Star Wars may have started to branch out and explore new areas of the timeline since the end of the Skywalker Saga but there are four eras that remain desperately uncovered.
Beyond the nine main films in the Star Wars saga, there are thousands of years’ worth of lore that is ripe for exploring but which eras would be the best for a potential film or Disney+ TV series to dive into?
The Old Republic
The Old Republic era is arguably the Star Wars time period with the most potential for a film or TV series.
It ranges from 25,053 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope) to just 1,000 BBY, that’s a whopping 24,000 years full of potential stories.
Fans of extended Star Wars media may be familiar with the Knights of the Old Republic video games or any of the novels and comics that explore this timespan.
What we’re missing, though, is a film or TV project that brings the Old Republic to life, most notably as it’s an era where the Sith are arguably at their strongest, making it an appetizing prospect for any Star Wars fan who loves a good villain – and let’s be honest, that’s most of us.
The upcoming film set to be directed by James Mangold is set to just skim the very edge of this era as it is set around 25,000 BBY and will focus on the dawn of the Jedi, exploring how the Force was discovered and used by the very first iterations of the Jedi.
And while this makes for a fascinating prospect, there are still thousands of years where a new Star Wars story could be told.
The High Republic
Set between the years 500 and 100 BBY, the High Republic era has been the focus of a slew of Star Wars novels and comics since 2021 and has started bleeding into other media such as the video game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
The time frame sees the Republic and the Jedi at the height of their powers, only for things to slowly start going wrong, leading to the eventual rise of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Empire.
Much like with the James Mangold movie, the upcoming series The Acolyte is set to just touch upon the very end of this era, around 100 years before The Phantom Menace.
As the novels have shown, there are endless stories to tell during this era and it would undoubtedly be fascinating to see a film or TV series where the Jedi truly are at their peak.
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Height of the Galactic Civil War
While Star Wars has set its stories almost exclusively during a 60-year timespan that surrounds the original trilogy, there is an era within that that is totally unexplored, at least on screen.
That is the very height of the Galactic Civil War which takes place between the films A New Hope and Return of the Jedi.
Of course, the main story beats of the war are covered in the original films but there is a three-year gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and a subsequent one-year gap until Return of the Jedi that could be ripe for the picking – so much so that the video game Star Wars Outlaws is set during this time frame.
But who knows what other adventures and battles could be brought to our screens as the Empire and Rebellion duked it out to decide the galaxy’s fate?
The far-flung future
And finally, the last era we would love for Star Wars to explore is the far future, venturing hundreds, if not thousands of years beyond the original trilogy timeline.
The possibilities are quite literally endless and could see the Jedi evolve into something new or potentially fizzle out of existence entirely.
And with the Sith finally defeated, there could be any number of mysterious threats looking to fill that power vacuum.
There is, of course, the upcoming film from Ms Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy that is set to pick up Rey’s story as she looks to build a new Jedi Order after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, and while this may still be clutching to the Star Wars stories of the past, it could be the perfect project to springboard the franchise into the future.
All nine films in the Star Wars: Skywalker Saga are available to stream on Disney+.
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