With Season 7 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars finally about to debut on Disney+ , you may want to catch up before the series returns with those 12 new episodes. If so, you’ve got a bit of binging homework to do.

Loading

The Clone Wars Chronological Episode Order

Every Upcoming Star Wars Movie and TV Show 13 IMAGES

Clone Wars Movie or Series First?

Still, Star Wars homework is pretty much the best kind out there. So read on for our rundown of how best to watch the show in chronological episode order, or watch the video above (or below) that recaps The Clone Wars in 4 minutes!There is a bit of context, however, that might help you along your journey. Perhaps the biggest point of confusion is that if you watch the series from Season 1, Episode 1, all the way to Season 6, Episode 13, you are not watching the story in chronological order. In fact, there are some key jumps in the timeline throughout.For the most part, the episodes are fairly sequential, save a few gaps. But, why did Lucasfilm craft the narrative this way? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take things from beginning to end?Not necessarily. When Clone Wars was first conceived it was designed as more of an organic method of storytelling, more anthology based, as opposed to sequentially. The series was originally intended to focus on the overarching story, giving ancillary characters a chance to be showcased as well. In essence, it would world-build to an unprecedented extent in Star Wars canon. However, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano were too compelling to take a back seat, so the stories ultimately ended up boomeranging back to them the most. Furthermore, this is one of the biggest wars in the history of this fictional universe; a lot goes on in a three-year period. Ahsoka matures from a padawan calling her master “Skyguy” to a show-stopping tour de force in the Jedi Order. Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship continues to progress as the Master and Padawan grow beyond a mentor/mentee dynamic into one more akin to brothers. The Jedi Order slowly is undermined from within Coruscant, courtesy of the Machiavellian Palpatine, and we get to know more and more about why the Clones are so much more than the sum of their parts.And, since this is a war, it is not wrapped up in a nice, neat package. Multiple storylines are running parallel to one another. For instance, while Anakin and Obi-Wan are on Mortis, the Republic has its own problems dispatching Jedi to other corners of the galaxy. The Clone Wars, as designed by Chancellor Palpatine, were created to thin the Jedi herd, so a lot of storylines of equal importance are going on at the same time.But it’s fair to say that for the casual observer, you may not even be aware of time gaps. The order listed above is how you should watch them if you want to get the best overall idea of where things fit structurally (and it does give more context for later episodes), but, like the Clone Wars’ impact on the galaxy, there is no clear path. When you think about it that way, it’s a nice meta-commentary.Here is the official order of things (as per StarWars.com ), including where the movie fits in. If you want to watch in chronological order, use the first number. If you want to watch in the order the episodes originally aired, use the “air” number!

And if you want access to loads of Star Wars content, here's what you need to know about Disney+ bundles

Dan Z ( @MrZehr ) is an educator, Star Wars expert, writer, and podcaster, and is the host & co-creator of Coffee With Kenobi ( @CoffeeWthKenobi ).