This page covers all the TV series and TV specials.
The original Star Wars film trilogy (originally titled Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) was released from 1978 to 1983. Following the first movie, a two-hour holiday special was aired on CBS; while Star Wars creator George Lucas has disavowed it, it included new narrative content and starred the cast of the film.
After the original trilogy’s conclusion in 1983, an Ewok TV movie aired on ABC in 1984; a sequel appeared in 1985. Also in 1985, two animated series debuted: Ewoks, which lasted 26 episodes, ending in 1986; and Droids, which lasted 13 episodes, ending in 1985 — although an animated special appeared in 1986. The Ewoks TV movies and animated series occurred between The Empire Strikes Back, while the Droids animated series and special occurred prior to the first film.
After this, Star Wars went dormant for many years, especially in film and television.
Lucas produced a prequel trilogy, released from 1999 to 2005. From 2003 to 2005, about 120 minutes of animated material, set between the second and third prequel films, was released as Star Wars: Clone Wars. In 2008, an ongoing animated series, titled Star Wars: The Clone Wars, was launched with a theatrically released animated film of the same title. It was cancelled in 2013 following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm.
While Star Wars is mostly thought of as a live-action feature-film series, as a franchise it’s far more defined by animated television. This has been true since Ewoks and Droids, which quickly produced more hours of content than the rest of the franchise. But the animated Clone Wars had a much longer duration, essentially eclipsing the rest of the entire series — at least as a movie and TV franchise. While the theatrical films may be the most popular, as a TV and movie franchise Star Wars is mostly defined by animated TV, most of which was produced from 2008-2013.
Since the acquisition of Star Wars by Disney, a sequel trilogy has been announced, and multiple side movies are planned. The final episodes of The Clone Wars are also expected to be released in some form.
