Canon

The Star Wars "gospel," or canon, was initially defined in Fall 1994 in the first issue of the Lucasfilm publication Star Wars Insider, by Lucasfilm Production Editor Sue Rostoni and Continuity Editor Allan Kausch:

The second edition of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe by Bill Slavicsek, released in March 1994, included a list with a coding system based on Rostoni and Kausch's definition, clearly dividing Star Wars materials into two separate categories: the Original Trilogy and its adaptations (novelizations and radio dramas) were labeled as "original Lucasfilm source," while the approximately seventy Star Wars related works published by Lucasfilm (the Thrawn Trilogy, the Dark Empire series, the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, etc.) were labeled as "officially licensed source that may or may not agree with George Lucas' vision of the Star Wars galaxy."

In the introduction to the 1994 edition of Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Lucas shared his perspective on the evolution of the Star Wars universe, praising the numerous stories created by other authors about his characters:

In 1996, The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, a reference book by Mark Cotta Vaz covering the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project, presented two distinct canons: a chronology compiled by Lucasfilm continuity editors and a collection of "the screenplays, novelizations and other core works."

In 1998, the Star Wars Encyclopedia was published, in which Stephen J. Sansweet offered a more precise definition of the Star Wars canon, differentiating between canon and "quasi-canon":

In the August/September 1999 issue of Star Wars Insider, George Lucas explained that while he maintains control over his films, he cannot ensure consistency across the entire Star Wars universe:

In January 2000, Lucasfilm employed Leland Chee to develop an internal database for Lucas Licensing's Publishing department, known as the "Holocron." This database replaced the "bibles" used to track and organize all fictional elements within the Star Wars universe, establishing a hierarchical system with varying levels of canon. The database included a canon field for each entry and source. "G" canon represented George Lucas' canon, initially consisting only of the six Star Wars films and unpublished internal notes from him or the film production team. "C" canon, for continuity, encompassed all licensed properties, including most of the Expanded Universe. "S" canon, with "S" standing for "secondary," included works created before Lucasfilm prioritized internal consistency within the Expanded Universe. "N" canon, meaning "non-continuity," was used only for blatant contradictions.

In April 2000, Sansweet further clarified the distinction between canon and "quasi-canon" in a post on the official Star Wars forums, referring to "different degrees of canon" with "only one true canon":

In June 2001, the fourth issue of Star Wars Gamer magazine addressed the question of what is considered "canon" in the Star Wars universe. On August 14, 2001, Star Wars Gamer 6 quoted Sue Rostoni, who defined canon as an authoritative list of books compiled by Lucas Licensing editors:

On August 17 2001, when asked to clarify what is and is not canon, Sansweet directed fans to Christopher Cerasi's statement about the "absolute canon" and the "real story of the Star Wars universe":

In August, in the Rebel Rumblings section of the 57th issue of Star Wars Insider, Sansweet again defined the films as the "one, true, absolutely and only canonical source."

In an interview conducted in 2001 and published in July 2002 by Cinescape, George Lucas explained that he had no plans for a third trilogy and that the saga would continue only through licensed properties, describing two different "worlds" and "a parallel universe" to his own:

In May 2003, questions about canon arose on the official Star Wars forums when the sixty-eighth issue of Star Wars Insider stated that David West Reynolds' Incredible Cross-Sections books "would receive Lucasfilm's formal imprimatur as canon," which some saw as conflicting with Sansweet and Cerasi's statements from 2001. In response, Leland Chee distinguished between "Lucasfilm's canon" and "movie canon":

Addressing the topic, Sue Rostoni acknowledged that canon could be confusing, as all Star Wars material not published with the "Infinity" logo was considered canon, but with a hierarchy, reiterating what Slavicsek, Sansweet, and Cerasi had established:

In June 2004, Rostoni confirmed that George Lucas did not contribute ideas or concepts to the Expanded Universe and generally did not review story ideas or concepts, although he read the comic books after they were published.

However, when it was suggested that some fans might know the Star Wars universe better than Lucas, Rostoni clarified that no one knows more about Star Wars than Lucas himself, and he views the Expanded Universe not as "his" Star Wars but as "theirs":

In August 2004, Chee was asked, "a clarification is needed if the C and G level are separated, i.e. do they form independent canon or are both part of the overall continuity?" The question is complex: in the Holocron continuity database, "C-canon" and "G-canon" represent separate canons, while Rostoni and Kausch stated in 1994 and 1996 that Lucas Licensing aimed to maintain overall continuity. Echoing these statements, Chee replied:

In August 2005, George Lucas told Starlog magazine that he was unfamiliar with the Expanded Universe, reiterating his 2001 statements about two distinct "worlds" and "universes," and noting potential inconsistencies between them:

On August 18, when informed about the article on the message boards, Rostoni confirmed:

In December 2005, Chee was asked if Lucas's interview with Starlog meant he did not consider the Expanded Universe canonical, to which he gave a somewhat evasive answer:

He also addressed whether George Lucas, Lucas Licensing, and Lucas Publishing used the same canon policy, stating that anyone could have their own interpretation of what is and isn't canon, and that the Holocron continuity database was used when developing official books, games, websites, and merchandise, but served only as a reference tool beyond that:

Furthermore, he stated that Lucasfilm Ltd. did not have a canon policy applicable beyond merchandise and online content, and there was no document to definitively determine what is and is not canon.

In November 2006, Chee was asked to resolve a debate between two fans: one argued that Lucas's 2002 and 2005 interviews indicated two official continuities—one encompassing only the films and reflecting Lucas's vision, and the other consisting of the Expanded Universe—while the other claimed, based on Chee's comments on the Holocron continuity database, that there was only one official continuity comprising Lucas's films and the Expanded Universe, divided into different levels of canonicity. In his December response, Chee confirmed the existence of two distinct official continuities and stated that Lucas's views on the Star Wars universe should be limited to the films:

Subsequent inquiries about which continuity was "more official" revealed that Chee preferred the "film + EU" continuity, but stated that it was ultimately up to the individual fan, as it would be a "great disservice" to disregard those who only watched the films.

Chee also clarified whether the "foggy windows" to the Star Wars universe mentioned by Cerasi in 2001 offered a glimpse into only the film continuity or the combined continuity of the films and the Expanded Universe:

In February 2008, President of Lucas Licensing Howard Roffman commented on the subject while discussing Lucasfilm's marketing plan for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series:

In March, during ShoWest 2008, Lucas clarified that, in his view, Star Wars did not extend beyond the story of Anakin Skywalker, and the books about Luke Skywalker set after Episode VI belonged to the "licensing world." He identified three distinct "worlds": his own, the licensing "world," and the fans' "world," noting that they did not always align:

In May, Total Film Magazine published an interview with Lucas in which he described the three different and sometimes conflicting "worlds" as "pillars" and drew a parallel between Star Wars and the Trinity of the Christian religion:

On May 7, Lucas was interviewed by Los Angeles Times magazine, where he again emphasized the distinction between his vision and the Expanded Universe:

It was also added:

On May 6, 2008, Star Wars Insider 101 was released. The magazine featured an article titled "The Essential Expanded Universe" by Daniel Wallace, dedicated entirely to the Expanded Universe. Wallace affirmed that the Expanded Universe was official but, as before, distinguished between the canon of the six films, which had "absolute authority," and a canon on a "lower level":

The article revealed that Wallace was uncertain about the status of the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, suggesting it might be part of George Lucas' canon:

On May 8, Chee adopted Lucas's pillar system, confirming that the television production, like the films, was separate from the Expanded Universe:

On the following day, he further clarified Lucas's mention of "three pillars":

These two posts, consistent with George Lucas's statements from the same year and month, confirmed that there were "pillars" rather than "tiers" of canon, and the canon encompassed by the Expanded Universe existed separately from Lucas's canon—the films and television series.

Star Wars Insider 104, published in September, quoted George Lucas, with a statement identical to what he told the London Times in July, repeating what he had told Total Film in May: that his work, which he oversaw and was involved in, encompassed the Star Wars feature films, the The Clone Wars movie, the television series, and a planned live-action television series, while the licensing group handled the games, toys, books, and everything else, and in addition, there was the fan's own world.

The issue also included an Ask Lobot feature with Leland Chee's description of the three pillars previously mentioned by Lucas:

As the year drew to a close, there was a notable shift in rhetoric regarding canon. During an October interview with CBR, supervising director Dave Filoni was asked whether Star Wars: The Clone Wars would be "canon or part of the Expanded Universe." He confirmed that Lucas considered his films, the television series, and the planned live-action production canon, although he often brought Lucas information from the Expanded Universe for review:

In December 2008, in an interview with TheForce.net alongside The Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy, Filoni clearly distinguished between canon and the Expanded Universe, aligning with how George Lucas viewed Star Wars and the Expanded Universe:

In 2009, Filoni reinforced this distinction when he mentioned that General Grievous's backstory, covered in Expanded Universe comics, "wasn't canon, it's just a possibility."

Henry Gilroy's letter, read aloud on The ForceCast in August, commenting on the incident when author Karen Traviss announced her departure from Lucasfilm due to her belief that canon had been altered in The Clone Wars series, is also noteworthy:

Meanwhile, in 2010, during an interview with Time Magazine, Daniel Wallace maintained that everything in the Star Wars publishing universe was officially canon, but admitted that George Lucas could override anything he chose:

In November, when asked about the fact that The Clone Wars series did not align with the continuity established by the Expanded Universe, EU writer Pablo Hidalgo drew parallels with the arrival of the prequel trilogy in 1999:

In October 2011, speaking to Scifinow, Lucas indicated that he made no distinction between his feature films and The Clone Wars series:

In May 2011, Leland Chee clarified the distinction between George Lucas's vision of the Star Wars universe, encompassed by the films and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and the vision held by Lucas Licensing:

In Star Wars Insider 134, published in June 2012, Dave Filoni strictly differentiated between the two, suggesting that the Expanded Universe should be seen as a creative collection or well of ideas, serving as inspiration, separate from George Lucas's creation:

In the "Canon and Continuity" section of the introduction to The Essential Reader's Companion, published on October 12, 2012, listing all works from the Expanded Universe, Pablo Hidalgo wrote:

On October 30, 2012, the Walt Disney Company's acquisition of Lucasfilm was announced; the acquisition was completed on December 21, 2012. On April 25, 2014, in preparation for upcoming films, Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe would be rebranded as Legends. Consequently, the term "canon" became exclusively reserved for George Lucas's canon—the six films and the seasons of Star Wars: The Clone Wars he developed and produced—and the films, television series, novels, comics, toys, and video games created by Lucasfilm after the acquisition. Since then, the only previously published material still considered canon are the six original trilogy/prequel trilogy films, novels (where they align with what is seen on screen), the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and film, and Part I of the short story Blade Squadron. Most material published after April 25—such as the Star Wars Rebels TV series, all Marvel Star Wars comic books, and novels beginning with A New Dawn—is also considered part of the new canon, due to the creation of the Lucasfilm Story Group, which now oversees continuity as a whole. Characters under the Legends banner remain available for use as needed, even if events concerning them are no longer canon.

On September 29, 2018, Lucasfilm Story Group's Matt Martin revealed on his Twitter account that the canon tier system originally established by Leland Chee in the early 2000s is no longer in use. However, it remains official that Episodes 1-6 and The Clone Wars are the highest form of Canon in the case of contradictions, in both timelines.

In March 2018, Howard Roffman, answering questions about Lucasfilm's past canon policy, explained:

Maintaining a unified and seamless canon created by multiple authors and directors has proven challenging. For example, the premiere of Bad Batch, "Aftermath," directly contradicts events depicted in the Star Wars: Kanan comic series regarding the Battle of Kaller and how Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume experienced Order 66. On May 7, 2021, Pablo Hidalgo addressed the discrepancy, advising fans to view canon as a history textbook that lists events presented fictionally with potential dramatization and embellishment for the medium:

In 2000, Lucas Licensing tasked Leland Chee with creating a continuity-tracking database known as the Holocron continuity database. The Holocron adhered to the existing canon policy, but the capabilities of database software allowed individual story elements, rather than entire stories, to be classified.

The Holocron's database included a field for a single letter (G, T, C, S, N, or D) representing the level of canonicity for that element; these letters were subsequently informally applied to the canon levels themselves: G-canon, T-canon, C-canon, S-canon, N-canon, and D-canon. Chee was responsible for creating this classification system as part of his work with the Holocron, and he dedicated the early stages to developing and refining it. G, T, C, and S together formed the overall Star Wars Legends continuity. Each level typically superseded anything lower on the list; for example, Boba Fett's backstory was significantly altered with the release of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, requiring the retcon of older source material to align with the new G-canon backstory. However, this was not always absolute, and the resolution of contradictions was handled on a case-by-case basis. G-canon and T-canon represented George Lucas's vision of the Star Wars universe, while C and S canons represented Lucas Licensing's vision of the Star Wars universe until 2014.

• Some N-Canon stories with alternate plotlines have been written. G-canon stood for George Lucas Canon, encompassing the six Episodes and any statements made by George Lucas, including unpublished production notes from him or his production department that were never publicly released. When the films were changed, the latest editions were considered canonically superior to older ones, as they corrected errors, improved consistency between the trilogies, and most accurately reflected Lucas's current vision of the Star Wars universe. Deleted scenes included on DVDs were also considered G-canon when they did not contradict the film. [15]
• T-canon, [56] or Television Canon, [57] represented the canon level that included the feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the television show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. (It would have also included the ultimately unproduced live-action TV series Star Wars: Underworld.) [36] [37] Chee confirmed that it was created later to define a status above C-Level canon. [58]
• C-canon was Continuity Canon, comprising all recent (and many older) works released under the Star Wars name: books, comics, games, cartoons, other films, and more. Games were a unique case, as generally only the stories were C-canon, while elements like stats and gameplay may not have been. [59] They also offered non-canonical options to the player, such as selecting a female gender for a canonically male character. C-canon elements have appeared in the movies, making them G-canon.
• S-canon was Secondary Canon, representing materials that authors could use or disregard as needed. This primarily included older works, such as much of the original Marvel Star Wars comics, which predated a consistent effort to maintain continuity. It also contained certain elements from a few otherwise N-canon stories and other elements that "may not fit just right." Many formerly S-canon elements were elevated to C-canon through their inclusion in more recent works by continuity-minded authors, while other older works (such as The Han Solo Adventures) were accounted for in continuity from the beginning despite their age, and thus were always C-canon.
• D stood for Detours Canon, used for material from the canceled animated television series Star Wars Detours. [60]
• N stood for Non-Canon. "What-if" stories (such as those published under the Infinities label) and anything directly and irreconcilably contradicted by higher canon ended up here. N was the only level not considered canon by Lucasfilm. Information cut from canon, deleted scenes, or canceled Star Wars works also fell into this category unless another canonical work referenced it and it was declared canon.

Some video games possess officially recognized storylines, while others do not. Sourcebooks designed for roleplaying games were considered part of the official continuity overseen by Lucas Licensing. For instance, the first edition of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, authored by Bill Slavicsek, provided the foundational background information for the officially licensed Star Wars universe and even served as a source of inspiration for George Lucas himself. Conversely, in games where players select a faction, such as the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, the specific path and ultimate conclusion of the narrative, as well as the species, gender, or moral alignment of the central character, differs based on the player's choices between the light side and the dark side. These elements were considered part of the continuity managed by Lucas Licensing. Certain aspects were clarified in Legends materials due to editorial requirements, while others were deliberately left ambiguous. Currently, Wookieepedia articles operate under the assumption that players consistently choose the light side option in all situations, while acknowledging that the presented story may or may not have been officially confirmed as canonical within the Star Wars Legends continuity.

• Star Wars canon on Wikipedia
• Books, Comics, & Television VIPs on StarWars.com Message Boards. Posted by James T. Skywalker on May 26, 2005 at 7:31 AM. (content now obsolete; backup link) (Also known as the "Welcome some BCaT VIPs" thread)
• Holocron continuity database questions on StarWars.com Message Boards. Posted by Tasty Taste on January 9, 2004 at 1:38 PM. (content now obsolete; backup link)