Galactic Empire (Star Wars) Galactic Empire (Star Wars) The Galactic Empire is a fictional autocracy featured in the "Star Wars" franchise. It was first introduced in the 1977 film "Star Wars" and also appears in its two sequels: "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983) and is the main antagonist faction of the original trilogy. By the time of the sequel trilogy, which starts three decades following the events of the original trilogy, the government has since collapsed and has been succeeded by the First Order. The Empire's origins are depicted in the prequel "" (2005), where it replaces the
Star Wars expanded to other media Dave Filoni has used multiple characters and elements from "Legends" works in the series. Filoni explained that he followed Lucas's example in considering the films and television series canon, but allowing for the incorporation of "Legends" material. The first new canonical novel was "" by John Jackson Miller, published in September 2014, followed by the animated series "Star Wars Rebels" a month later. Marvel Comics began publishing a series of "Star Wars" comic book titles in January 2015. "" was released in December 2015, and marked the beginning of the sequel trilogy of films. Since then, multiple films have been