Without a doubt, the most often asked question I’ve been asked since The Clone Wars started four years ago is, “How does The Clone Wars fit into the existing Expanded Universe Clone Wars timeline?” The first seasons of The Clone Wars were peculiar in that episodes didn’t air in chronological order. You would have episodes in Seasons 2 and 3 that were actually prequels to episodes in Season 1. Here are a few of my notes regarding the timeline to help sort things out.
First off, let’s look at the first two episodes of The Clone Wars airing in syndication across the U.S.:
“Cat and Mouse” (S216)
Obi-Wan and Anakin must break a Separatist blockade to deliver supplies to Christophsis. They encounter Separatist Commander Admiral Trench and get more than they bargained for.
“Hidden Enemy“ (S116)
Anakin and Obi-Wan discover evidence of a traitor amongst their ranks while attempting to lead Republic forces to liberate the planet of Christophsis from a Separatist siege.
The numbers in parentheses shows the air order number, with S216 being the 16th episode that aired in Season 2. Why not start with the Season 1 Episode 1? Because for the first time ever, The Clone Wars episodes are being presented in chronological order.
As for how The Clone Wars fits into the previous EU, here’s a recap of things that have transpired prior to the first episode “Cat and Mouse.” Asajj Ventress has emerged as Count Dooku’s assassin and has already had confrontations with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. General Grievous leads the Confederacy Droid Army and has confronted Jedi and Republic on numerous occasions, though he has not yet met Asajj Ventress. Anakin has attained the rank of Jedi Knight and bares scars on his face from the Clone Wars. The blue-marked 501st clone trooper unit under the command of Captain Rex are assigned to Anakin. Obi-Wan has taken a seat on the Jedi Council. His dedicated clone trooper unit is the orange-marked 212th Attack Battalion led by Commander Cody. As a gift from Padmé, R2-D2 now serves Anakin while C-3PO, having had his rusted silver coverings replaced with gold ones, now serves Senator Padmé Amidala.
“Cat and Mouse” and “Hidden Enemy” take place before 2008 The Clone Wars movie which gives resolution to the Battle of Christophsis and introduces Ahsoka Tano as Anakin’s Padawan. Other noteworthy events from the move that apply to the timeline: Anakin acquires the freighter the Twilight and Ziro the Hutt is imprisoned for conspiring against both Jabba the Hutt and the Republic. And Jabba has a son.
Admiral Yularen is first assigned to Anakin in “Cat and Mouse” marking his first chronological appearance in the series. The episode mentions Yularen’s previous encounter with Trench, though this event has never been depicted.
Here’s a look at the next two episodes of The Clone Wars airing in syndication.
“Clone Cadets” (S301)
Five headstrong clone cadets – Hevy, Cutup, Droidbait, Fives and Echo – struggle to complete their training on the ocean planet of Kamino
“Supply Lines” (S303)
Ryloth is under siege. Trapped on the surface, Jedi Master Di rallies the local forces with the help of rebel leader Cham Syndulla.
Note that both of these episodes originally aired as part of Season 3 of The Clone Wars. The central group of clones from “Clone Cadets” appear here for the first time chronologically, though their first air appearance is in Season 1. Clones from this unit will continue to appear throughout the series. The situation on Ryloth in “Supply Lines” sets up a major Season 1 story arc. This episode presents the first chronological appearance of King Katuunko, the leader of the Toydarians.
All of these episodes take place early on during the Clone Wars, mere months following the Battle of Geonosis seen in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Many of the dates and events on previously existing EU Clone Wars timelines have been condensed into this period before the events of “Cat and Mouse.”
In future blogs, I will continue to share my Clone Wars timeline notes and add installments to this episodic timeline as the episodes air.
- Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
- Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
- “Cat and Mouse” (S216)
- “Hidden Enemy” (S116)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 theatrical release)
- “Clone Cadets” (S301)
- “Supply Lines” (S303)
Leland Y Chee is the Keeper of the Holocron at Lucasfilm and writer of the Star Wars Insider magazine “Ask Lobot” feature. Send your “Ask Lobot” questions to starwarsinsider@titanemail.com. Also, you can follow @holocronkeeper on Twitter.
Thank you very much for this detailed account, Leland! Many of us are fascinated by the timeline and really appreciate the care you take in organizing and presenting this information.
Thought I’d get that in there before all the questions and criticisms start pouring in…
[...] Mouse,’ ‘Hidden Enemy,’ ‘Clone Cadets’ and ‘Supply Lines’ fit into the Expanded Universe and Clone Wars chronology – or at least around Attack of the Clones and The Clone Wars movie. Share [...]
Allright, now this is interesting !
When the dust has settled on this series it will be enormous fun to watch the whole thing in chronological order. I must schedule a week of inactivity immediately.
Genndy Tatakovsky series is not existent in this break down. How can you ignore the series that has the Knighting of Anakin Skywalker or the introduction of General Grievous and Asajj Ventress
It’s before this series, since he mentioned that at this point in the timeline, Anakin is already knighted.
And I know there’s some dispute concerning the canonicity of that series, but as far as the events go, those all actually happened.
They Overlap in a Really messy way. Technically Everything that has and will happen in the Clone wars is between episodes 21 and 23 of the 2003-2005 Clone Wars animated series.
In episode 21 Anikin is knighted. This is an event that must happen before the Clone wars 3d animated show begins as Anikin is Introduced as a knight and takes a Padawan.
In episode 23 Coruscant is attacked. This is the battle that brings forth the opening conflict of Revenge of the Sith.
Going by what various creators say the 2D animated series is actually really brief.
The 2D animated series gives the impression that Anikin is knighted at the end of the Clone Wars but the longer the 3D animated tv show goes on for, the clearer it becomes that the 2d show was a brief part of the wars. So Brief that he was knighted less then a four months after Episode 2.
Why 4 months? The 2d animated series is stated to open “Three months after the battle of Geonosis” in the write ups. When the republic retakes Geonosis it’s stated to be a few months after episode 2.
So roughly Everything in the 2d animated series episodes 1 to 21 has to take place in a month. For those watching at home that’s the First Clone Wars 2D DVD and the First episode on the Second DVD. Watch those, then your straight into cat and mouse and the rest of the current Clone Wars show with no conflicts.
That is super cool! It helps to clarify a couple of things!
Yes! More blog posts like this please
Leland,
It is great to finally see some of the order of the episodes! As a huge SW fan, I hypothetically loved the idea of the episodes being out of chronological order because that added to the mystery and to the speculation as well, which I think Star Wars fans love. However, simply due to the number of episodes and seasons, and there being a week or more between the airing of episodes, it quickly became difficult to keep up with all of the various story lines considering that tactic (at least in my opinion). I’m personally glad to see things airing in order from here out, which I think was a good call to make the show more assessable to newer and younger fans.
When do you think a full list of the episodes in chronological order will be available? I would really like to pull out my Clone Wars DVD collection and watch the whole thing in order sometime. It will obviously take a few days/weeks to watch them all, but that sounds like a good time to me!
Thanks so much! I was at CVI and sadly didn’t make it to your panel because of timing conflicts. Next time!
MTFBWYA!
Jamie
r2jb
As I don’t live in the US I’ll just watch my Blu-ray’s in this order
I’ve had it like this in my timeline for a little while now. Check it out at ultimatestarwarstimeline.com What’s interesting to me is how they will lead in to Revenge of the Sith. I bet this is the last Clone Wars season, seeing as how they are getting close to Order 66, and the move to Saturday mornings is pretty ominous also.
AHHH, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
I have waited a looooong time for this moment….
Thanks for finally clarifying this Leeland! Now I can start to re-watch in chronological order! I look forward to more, as well as more details where the break in the previous EU comics is for this series to take place.
Does this take into account other expanded TCW EU as well, particularly the Season 1 webcomics, as well as novels and comic series? It looks like those of us over at TheForce.net’s TCW Expanded Media Chronology thread weren’t too far off so far.
You have the greatest job ever.
Buenisimo, añadir los avances estaria barbaro.
Darn. This little bit just proves how screwed up this series is.
Thanks, this really REALLY helps ! It’s bugged me that Anakin has sported his eyebrow scar for most of the shows, yet it’s something we see at the start of ROTS – surely he can’t have had it for 2ish years ??! LOL ! Are you – or Dave Filoni – able to explain why it was decided to present the episodes out of sync with their chronology ? Or was it simply a case of writing stories that were then hung on to a timeframe ? I find it frustrating, and thus a tad distracting, that there is little cause-and-effect flow to the storyline or characters (eg, hero 1 says to hero 2, “remember how we got out of that scrape [earlier story] ? It might help us here”). They do tend to appear too often as stand-alone stories, and not as part of one big adventure from AOTC to ROTS
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I had an idea of what the chronological order was, but thanks Leland for finally giving an “official” timeline of the Clone Wars!
My opinion as a Star Wars fan is that the Clone Wars cartoon movie and following series was a mistake. it is full of inacuracies. First of all, just to name one, is the fact that Anakin Skywalkeer has a padawan, Assoka, in the caroon series. in Episode 1- the phantom menace, it is clearly stated that a padawan cannot have a padawan of his own. this was stated when Qui-Gon Jin was approaching the Jedi Counsel regarding Anakin Skywalker. this is a major factor that the cartoon series seemed to have “overlooked.” the Jedi Code says that he can not have a padawan yet he does in the show. As a fan of the original star wars movies, i believe they should have stopped after episode 3 came out. the cartoon was just too much and frankly makes it kind of a joke.
As Mr. Chee wrote in the article, “Anakin has attained the rank of Jedi Knight and bears scars on his face from the Clone Wars.” So, he is a Knight.
@ Corellia7656 lol You are the joke here, since you just proved that you not only haven’t watched a single episode of the series, but didn’t even watch the movies.
“Episode 1- the phantom menace, it is clearly stated that a padawan cannot have a padawan of his own. this was stated when Qui-Gon Jin was approaching the Jedi Counsel regarding Anakin Skywalker. this is a major factor that the cartoon series seemed to have “overlooked.” the Jedi Code says that he can not have a padawan yet he does in the show.”
what’s this b******t? For once, it’s been stated both in the series, numerous times by Lucas and by Filoni, that ANAKIN IS NO LONGER A PADAWAN at this point in the time line. The series takes place after he’s been knighted in the old Genndy-version Clone Wars.
And two: There was nothing like this in Phatom Menace. Qui-Gon wasn’t allowed to train Anakin, because he hadn’t finished the training of Obi-Wan yet. The Council disapproved Obi-Wan having Anakin as a padawan, after Qui-Gon’s death was because they were unsure of Anakin’s destiny, not because Obi-Wan was still a padawan, Yoda flat out said it, that for defeating Maul Obi-Wan was elevated to the rank of knight.
And you claim yourself to be a “true fan”? Neh, you’re just a troll, and you have no idea about what you’re speaking about.
Great job Leland. Nice timeline. This will really help now when watching The Clone Wars.
We’ve been wanting to get this info out for a LONG time. We tried to take into account the TCW EU, but some last minute changes in the original air order may have inadvertently caused some hiccups. We lump the earlier Genndy stuff with all the rest of the pre-TCW EU. So the battles between Asajj and Anakin still happened in that “mere months after Ep2″ time frame. You’ll have to wait a bit longer (probably when TCW is over) to see how some of the EU that’s closer to the Ep3 time frame fits into the timeline. We’ve already seen Asajj’s fate in Obsession retconned, so changes are certainly possible. I’ll post updates as the episodes air in syndication, so figure in about 6 months we should be close to covering the first 50 episodes.
Hi Leland,
“Supply Lines” can’t precede “Downfall Of A Droid.” I’ll explain why…
Beginning with the Web Comic “The Fall Of Falleen,” we see the Separatists overtake the world of Falleen. This is mentioned by the characters at the beginning of “Downfall of a Droid,” where R2 is lost after an attack by General Grievous is repelled. R2 is picked up by a salvager who plans to sell him to Grievous. In the next Web Comic, “Discount,” Separatist Gha Nachkt is sold a droid by the same salvager, who still possesses R2, and it turns out the droid Nachkt buys is a spy for rival Separatist Watt Tambor. In the Web Comic “Covetous,” the spy droid sends its information to Tambor, that of the doings of Nachkt on Ryloth. Tambor launches his invasion of Ryloth, which is seen in the next Web Comic “Curfew,” where we also meet the now-orphaned Twilek girl, Numa, on Ryloth.
In “Supply Lines,” following the invasion of Ryloth, the Republic tries to send relief aid by way of the Toydaria. We meet King Katuunko, who makes a deal with Bail Organa and Jar Jar Binks to allow their ships through against the trade agreements the planet hold with the Trade Federation. The ships get through as the last Jedi (Master Di) and clones on Ryloth are killed defending the Twileks and a small group of Twilek resistance fighters. The King tells Organa he’ll meet with Yoda to discuss a treaty with the Republic. In the Web Comic “Prelude,” we see the King on his way to the meet Yoda. We also see some of Yoda’s clone troopers waiting to depart for their next assignment. As they wait, they see the Republic Star Destroyer Ares leave in search of a new Separatist threat: something that’s destroying whole Republic fleets without leaving survivors. We also see Dooku and Ventress on a Separatist Listening Post called Skytop station. Dooku orders Ventress to stop the meeting between Yoda and King Katuunko.
“Ambush” sees Yoda and his clones, well, ambushed by Ventress. She meets the King and attempts to negotiate a deal between Toydaria and the Separatists, but Yoda eventually pushes through the traps and terrain. Ventress is sent back to Dooku empty-handed and Toydaria agrees to let the Republic use its planet to launch a campaign to retake Ryloth.
Anakin tracks down R2 at Skytop Station and destroys it, saving R2 in the process and crippling the Separatist’s ability to use their secret weapon to sneak up on Republic fleets as effectively.
So, yeah, “Supply Lines” has to occur after “Downfall Of A Droid” in order for the sequence of events that led to Ryloth’s invasion to make sense. R2’s kidnapping happened BEFORE Watt Tambor triggered the invasion. It’s all there in the Web Comics and the episodes.
For more of my analyses of the sequence of events in The Clone Wars, fans can refer to the following page:
http://madthedj.wordpress.com/category/star-wars/
There, you’ll find my own Star Wars Chronology and the first three Walkthroughs of it, where I explain in detail how and why I placed the episodes and Web Comics in that particular order.
Thanks,
MDJ
thank you mdj those are my thoughts exactly! either the web comics are not considered part of the timeline or mr. chee needs to further examine the evidence
Thanks Brian,
I tried to be as clear in the sequence of events as possible. In creating my chronology, I decided that the events in the episodes and web comics took precedence over the fact that all the Season 1 web comics were meant to tie directly into specific partner episodes. Removing that original intention, as well as the need to keep certain smaller episode arcs intact, and instead focusing solely on pure chronological order, the necessary sequence becomes clear. It would be a real shame if those web comics were deemed non-canon, because I’ve demonstrated in my Chronology and Walkthroughs how they all fit together pretty harmoniously. There’s no need to throw them out the window, since all that’s required to make the order work is accounting for both products equally, at which point it all fits into place.
I’ve also added the fourth Walkthrough to me blog, which takes us into Season 4. Future Walkthroughs will follow.
Cheers Everyone!
I think another place to look for whether or not the web comics will be considered is the placement of the ryloth episodes in relation to the malevolence episodes. Anakin acquires the Y-wing bomber in “Procedure” prior to “rising malevolence” thus putting it before “Storm over ryloth” Ahsoka leads a squad of Y-wings in that episode
As writer of those webcomics, I don’t consider them part of the canon timeline, for what it’s worth.
Wow. Did not expect to hear from you Mr. Hidalgo. Thanks for the update. I just assumed the comics would be considered as part of the timeline because they were so closely tied to the episodes. A little disappointed though because those were good stories.
I, too, am impressed to hear directly from the author. Thank you, Mr. Hidalgo. I’m not sure where this leaves us. Personally, I think the web comics are worth retaining in the chronology of events, as they expand upon The Clone Wars series very effectively, with characters and plot threads tied between them. Also, I think it’s worth keeping in mind among the fans that outside of the 6 main feature films, everything else (the Droids and Ewoks TV series, various comics, novels, games, etc.) is considered Expanded Universe anyway, with varying degrees of canon standing, with a certain amount of “take it or leave it.”
As such, I chose to take them as extra material, if for the sole reasons that things which happened in the web comics are referenced to in specific episodes and that attention and care appears to have been given to their writing, in order to create a multi-faceted story. Having researched other fans’ similar Timeline projects, I can safely say a far amount of people agree that they are worth factoring into the series.
If the official word from Leland Chee is to disregard them (a statement he himself has not made, I should point out), I feel it would be a shame. I also feel it would be something of disservice to the fans who were, until now, led to believe the web comics were an important part of The Clone Wars series.
Honestly my interest in the web comics stemmed from the fact they offered tantalizing clues as to the chronological order of the series. If they are deemed to be non-canon then so be it. My desire is to see George Lucas’ vision of the story. The EU long ago became a little much for me so I focus on what is deemed to be truly canon. That being said, I would be tremendously disappointed to learn the Tartakovsky “Clone Wars” was considered to be non-canon.
Great explanation on timeline. I understand why it is the way it is. Perhaps others are having difficulty. Some of this breaks down to business and that is why their shown the way they are.
BTW: You may want to fix this sentence in the quotes:
Other noteworthy events from the “move” that apply to the timeline: Anakin acquires the freighter the Twilight and Ziro the Hutt is imprisoned for conspiring against both Jabba the Hutt and the Republic.
BTW: you probably meant to say “they’re” instead of “their”
I think part of the problem was they were still working out technical bugs and couldn’t do justice to the visuals of the show.
For the person who said Anakin couldn’t have a padawan because he was one: you’ve missed the point. Anakin is a full jedi knight by the time of this series.
Still it is confusing. And that’s not even counting the rest of the EU timeline!
“Darn. This little bit just proves how screwed up this series is.”
The series is not screwed up simply because it does not take place in chronological order. Star Wars has been episodic since its inception. The first three films released were not the beginning of the story. The last three were not the end. In the EU books, comics, games and stories in other mediums are being released in multiple eras, and authors are still finding stories to tell between the lines of eras we already thought we knew. I for one think it makes perfect sense for The Clone Wars to be produced this way. It certainly adds an additional layer of entertainment for fans who need to do some work to account for how these events all interact, especially as it pertains to bridging, with continuity, the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
It definitely makes sense, that’s for sure!
Thanks you very much
I want more !
Look forward to more of this, and I appreciate the mention that at least something will be done about Obsession.
Honestly?
I know you’re probably the king of all this already, Mr. Chee, but if I had to suggest something? Throw all the stories from obsession and earlier to before Cat and Mouse and be done with it and give them about a year’s worth of time. I note that you don’t specify how many months are in this period before the series. Allow as many as possible when a number must be decided on, as TCW has many arcs that take place in short gaps of time together. I’ve always guessed that each season took place over about 3 months.
Also, Dark Horse says their new Maul comic takes place in the 3rd year of the war, so that has to be at least 25ABG. That would put 1 year for the old stories, and another year for the current TCW stories in seasons 1-4 right on track. Meaning roughly 1 year remains until ROTS if you need enough time for it.
If my guesses are wrong, can you at least confirm if the Dark Horse statement that their Maul comic takes place in the 3rd year of the war (meaning Season 5 and beyond do as well) is correct or not?
Either way, i appreciate you doing this. I believe that, aside from the trouble with Obsession and a few snags in specific stories, all of the major CW events, both EU and TCW, can be saved.
Actually Leland, I prefer the occasional back and forth nature of time line. It shows courage by the flimmakers, makers the viewers think and best of all it mirrors what GL did anyway by starting with Ep 4. Look forward to reading further blogs.
mr chee, is the old clone wars series is still canon? because at this time there is nothing to say that the new series didnt take place between anakin’s knighting and the battle of bomis koori IV
On the matter of Obsession, unless Ventress is beheaded or vaporized in the TCW series, I think it can fit just fine afterward. In the comic, Anakin believes her dead. Originally this is because of his fight with her where he got his scar, now set before TCW. She then reappears at the end with cybernetic implants working for Dooku again.
It seems very believable to me that should she appear to die in the TCW series, and everyone could believe she is dead, just as in Obsession. In reality, Dooku would have collected her, given her the implants and brainwashed her. Stranger things have happened in Star Wars. Sidious saved Vader from death for his own purposes, so I don’t see why Dooku wouldn’t also – especially given his earlier intentions of training Asajj to help him overthrow Sidious. Seems like a fine solution to me. In addition, if we assume Rex dies at the end of TCW, then Alpha’s return in Obsession would be more meaningful in light of that loss.
As far as the TCW EU, I’m fine with some of the season 1 web comics being deemed non-canon. They were cool at the time, but they dont add a lot to the overall canon. In fact, I more look forward to how the novels and comics will smooth out the transition to and from the series in the EU after the series is done. But it seems like with a little imagination, Obsession could still work just fine after TCW. This isn’t the first time a character has “died”, yet returned later with an explanation. As far as a certain death in the season 5 premiere….well, K’Kruhk was killed by General Grievous in CW Chapter 20….right? Right?
Thanks everyone for your interest in these Chronicling the Clone Wars blogs. The syndicated episodes are currently in reruns. The blogs will continue when the new batch syndicated episodes start up again.
why does the clone wars series repeatedly contradict facts established as cannon in expanded universe novels? what happened to continuity?