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 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