Fans playing Star Wars: Squadrons likely wonder when the game takes place. The Star Wars universe is a large, complex entity that stretches over thousands of years. Pinpointing where an event occurs on the timeline is made even more complicated by the decanonization of the Extended Universe. If you haven’t kept up with the chances to the Star Wars timeline since Disney took over, and the new Extended Universe, you’ll likely be scratching your head at Star Wars: Squadron‘s campaign.
Where does Star Wars: Squadrons fit on the timeline?
The prologue to Star Wars: Squadrons occurs just after the destruction of the planet Alderaan. Presumably, when you first take the controls, the Death Star is either still active or has just been destroyed at the Battle of Yavin.
After the prologue, the game skips ahead five years. The meat of Star Wars: Squadrons campaign occurs during the year between the Emperor’s death at the Battle of Endor and the final defeat of the core Imperial fleet at the Battle of Jakku. The New Republic pilots featured in the game, which make up Vanguard Squadron, were previously featured in the 2019 novel Alphabet Squadron, which sets the stage for the campaign seen in Squadrons.
For those who aren’t caught up with the new canon, there’s not much going on during this time period. The Rebel Alliance is establishing itself as the New Republic and is continuing the fight against the Imperial Remnant. Thrawn isn’t kicking around anymore post-Return of the Jedi as his storyline was moved to before A New Hope, and he disappeared at the conclusion of it.
All-in-all, the new EU hasn’t done a lot to make the period between Return of the Jedi and the Sequel Trilogy exciting besides the release of The Mandalorian. Hopefully, Star Wars: Squadrons will help fill in some of the blanks between the creation and the fall of The New Republic.
