Star Wars: The Clone Wars is often regarded as one of the best pieces of Star Wars media outside of the Original Trilogy.
However, for fans being introduced to the series for the first time, the non-chronological release/streaming order can be confusing, skipping both backwards and forwards in time.
The show itself takes place during the events of the Clone Wars, or the 3-year gap between Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Spoilers, but the events of the show do eventually catch up and overlap with the events of Revenge of the Sith, including Order 66.
So, here’s the official chronological guide for Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
Season 1 is perhaps the most confusing season, with many episodes that skip backward and forward in the timeline, with some even predating The Clone Wars movie that introduced us to Ahsoka Tano. This is known as the Christophsis arc, which begins with Season 2 episode 16 “Cat and Mouse.” From there we go to Season 1 episode 16 “Hidden Enemy” and then to the aforementioned movie.
From there we are introduced to ‘Domino squad’ in Season 3 episode 3 “Clone Cadets” and then to the King of Toydaria and the character of Twi-Lek resistance leader Cham Syndulla in Season 3 episode 3 “Supply Lines.” From there, we go through season 1 in mostly chronological order, but skip episodes 16 “Hidden Enemy” and 22 “Hostage Crisis”, as you will have already watched episode 16 and episode 22 won’t be relevant until Season 3.
Season 2 also starts out chronological with the “Holocron Heist” arc which introduces Cad Bane (episodes 1-3). Unfortunately, we must immediately skip ahead to episode 17 of Season 2 “Bounty Hunters” and the following two-part “Zillo-Beast” arc. From there we go back to episode 4 for the start of the Geonosis arc and return to ‘chronological’ order for the next 10 episodes of Season 2, only to again skip forward after episode 14 for the Boba Fett and Aurra Sing arc in episodes 20-22 of the season.
From there we get into the mess known as the first half of season 3, which goes episodes 5, 6, 7, 2, 4, 8 also known as the “Political Corruption” arc, and then goes back to episode 22 of season 1 “Hostage Crisis”, and then goes back to season 3 for episodes 9, 10, 11, and going back in-time one last time to season 2 episode 15 “Senate Murders.”
From Season 3 episode 12 onwards, the show manages to stay in chronological order for the most part, with the exception being to skip the first episode of the Fifth season and watching that between episodes 13 and 14 of the same season. Season 6 is also entirely chronological (thank the Force).
And then we get to the 7th season.
Episodes 5, 6, 7, 8 occur first so watch those. Personally, I would argue that you may want/need to watch them before the 6th season, due to them taking place shortly after the “Wrong Jedi” arc, but that’s my preference.
In any case, Episodes 1-4 or the “Bad Batch” arc is next, followed by the Siege of Mandalore arc to end the Clone Wars (literally, the Siege of Mandalore goes into the events of Revenge of the Sith).
From there you can watch The Bad Batch, Rebels, Solo, Rogue One, the Original Trilogy, or whatever piece of Star Wars media you want to explore / revisit next.
Still confused? Understandable. Here’s the official chronological order from StarWars.com:
