Appropriately named YouTube channel Star Wars Explained just released an hour-long video going through the entire canon timeline of the Star Wars series as of 2021, and in this case, the entire canon timeline means the entire canon timeline. This means that even the fans who love the series to death, watching and rewatching every movie and series annually, have probably missed something that’s in this video. That’s how in-depth it is. Yet it’s still not as complicated as Mortal Kombat, somehow.
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The thing is, though, it’s not some dry video essay explaining motivations and speculating on various unanswered questions. No, this is just a straight recitation of facts, walking through every important moment in Star Wars history in chronological order. Everything from the basics like the Battle of Yavin and Luke Skywalker’s training with Yoda to far more obscure (but still completely canon) elements like the redemption and ultimate fate of Count Dooku’s apprentice Asajj Ventress from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Everything that’s part of the canon, even children’s books like Tom Angleberger’s The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest of Fear! receive a proper summary. Hey, if The Mandalorian can reference Life Day, everything is fair game.
Possibly the most impressive aspect of this is the fact that so much is covered even after Disney’s “reboot” of the Star Wars canon roughly 7 years ago. At that point, the Star Wars expanded universe had been slowly developed through games, comics, and novels for as long as the series itself had existed. But now, everything before that cutoff point in 2014 that isn’t one of the mainline films or part of the Clone Wars TV series has become “Legends,” meaning they aren’t part of the canon any longer. However, that doesn’t mean they’re forgotten, as works developed since then have still been adapting elements from various Legends stories back into canon, such as characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn.
So even with all of the Legends stories cut out, the video from Star Wars Explained is still jam-packed full of a nearly overwhelming amount of canon materials. For those who haven’t gotten a chance to read through novels like Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy or comics like the Doctor Aphra series, perhaps an hour-long summary addressing them all might be a more palatable medium.
Still, it might be worthwhile to take a look at all the books currently in the canon and see if any of them look interesting. Aftermath is a fascinating glimpse into the galaxy immediately following Return of the Jedi, and there are even rumors that Doctor Aphra herself may be making the jump to live-action soon. But however people decide to enjoy Star Wars, whether they read everything or simply watched one of the movies and really liked it, they’re all still genuine fans.
The Star Wars saga is now available on Disney Plus.
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Source: Star Wars Explained/YouTube
