Setting

The only clue given to indicate the time setting of Star Wars is the line that opens each film: "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...". This is an allusion to the classic fairy tale line "Once upon a time, in a faraway land...", and other variations thereof. It may reflect that the films are to be interpreted as myths of the future, as opposed to literally meaning the events take place in the past. Lucas himself intentionally left the details open to interpretation.

Although it is unclear when the stories take place, the scope of the entire Star Wars fiction covers over 25,000 years, with the film series spanning only two generations.

As far as location, all of the characters of Star Wars come from the same galaxy (except a race called Yuuzhan Vong introduced in a novel series dubbed New Jedi Order). Unlike traditional science fiction films preceding it, the Star Wars world, particularly of the original trilogy era, is portrayed as dirty and grimy rather than sleek and futuristic. In interviews, Lucas tells of rubbing the new props with dirt to make them look weatherworn, a concept he refers to as "a used future." He may have been inspired by Sergio Leone, whose 1960s films performed a similar function for the Western genre. This break from traditional science fiction films may have influenced the cyberpunk genre that emerged around 1984.

The films

The first film released in the series, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), has been selected to The National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. It was originally titled Star Wars without an episode number; it works as a standalone story, although Lucas claims it was always intended to be a part of a larger saga. After its popularity boomed, the episode number was added and it was followed by Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983). Together these three films are known as the "original trilogy."

After a hiatus of sixteen years, Lucas followed up with the "prequel trilogy" of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005).