Insanity is explaining the Star Wars timeline to someone who’s never seen Star Wars. “The first three movies, episodes four through six, chronologically take place after the next three movies, episodes one through three, and the seventh movie, The Clone Wars, which isn’t actually episodic, is set between movies two and three. Oh yeah, and there’s a stand-alone story, which happens after episode three, but before episode four, and don’t forget the new trilogy.”
Like I said: madness. And it’s about to get even madder than Kylo Ren.
Random House’s Del Rey Books has a helpful timeline of their officially licensed Star Wars novels. It begins with Terry Brooks’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, R.A. Salvatore’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Christie Golden’s Star Wars: Dark Disciple, and so on. The novelization for Solo: A Star Wars Story, the upcoming Han Solo anthology film, falls between Last Shot (“A Han and Lando novel”) and Star Wars: Thrawn (named after the Galactic Empire’s evil Grand Admiral Thrawn), and before Rogue One. That places Solo approximately 11 years before the events of A New Hope.
Here, just look:
No information on the Solo novel is available yet (not surprising, considering how long it took for a trailer), but Last Shot might lead directly into the film.
THEN: It’s one of the galaxy’s most dangerous secrets: a mysterious transmitter with unknown power and a reward for its discovery that most could only dream of claiming. But those who fly the Millennium Falcon throughout its infamous history aren’t your average scoundrels. Not once, but twice, the crew of the Falcon tries to claim the elusive prize — first, Lando Calrissian and the droid L3-37 at the dawn of an ambitious career, and later, a young and hungry Han Solo with the help of his copilot, Chewbacca. But the device’s creator, the volatile criminal Fyzen Gor, isn’t interested in sharing. And Gor knows how to hold a grudge…
NOW: It’s been ten years since the rebel hero Han Solo last encountered Fyzen Gor. After mounting a successful rebellion against the Empire and starting a family with an Alderaanian princess, Han hasn’t given much thought to the mad inventor. But when Lando turns up at Han’s doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s Fyzen’s assassins that he’s running from. And without Han’s help, Lando — and all life on Cloud City — will be annihilated.
With the assistance of a young hotshot pilot, an Ewok slicer prodigy, the woman who might be the love of Lando’s life, and Han’s best and furriest friend, the two most notorious scoundrels in the New Republic are working together once more. They’ll have to journey across the stars before Gor uses the device’s power to reshape the galaxy.
The Solo trailer left out the Ewok slicing. That should make the fuzzy bear and/or porg haters happy. Solo: A Star Wars Story opens on May 25.
(Via Del Rey Books)