Star Wars Star Wars Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, created by George Lucas and centered around a film series that began with the eponymous 1977 movie. The saga quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The first film was followed by two successful sequels, "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Return of the Jedi" (1983); these three films constitute the original "Star Wars" trilogy. A prequel trilogy was released between 1999 and 2005, albeit to mixed reactions from critics and fans. Finally, a sequel trilogy to conclude the nine-episode saga began in 2015 with "". The first eight
Star Wars is wielded by two major knighthood orders at conflict with each other: the Jedi, who act on the light side of the Force through non-attachment and arbitration, and the Sith, who use the dark side through fear and aggression. The latter's members are intended to be limited to two: a master and their apprentice. The "Star Wars" film series centers around a "trilogy of trilogies" (also referred to as the "Skywalker saga" or the ""Star Wars" saga"). They were released out of sequence: the original (Episodes "IV–VI", 1977–83), prequel (Episodes "I–III", 1999–2005), and sequel (Episodes "VII–IX", 2015–19) trilogy. The first