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 sequel trilogy discovery for the audience". Much of the old expanded universe content would continue to be available under the "Star Wars: Legends" brand, which was created to brand the non-canonical works of the franchise. Only "Episodes I-VI" would remain canon to the franchise, along "The Clone Wars" animated film and series. Everything produced after the announcement, would also be considered remain canon. The first film in the sequel trilogy was titled "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and written by Lucas co-writer on two sequels in the original trilogy Lawrence Kasdan, along J.J. Abrams, who also directed it. As noted by Lucas