeorge Lucas CFrancis Ford Coppola DIrvin Kershner
✓ Correct! George Lucas. The merchandising rights he kept (because Fox didn’t value them) became the financial bedrock of Lucasfilm and the basis of the modern toys-and-licensing megabusiness. After A New Hope, Lucas produced but didn’t direct Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner) or Return of the Jedi (Richard Marquand), then directed all three prequels (1999–2005). He sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 and stepped away from creative control of the sequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is George Lucas. Steven Spielberg was Lucas’s close friend (and the godfather of his post-A-New-Hope career) but never directed a Star Wars film. Coppola was Lucas’s mentor at USC and at American Zoetrope. Irvin Kershner directed Empire Strikes Back. The original is Lucas’s.
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03
In 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader delivers cinema’s most-misquoted line at the climax of his Cloud City duel with Luke Skywalker. Vader severs Luke’s hand and reveals their relationship. The exact line is — for the record — “No, I am your father.” What relationship does it confirm?
AVader is Luke’s uncle BVader is Luke’s father (Anakin Skywalker) CVader is Obi-Wan’s brother DVader is Han’s father
✓ Correct! Vader is Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. The reveal was so jealously guarded that Mark Hamill was only told the real line on set the day they shot it (the script said “Obi-Wan killed your father”), and even James Earl Jones recorded the dub without knowing the full plot context. The line — commonly misquoted as “Luke, I am your father” — rewrote what trilogies could pull off and is broadly considered cinema’s most famous twist.
✗ Wrong. The answer is that Vader is Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The whole foundation of the Skywalker saga collapses to this single twist: Anakin (the Jedi prodigy of the prequels) becomes Vader after his fall. Luke and Leia are revealed in Return of the Jedi to be his twin children, separated at birth.
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04
Yoda — the green, ear-twitching Jedi Master — was puppeted and voiced from his Empire Strikes Back debut through the prequels and the sequels by a single Muppet-show-veteran performer who also voices Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear. Name him.
AJim Henson BFrank Oz CSteve Whitmire DBrian Henson
✓ Correct! Frank Oz — longtime Jim Henson collaborator and voice/puppet work on Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam Eagle and Grover. Oz puppeted Yoda directly through The Phantom Menace before CGI took over for Attack of the Clones onward, but he’s continued to voice the character through the sequels and animated series. Yoda’s syntax was developed jointly by Lucas and Oz to feel old, foreign and hard-won.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Frank Oz. Jim Henson was Oz’s mentor and collaborator (he created the Muppets) but didn’t voice Yoda. Steve Whitmire took over Kermit after Henson’s 1990 death. Brian Henson is Jim’s son and runs the Henson company today. Yoda is Frank Oz’s.
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05
In a deal that reshaped Hollywood, Disney acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock — bringing Star Wars, Indiana Jones, ILM and Skywalker Sound under the Disney umbrella. The deal also kicked off the sequel trilogy production. In what year did Disney close the acquisition?
A2009 B2010 C2012 D2014
✓ Correct! 2012 — specifically October 30. The deal was announced with simultaneous reveal that a Star Wars Episode VII was being developed for a 2015 release. Lucas had been quietly preparing his exit from Lucasfilm for years; Kathleen Kennedy had been brought in as co-chair months earlier specifically to take over. The Force Awakens came out three years later, in December 2015, kicking off the modern era.
✗ Wrong. The answer is 2012. 2009 is when Disney acquired Marvel ($4 billion). 2010 is the year before Lucas began signalling exit plans. 2014 is when production proper began on The Force Awakens. Lucasfilm joined Disney on October 30, 2012.
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06
The Mandalorian launched as Disney+’s flagship original on November 12, 2019 — the day the streaming service itself launched. Created by Jon Favreau and run by Dave Filoni, the show centres on a helmeted bounty hunter who reluctantly becomes a foster father to “The Child” (Grogu). What is the Mandalorian’s real name?
ABoba Fett BCobb Vanth CDin Djarin DBo-Katan Kryze
✓ Correct! Din Djarin — played by Pedro Pascal under the helmet (with body double Brendan Wayne handling much of the physical work). The Mandalorian is widely credited with reviving Star Wars on TV, popularising the StageCraft LED-volume virtual production technology now used across Hollywood, and turning baby Yoda — Grogu — into the meme-economy phenomenon of late 2019. Three seasons have aired with a feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, set for May 2026.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Din Djarin. Boba Fett is the famous bounty hunter from the original trilogy, with his own Disney+ spinoff (The Book of Boba Fett, 2021). Cobb Vanth is the Tatooine marshal played by Timothy Olyphant. Bo-Katan Kryze is the Mandalorian princess played by Katee Sackhoff. The Mandalorian himself is Din Djarin.
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07
Order 66 — the secret directive that turns the Republic’s clone troopers against their Jedi commanders and effectively ends the Jedi Order — is dramatised in the climactic third act of which prequel film?
AEpisode I: The Phantom Menace BEpisode II: Attack of the Clones CEpisode III: Revenge of the Sith DRogue One
✓ Correct! Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). Palpatine’s “Execute Order 66” comm to the clone armies leads to the methodical, planet-by-planet liquidation of the Jedi Order — one of the saga’s most operatic sequences, scored to John Williams’ “Anakin’s Betrayal” cue. The same film features Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side, the Mustafar duel with Obi-Wan, and his rebirth as Darth Vader in the suit. Widely re-evaluated as the best of the prequels.
✗ Wrong. The answer is Revenge of the Sith. Phantom Menace ends with Qui-Gon’s death and the unveiling of Darth Maul. Attack of the Clones ends with the Clone Wars beginning. Rogue One is set just before A New Hope, after Order 66 has long since happened. The Order 66 sequence is the climax of Episode III.
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08
Andor (2022–25) is widely regarded as the most adult, politically literate Star Wars project ever made — a slow-burn prequel to Rogue One charting Cassian Andor’s radicalisation against the Empire. The series was created and showrun by a writer/director best known for the original Bourne trilogy and Michael Clayton. Name him.
ATony Gilroy BRian Johnson CJon Favreau DDave Filoni
✓ Correct! Tony Gilroy. He’d previously been brought in for extensive Rogue One reshoots in 2016, and Lucasfilm gave him near-total creative independence on Andor. Season 1 (12 episodes, 2022) is widely regarded as Star Wars’ finest dramatic writing ever; Season 2 (also 12 episodes, in four three-episode jumps across 2025) closes the gap to Rogue One’s opening scene. Gilroy’s prior credits: Bourne Identity / Supremacy / Ultimatum / Legacy, plus directing Michael Clayton (2007).
✗ Wrong. The answer is Tony Gilroy. Rian Johnson directed The Last Jedi (2017). Jon Favreau created The Mandalorian and is Lucasfilm’s Disney+-era animation/live-action lieutenant. Dave Filoni runs the Filoniverse (Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka, the upcoming Heir to the Empire film). Andor is Tony Gilroy’s.
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The Force Has Spoken · Final Tally Your Galactic Standing
🗡️
/ 8
Jedi Master — or moisture farmer on Tatooine?
⤴ ANOTHER GO
As for the Star Wars movies, due to their structure and many of them being set after the fall of the Jedi, they usually only explore one master and apprentice in-depth. Even across a whole trilogy of films, they simply do not have the same amount of time that The High Republic books and comics have for character growth.
When it comes to the weirder and more mystical parts of the Force, the movies generally shy away from this, with one exception being the Dyad of Rey and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the sequel trilogy. As seen with Mortis and the World Between Worlds, Star Wars shows like The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Ahsoka are willing to go into this bolder territory when it comes to the Force.
The Acolyte Is Only A Small Taste Of The High Republic Era
Outside the publishing initiative, the High Republic era has also made its way on-screen with The Acolyte and Young Jedi Adventures. The latter is an animated series aimed at preschoolers, but The Acolyte is more well-known as a live-action Disney+ show targeted more toward adults. Since live-action shows generally have a much larger audience than animation, books, or comics, for many fans, The Acolyte is all they know of the High Republic.
The series is a great entry point to the era, but the problem is that it is such a small taste of it. The Acolyte is set toward the end of the High Republic, long after the publishing initiative's story ends in Phase III. Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh is the only character introduced in the books and comics who is in the show. The Jedi still wear their golden robes and there are references to things like the Great Disaster, but the series is otherwise not too connected to the publishing stories.
The Acolyte is also tonally very different from the books and comics. There is a consistent sense of optimism in the publishing initiative, as even after devastating tragedies, the Jedi find a way to remain hopeful and stay true to their core values. The phrase "We are all the Republic" is frequently repeated, as both the Jedi and other characters know they have to work together and believe in one another, and that all contributions matter to this effort.
This kind of optimism is absent for most of The Acolyte, which is one of Star Wars' darkest stories. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not an accurate representation of the majority of other stories set during the High Republic. The Acolyte proved to be divisive and was canceled after one season, which is another issue entirely, but viewers should realize that it is only a small piece of a much larger era.
Movie(s) Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi, Star Wars: New Jedi Order
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