Where does Solo fit in the Star Wars timeline? How long before A New Hope?

Since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, Star Wars movies have suddenly started arriving at the cinema much more often.

Now four films into the post-George Lucas era of the franchise and there are new trilogies and a TV show in the works.

But with such a vast galaxy to explore, not to mention an ever increasing timeline, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with which film is set when.

So when is Solo: A Star Wars Story set?

Well it’s about a young Han Solo, so it’s before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope and Rogue One (which takes place literally before the latter begins).

And there are 19 years between those movies and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, so there’s lots of space for Solo to be set – but when specifically?

Well Lucasfilm’s official book publishers Del Rey have updated their timeline, which includes the novelisations of the movies.

Solo is sat after Tarkin, which is set 14 years before A New Hope, but before A New Dawn – which is set 11 years before.

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So Solo takes place at some point in that three years period.

Han is born 29 years before the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope, meaning he should be aged between 15 and 18 – which seems a bit young for the 28-year-old Alden Ehrenreich.

But Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly, “He’ll definitely be probably in the high teens, low 20s. We’re not introducing you to a 10-year-old Han Solo.”

With this in mind Solo is probably set around the time of A New Dawn, 14 years before A New Hope and presumably around the time the Star Wars Rebels TV show kicks off.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is released in UK cinemas on May 24, 2018.