
Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Jake Lloyd respectively star as Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, with McGregor and Portman returning for its two sequels and Hayden Christensen playing the older Anakin in them. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher star as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa, respectively, in the original trilogy films. The films feature large, sometimes ensemble, casts of actors and actresses, with multiple lead actors. Additionally, an animated film was released in 2008, and two standalone anthology films were released in 20. The sequel trilogy consists of The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), and chronologically follows Return of the Jedi in the saga.


The original trilogy began with A New Hope in 1977, followed by The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), while the prequel trilogy consists of The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005). The Skywalker Saga of the franchise includes nine films, featuring three trilogies the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and the sequel trilogy. Star Wars is a media franchise and shared fictional universe that is the setting of science fiction films produced by Lucasfilm, based on characters created by George Lucas. Hamill, Ford, Fisher, Neeson, McGregor, Portman, Driver, Ridley, Boyega, Lanter, Jones, and Ehrenreich headline films in the franchise.
