While this was in production, Lucas approved the Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), with which he had limited involvement. Lucas originally intended to use this as the basis for a potential low-budget sequel to Star Wars, but when it became one of the most successful films of all time, Lucas decided to write his own story for the film sequel, The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Lucas later commissioned Alan Dean Foster, who ghostwrote the novelization, to write a sequel, which resulted in Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978).

The first Star Wars spinoff material was Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976), the novelization of the 1977 film. Publication history 1976–1987: Early films and television series 1.7 2019–present: The Mandalorian and other titles.1.6 2014–2019: Sequel trilogy and anthology films.1.5.2 Disney acquisition and canon restructuring.

1.5 1999–2014: Prequel film trilogy and The Clone Wars.1.4 1996–1999: Special Editions and Shadows of the Empire.1.3 1991–1996: Thrawn novels and Dark Empire comics.1.1 1976–1987: Early films and television series.Most works produced after April 25, 2014, are part of the official canon as defined by Lucasfilm, although a handful of Legends media has been released after that date. Lucasfilm later rebranded the Expanded Universe as Star Wars Legends and declared it non-canonical to the franchise. With the exception of the CGI-animated The Clone Wars TV series, non-film material produced prior to April 2014 was collectively known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe ( EU). Commonly explored media include books, comic books, and video games, though other forms such as audio dramas have also been produced. Such derivative works have been produced concurrently with, between, and after the original, prequel, and sequel trilogies, as well as the spin-off films and television series.

This spin-off material is licensed and moderated by Lucasfilm, though during his involvement with the franchise Star Wars creator George Lucas reserved the right to both draw from and contradict it in his own works. Star Wars has been expanded to media other than the original films. Fictional background of the Star Wars universe outside of the feature films

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