The plot for Star Wars is extremely complicated and has so much depth and history to it. It would probably take hours to explain the whole backstory so I’ve attached a video below to explain it. I’ve also done a little rundown on certain events and groups of people to help understand.
FILMS IN ORDER OF RELEASE
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
FILMS IN TIMELINE ORDER WITH BREAKDOWN
The Prequal Trilogy
The Prequals cover the story of the rise of Darth Vadar/fall of Anakin Skywalker
The films start with The Phantom Menace, where meet a young Anakin Skywalker living as a slave with his mother on Tatooine. He is found by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Knights) as they’re on a trade mission to stop the Trade Federation from invading Naboo. They learn that Anakin is gifted and might be “The chosen one” to stop the Sith (Previous force users turned to the darkside, that want to control the galaxy). Anakin goes with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to train as a Jedi.
Attack of the Clones takes place 10 years after the first film, and the galaxy is starting to get taken over by Separatists working for the Sith. As Anakin is older now, we see his impatience start to grow with his training as he feels no one takes him seriously enough or values him. Chancellor Palpatine sees his potential and keeps trying to earn his trust. An assassination attempt is made on Senator Padme Amidala, so she and Anakin go into hiding where he can protect her. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan is sent to investigate this, and hears of a plot to overthrow the Republic. He visits Kamino, a missing planet in the Jedi archives (Jedi library), where he finds a Clone Army being developed for the republic and was apparently started by a Jedi (Sifo-Dyas). The template for all of the clones was a Mandalorian bounty hunter called Jango Fett, who is known to be legendary, he and Obi-Wan fight, but he escapes with his son Boba Fett.
Back on Naboo, Anakin keeps having dreams about his mother being in danger, so he and Padme go to Tatooine to find her. His mother has gone missing, Anakin finds her at a Tusken Camp (group of Tusken Raiders/sand people) where she was kidnapped, she then dies in his arms. Filled with rage, Anakin slaughters the whole tribe of Tusken Raiders, and Master Yoda feels sudden darkness in the Force. This is the start of Anakins downfall as he begins to lean towards the darkside. Towards the end there is a battle of Count Dooku (Sith lord) and his droids against the Jedi and new clone army. The film ends as the Jedi find out the Senate is being controlled by Darth Sidious (Sith Lord), Chancellor Palpatine is shown overseeing launching the Clone troopers, then Anakin and Padme get married on Naboo in secret.
Revenge of the Sith is one of my favourite Star Wars films. It takes place 3 years after the events in Attack of the Clones. Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped by General Grievous, so Obi-Wan and Anakin go to save him. Grievous escapes and suspicions start to grow that Palpatine is a Sith Lord. The Jedi council ask Anakin to spy on Palpatine, but the two form a bond and Anakin begins to turn to the dark side. Padme finds out she’s pregnant Anakin keeps having dreams that Padme will die during child birth, Palpatine tells Anakin if he goes to the dark side then he can prevent her from dying. Anakin is persuaded by this and pursues the dark side. Palpatine reveals to him that he’s a Sith Lord and he kills Mace Windu. Palpatine then tries to frame all Jedi claiming they are dangerous and are trying to overthrow the Republic. Palpatine then tells all clones to “execute Order 66”, which is a purge of all Jedi. Anakin takes part in the slaughter of all Jedi, and kills everyone in the Jedi Temple, including the younglings. All surving Jedi go into hiding, and Anakin goes to Mustafar the fire planet. Obi- Wan follows Anakin to Mustafar, Anakin strangles Padme using the force because he thinks she brought Obi-Wan with her to kill him. Obi-wan and Anakin fight, which leaves Anakin amputated and close to death.
Obi-Wan takes Padme to a hospital as she gives birth to twins called Luke and Leia, at the same time Anakin gets surgery and is given mechanized limbs and lungs, Anakin asks about Padme, but we find out she died after giving birth. He shouts in pain and rage, and Darth Vader is born.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The Original Trilogy
The Original trilogy covers the story of Luke Skywalker and his fight against Darth Vader
A New Hope follows Luke Skywalker, whos uncle buys some old droids from a market. The droids are C-3PO and R2-D2, Luke fixes them up and R2-D2 plays a message from Leia, saying she’s in trouble and needs Obi-wans help. Luke is found by Obi-Wan and is given his fathers lightsaber, this convinces Luke to go with Obi-Wan and train as a Jedi. Obi-Wan and Luke go in search of a ship, they find Han Solo and Chewbacca who offer to take them where they need to go. They all decide to stick together and go to save the Princess. They save the Princess but then Obi-Wan is confronted by Darth Vader, they fight and then Obi-Wan dies. Luke, Leia and Han go on a mission to destroy the Death Star, they destroy it but Darth Vader escapes.
The Empire Strikes Back starts on the ice planet Hoth where the Resistance are hiding from the Empire (Darth Vader and his followers). The Resistance goes to attack them and they manage to escape. Han and Leia go to The Cloud City to hide from the Empire, and Luke goes to Dagobah to find and train with Master Yoda. As Luke is training, he senses Leia and Han are in trouble, as Darth Vader as gone to find them. Darth Vader Carbon-Freezes Han-Solo and Boba Fett (Jango Fetts son) gives him to Jabba the Hut, as there is a bounty on his head.
Luke arrives at The Cloud City and has a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Darth Vader cuts off Lukes hand and tells him he is his father. Luke escapes with Leia in the Millennium Falcon to go and save Han-Solo from Jabba the Hutt.
The last film of the trilogy is Return of the Jedi which starts off back on Tatooine in a mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. In their attempt to save him, Leia also gets captured by Jabba, and then so does Luke. They find Han Solo, unfreeze him then the three of them manage to escape, with Boba Fett falling into the Sarlaccs mouth(A deadly monster).
Luke returns back to Dagobah to carry on with his training with Yoda, but Yoda is terminally ill. Yoda dies and Luke speaks to his and Obi-wans ghost, he finds out that Anakin Skywalker was his father, and that he has a twin sister, Leia.
The final mission begins as they all go to Endor and they meet the Ewoks. The Ewoks join forces with the Resistance, and they all fight against the Empire. Luke comes face to face with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and they take him to the new Death Star. Luke and Darth Vader have another lightsaber fight and Emperor Palpatine tells Luke to kill Darth Vader so he can take his place as his apprentice. Luke refuses, Palpatine strikes him with force lightening which makes Darth Vader get up and throw Palpatine off into the Death Star reactor. Darth Vader is weak and dies from absorbing Force lighting from Palpatine, Luke takes his body and burns it.
The galaxy is now safe from the Empire and they celebrate.
The Sequel Trilogy
The New Star Wars films cover the story of Rey and her fight against Kylo Ren and the return of Emperor Palpatine
The Force Awakens is the first film of the new trilogy and introduces a group of brand new characters. The film takes place 30 years after the Return of the Jedi, which saw the Death of Darth Vader and defeat of Emperor Palpatine. The Empire has returned and Princess Leia (General Organa) is on a mission to find Luke Skywalker and fight against them. During this search, Rey and Finn are discovered and help with the task of finding Luke Skywalker with Han Solo but are faced against Kylo Ren (A new dark lord) along the way. A new Sith Lord, Snoke is revealed, as is the fact that Kylo Ren is Han Solo and Princess Leia’s son.
Rey is captured by The Empire, and manages to use the Force to trick the guards into letting her escape, confirming she has powers in the force. A battle breaks out on the Starkiller base in order to rescue Rey, but Han Solo and Kylo Ren come face to face. Kylo Ren stabs Han Solo with his lightsaber and he falls to his death.
The group go back to base, and R2-D2 wakes, revealling another piece to the map with Skywalkers location. Rey, R2-D2 and Chewbacca go to the location and find Luke Skywalker alone on Anch-to, which holds one of the first Jedi Temples.
The Last Jedi takes place straight after the events in The Force Awakens. It starts with Rey trying to convince Luke Skywalker to train her up as a Jedi, but he refuses. She tells him everything that has happened with the Ordeer and what happened to Han Solo. He continues to refuse to tech her as he thinks the Jedi should end, but after speaking to R2-D2 he agrees to teach Rey. During their first lesson, Rey and Kylo Ren communicate through shared memories, she then senses something strong in the Dark Side in some caves on the Island, she follows her senses and Luke is angry she followed the Dark Side without any restraint. He tells her he sees similarities between her and Kylo Ren, who Luke previously trained but stopped as he sensed he was turning to the Dark Side. Luke considered killing Ren in his sleep which caused Ren to flee in anger and pushed him to become Kylo Ren, causing Luke to go into hiding and cut off from the Force.
Rey leaves Anch-to and gives herself up to Kylo Ren, to try to get him to move back towards the light. Kylo Ren takes her to Snoke, and retrieves Luke Skywalkers location from her. Snoke orders Kylo Ren to kill Rey with her lightsaber, but instead Ren uses the force and cuts Snoke in half with the lightsaber killing him. Ren wants Rey to rule the Galaxy with him, but she refuses and escapes to reunite with Princess Leia and The remaining Resistant troops.
Leia and the rest of The Resistance are taking refuge on the planet Crait. They have dug trenches into the ground to defend themselves, as The Order come after them and start to attack. They are forced to retreat as The Order is too strong, but then Luke projects himself to Crait from Anch-to using the force, coming face to face with Kylo Ren. Luke tells Kylo Ren that he is not the last of the Jedi and that The Resistance has been reborn. Kylo Ren stabs Luke with his lightsaber, but then realises Luke is just a projection and is stalling so the others can escape. Luke is left exhausted as he used his last strength, he then dies and becomes one with the Force.
The final film is The Rise of Skywalker, which takes place a year after the death of Luke Skywalker. The films begins with a broadcast from Emperor Palpatine, who is thought to be dead, threatening revenge on The Resistance. Kylo Ren goes to the Sith world of Exegol, to find Emperor Palpatine as he sees him as a threat to his power. Ren arrives at the Citidale and finds Darth Sidious, the true identity of Emperor Palpatine. Sidious offers Ren the position of being the new Emperor if he kills Rey for him.
The Resistance find out that Darth Sidious has returned, Rey realises she needs to find a wayfinder to get the directions to Exegol so she can defeat Sidious. Rey, Finn, Poe and Chewbacca go to Pasaana to find a dagger that will llead them to the wayfinder. During their mission, they get tracked down by Kylo Ren. Rey and Kylo come face to face, Chewbacca gets captured and Rey accidentally blows up the ship Chewbacca is on, thinking she’s killed him. Rey, Finn and Poe flee the planet and try to find the directions another way as the dagger was left of the Millennium Falcon, which Kylo Ren took. They realise C3-P0 logged the information but it needs to be translated. They go to Kijimi to get the information translated, but need to wipe his memory in the process. Kylo finds them and he and Rey fight eachother, Rey then finds out Chewbacca is sitll alive so they go to save him, and Kylo Ren tells Rey that she’s Sidious’ grandaughter. He also reveals that he and Rey are a dyad in the force, meaning they are one in the force making them very powerful together. Rey retrieves the dagger and flees to find the wayfinder. She manages to track it down and is face to face with Kylo Ren again. The fight and Leia uses her last strength to connect with her son, he gets distracted and Rey stabs him with her lightsaber. She senses Leias death and heals Kylo and then leaves him to go to Exegol. Kylo rejects the dark side and goes back to his true identity as Ben Solo.
The Resistamce go to Exedol to battle against The Empire as Rey goes to the Citidale to confront Sidious. Ben Solo joins Rey and they defeat Sidious together, leaving Rey dead from using all of her energy. Ben uses the force to bring Rey back to life, the pair kiss and he dies from his drained energy.
The Resistance is victorious and the galaxy is left in peace again.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/star-wars-a-new-hope-script-screenplay-pdf-download/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62h4fDLTnIc&feature=emb_logo