Canon

The Star Wars "gospel," or canon, was originally defined in the Fall of 1994 in the inaugural issue of Star Wars Insider, a magazine published by Lucasfilm. This definition came from 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 that used a coding system that aligned with the definition provided by Rostoni and Kausch. This system clearly distinguished Star Wars materials into two separate categories: the Original Trilogy and its adaptations, including the novelizations and radio dramas, were classified as "original Lucasfilm source," while the approximately seventy Star Wars-related works published by Lucasfilm, such as the Thrawn Trilogy, the Dark Empire series, and the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 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, expressing his appreciation for the numerous stories created by other authors based on his characters:

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

In 1998, the Star Wars Encyclopedia was released, in which Stephen J. Sansweet offered a more stringent definition of the Star Wars canon, distinguishing 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 division, known as the "Holocron." This database replaced the "bibles" used for tracking and organizing all fictional elements within the Star Wars universe, establishing a hierarchical system that categorized different levels of canon. The database contained a canon field for each entry and source. "G" canon represented George Lucas's canon, initially comprising only the six Star Wars movies and unpublished internal notes from him or the film production team. "C" canon, which stood for continuity, encompassed all licensed properties, including the majority of the Expanded Universe, while "S" canon, with "S" denoting "secondary," included works created before Lucasfilm prioritized internal consistency within the Expanded Universe. "N" canon, meaning "non-continuity," was reserved for instances of blatant contradiction.

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," among which "only one true canon" exists:

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

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

In August, in the Rebel Rumblings section of the 57th issue of the Star Wars Insider magazine, 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 stated that he had no plans for a third trilogy and that licensed properties would serve as the only continuation of the saga, describing two separate "worlds" and "a parallel universe" from his own:

In May 2003, canon-related questions 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 perceived as conflicting with Sansweet and Cerasi's statements from 2001. In response, Leland Chee clearly distinguished between "Lucasfilm's canon" and "movie canon":

Addressing the topic, Sue Rostoni acknowledged the potential for confusion regarding canon, noting that all Star Wars materials not published with the "Infinity" logo are considered canon, but canon is organized hierarchically, reiterating the points made by Slavicsek, Sansweet, and Cerasi:

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

However, when it was suggested that some fans might be more familiar with the Star Wars universe 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?" It should be noted that the question is confusing: in the Holocron continuity database, "C-canon" and "G-canon" are making up two separate canons, with Rostoni and Kausch stating, in 1994 and 1996, Lucas Licensing seeks to maintain an overall continuity. Echoing those statements, Chee replied:

In August 2005, George Lucas gave an interview to Starlog magazine, in which he explained, he is unfamiliar with the Expanded Universe, reiterating his statements from 2001 about two different "worlds" and two "universes", also noting that there might be inconsistencies between the two:

In August 18, when she was told about the article on the message boards, Rostoni confirmed:

In December 2005, Chee was asked whether Lucas's Starlog interview implied that he did not consider the Expanded Universe canonical, to which Chee provided a somewhat evasive response:

He answered a question about whether George Lucas, Lucas Licensing and Lucas Publishing are using the same canon policy or Lucas and Lucasfilm use different policies, in which he stated, anybody can have their own perception of what is and isn't canon, and that the Holocron continuity database applies when something official is developed for books, games, websites and merchandise, but for anything beyond that it's just a reference tool:

Furthermore, he stated, Lucasfilm Ltd. doesn't have a canon policy, as it couldn't be applied beyond merchandise and online, and there is no such thing as a document that could be used to determine what is and what is not canon.

In November 2006, Chee was asked to resolve a debate between two fans, with one of them stating that based on George Lucas' interviews from 2002 and 2005, there are two official continuities, one encompassing the movies only, reflecting Lucas' vision, and one made up of the Expanded Universe, whereas the other claiming, based on Chee's comments on the Holocron continuity database, that there is only one official continuity comprised of Lucas' movies and the Expanded Universe, divided into different levels of canonicity. In his answer posted in December, Chee confirmed that there is not one, but two distinct official continuities and that when it comes to Lucas' views on the Star Wars universe one must not go beyond the movies:

Subsequent questioning over which continuity was "more official" revealed that Chee favored the "film + EU" continuity, but stated that in the end, it was up to the individual fan, as it would be "great disservice" to discount those who watched only the movies, as fans.

Chee also clarified whether or not the "foggy windows" to the Star Wars universe mentioned by Cerasi in 2001 are offering a glimpse to the films only continuity or the combined continuity of the films and the Expanded Universe:

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

In March, during ShoWest 2008, Lucas clarified in an interview that, in his view, Star Wars is limited to the story of Anakin Skywalker and the books about Luke Skywalker that take place after Episode VI, which belong to the "licensing world." He identified three distinct "worlds": his own, the licensing "world," and the fans' "world," noting that they do not always align:

In May, Total Film Magazine published an interview with Lucas, where he described these three different and sometimes conflicting "worlds" as "pillars" and compared Star Wars to the Trinity of the Christian religion:

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

It was also added:

On May 6 2008, Star Wars Insider 101 was published. The magazine featured an article, titled "The Essential Expanded Universe" by author Daniel Wallace, dedicated entirely to the Expanded Universe. Wallace indicated that the Expanded Universe is official, but, as it was done previously, he made a distinction between the canon of the six movies, that had "absolute authority" and a canon on a "lower level":

The article revealed that Wallace was unsure about the status of the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, hinting that 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, is separate from the Expanded Universe:

On the following day, answering for questions about Lucas' mention of "three pillars" he clarified it even further:

The two posts, in accordance with George Lucas' statements in the same year and month, confirmed that there are "pillars" rather than "tiers" of canon, and the canon encompassed by the Expanded Universe exist separately from Lucas' canon - the films and television series.

Star Wars Insider 104, published in September, quoted George Lucas, with his statement being identical to what he said to London Times in July, where he repeated what he told to Total Film in May: that his work, what he oversees and in which he is involved in, encompasses the Star Wars feature films, the The Clone Wars movie and television series, and a planned live-action television series, and then there is the licensing group doing the games, toys and books and everything else, and in addition, there is the fan's own world_:_

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

As the year neared to the end, there was a considerable change of rhetoric regarding canon. During an interview conducted in October by CBR, supervising director Dave Filoni was asked about whether or not Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be "canon or part of the Expanded Universe," he confirmed that Lucas considers his movies, the television series and the planned live-action production canon, although he often brings Lucas information from the Expanded Universe to see how he wants to use it or review it:

In December, 2008, in an interview he gave to TheForce.net, together with _The Clone Wars _writer Henry Gilroy, Filoni drew a clear line between canon and the Expanded Universe, matching with the line dividing Star Wars as how George Lucas sees it and the Expanded Universe:

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

Henry Gilroy's letter, read out loud in The ForceCast in August, commenting on the indecent when author Karen Traviss announced her departure from Lucasfilm because of her opinion that canon had been changed in the The Clone Wars series, is also noteworthy:

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

In November, when asked about his opinion regarding the fact that the The Clone Wars series not matching 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, talking to Scifinow, Lucas indicated he makes no distinction between his feature films and the The Clone Wars series:

In May 2011, Leland Chee clarified the distinction between George Lucas' vision of the Star Wars universe, encompassed by the movies 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, indicating that the Expanded Universe needed to be seen as a creative collection or well of ideas, serving as inspiration, separate from George Lucas' creation:

In "Canon and Continuity" section of the introduction of 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 announcement came that the Walt Disney Company would be acquiring Lucasfilm; the deal was finalized on December 21, 2012. On April 25, 2014, in preparation for the upcoming sequels, Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe would be rebranded as Legends. Consequently, the term "canon" was then reserved only for George Lucas's creations—the six films and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars seasons he developed—as well as the films, TV series, novels, comics, toys, and video games produced by Lucasfilm following the acquisition. Since then, the only previously released material still considered canon consists of the six original trilogy/prequel trilogy films, novels (when they align with what is seen on screen), the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV 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 along with all Marvel Star Wars comic books and novels beginning with A New Dawn—is also considered part of the new canon, on account of the creation of the Lucasfilm Story Group, which currently oversees continuity as a whole. Characters under the Legends banner are still available for use as needed, even if events concerning them are no longer canon.

On September 29, 2018, Lucasfilm Story Group's Matt Martin stated on his Twitter account that the canon tier system originally established by Leland Chee in the early 2000s is no longer in use. Nevertheless, 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 to questions about Lucasfilm canon policy in the past, explained:

Maintaining a unified and seamless canon created by several authors and directors proved to be difficult. For instance, 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 that are expressed fictionally with potential dramatization and embellishment for its medium:

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

The Holocron's database included a field for a single letter (G, T, C, S, N, or D) to indicate the canonicity level of a given element. These letters were subsequently applied informally 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 initial stages to its development and refinement. G, T, C, and S together constituted 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, necessitating a retcon of older source material to align with the new G-canon backstory. However, this was not always absolute, and the resolution of all 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; this included 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 to take canonical precedence over older ones, as they corrected errors, improved consistency between the two trilogies, and best represented Lucas's current vision of the Star Wars universe. The deleted scenes included on the DVDs were also considered G-canon (provided they did not conflict with the movie). [15]
• T-canon, [56] or Television Canon, [57] was the canon level that included the feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the television show of the same name. (It would have also included the ultimately unproduced live-action TV series Star Wars: Underworld.) [36] [37] Chee confirmed that it was created more recently to define a status above the C-Level canon. [58]
• C-canon stood for Continuity Canon, encompassing all recent works (and many older works) released under the Star Wars name, including books, comics, games, cartoons, other films, and more. Games were treated as a special case, as generally only the stories were C-canon, while elements like stats and gameplay may not have been. [59] Games also offered non-canonical options to players, such as choosing a female gender for a character who was canonically male. C-canon elements have appeared in the movies, making them G-canon.
• S-canon was Secondary Canon, comprising materials that authors could use or disregard as needed. This primarily included older works, such as many of the original Marvel Star Wars comics, which predated a consistent effort to maintain continuity. It also included certain elements from a few otherwise N-canon stories, and other things that "may not fit just right." Many elements that were formerly S-canon were elevated to C-canon through their inclusion in more recent works by authors focused on maintaining continuity, while many other older works (such as The Han Solo Adventures) were accounted for in continuity from the start despite their age, and thus were always C-canon.
• D was Detours Canon, used for material hailing from the canceled animated television series Star Wars Detours. [60]
• N stood for Non-Canon. This category included what-if stories (such as those published under the Infinities label) and anything else directly and irreconcilably contradicted by higher canon. N was the only level that Lucasfilm did not consider canon. 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 feature established, official storylines, while others are considered non-canonical. The supplementary books designed for roleplaying games were considered part of the official continuity managed by Lucas Licensing. As an example, the first edition crafted by Bill Slavicsek for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game functioned as source material for the officially licensed Star Wars universe, even inspiring George Lucas himself. In games where players choose a faction, like the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic series and the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, player choices impact the story. These choices include whether to follow the light side or the dark side, influencing the storyline and its conclusion within the continuity maintained by Lucas Licensing. Furthermore, the species, gender, and moral alignment of the protagonist can differ depending on player decisions. While some of these aspects were clarified in Legends materials due to editorial demands, others were deliberately left ambiguous. Currently, Wookieepedia articles generally presume that players select the light side path in all situations, with a disclaimer that the depicted narrative may or may not be officially confirmed as canon 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)