Star Wars Planets: Every Key World and the Films It Appears In

The key Star Wars planets are Tatooine, Coruscant, Naboo, Hoth, Alderaan, Mustafar, Dagobah, Endor, Kamino, Geonosis, Crait, Corellia, Jakku and Scarif. The plots of the 13 films name 26 worlds, moons and locations altogether. These 14 are a selection, not a complete atlas, and the count includes moons such as Endor and other locations. The others the films name are Christophsis, Teth, Utapau, Mimban, Vandor-1, Kessel, Jedha, Eadu, Shakari, Ahch-To, Exegol and Pasaana.

If you would like the planets in story order, the star wars timeline sets them against the films, and the star wars movies in order guide gives both viewing sequences.

Tatooine is the desert planet where Anakin Skywalker is found as a slave boy in The Phantom Menace (1999) and where Luke Skywalker grows up, and it appears in eight of the 13 films. In that first film, directed by George Lucas, the Jedi stop there to repair their ship, and Qui-Gon Jinn meets Anakin and wins his freedom through a podrace.

In Attack of the Clones (2002) Anakin returns after dreams of his mother and finds she has been captured, and she dies in his arms. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), directed by Dave Filoni, turns the journey to Tatooine into a race against time to return Jabba's sick son Rotta, and Anakin and Ahsoka crash-land near Jabba's palace. By Revenge of the Sith (2005) the infant Luke is placed with Owen Lars there under Obi-Wan's watch. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) ends with Han setting course for Tatooine.

In Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) Luke is a farm boy and R2-D2 and C-3PO escape to the planet. Return of the Jedi (1983) opens with Jabba the Hutt's palace, and in The Rise of Skywalker (2019) Rey buries the lightsabers there.

Coruscant is the planet where the Republic's politics play out in the prequel films. In The Phantom Menace (1999) the Jedi arrive with Queen Amidala, the Senate stalls, Senator Palpatine rises as a likely new Chancellor, and the Jedi Council hesitates over training Anakin because of his age and fear.

In Attack of the Clones (2002) Senator Padmé Amidala returns to Coruscant to vote on an army for the Republic and survives an assassination attempt. Revenge of the Sith (2005) opens with a battle over Coruscant, where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin rescue the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous. The Jedi Council also refuses Anakin the rank of Master here and asks him to spy on Palpatine.

Naboo is the home world of Padmé Amidala and the peaceful planet the Trade Federation blockades at the start of The Phantom Menace (1999), directed by George Lucas. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi land on the surface, meet the Gungan outcast Jar Jar Binks and rescue Queen Padmé Amidala.

The Queen later persuades the Gungans to join her against the droid army, and the Jedi fight Darth Maul in Theed. Anakin, hiding in a starfighter, accidentally destroys the Federation's droid control ship, and Maul kills Qui-Gon before Obi-Wan defeats him. Naboo returns in Attack of the Clones (2002), where Anakin takes Padmé into hiding and the two later marry in secret, with only C-3PO and R2-D2 as witnesses.

Hoth is the ice planet where the Rebel Alliance hides its base at the start of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner. Luke Skywalker is attacked by a snow creature while scouting and is nearly frozen before Han Solo finds him, and Imperial probe droids then reveal the base to Darth Vader.

Vader sends a large invasion force, and the Rebels fight a delaying battle so the leadership and transports can escape. For the production, the Hoth exteriors were shot in Finse, with principal photography starting on March 5, 1979 in harsh conditions and avalanches, and interiors built at Elstree. Kershner's crew also used artificial snow and a puppet for the snow creature.

Alderaan is Leia Organa's home world, and its destruction is one of the first major events of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), directed by George Lucas. In that film the Death Star destroys Alderaan, and the heroes' ship is then pulled into the station.

The world is set up much earlier in story order. At the end of Revenge of the Sith (2005), Bail Organa, played by Jimmy Smits, takes baby Leia to Alderaan while Obi-Wan carries baby Luke to Tatooine.

Mustafar is the volcanic planet where Anakin Skywalker's fall is completed in Revenge of the Sith (2005), directed by George Lucas. Newly renamed Darth Vader, he goes there and murders the Separatist leaders.

Padmé travels to the planet with Obi-Wan following her, and Anakin, convinced she has betrayed him, chokes her. The two men then fight a long duel over the volcanic terrain, and it ends with Obi-Wan leaving Anakin horribly burned. Palpatine collects him, and he is rebuilt inside the black armored suit. This is the point where the prequels' Anakin turns into the Darth Vader of the original trilogy.

Dagobah is the swamp world where Luke Skywalker seeks out the Jedi master Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), directed by Irvin Kershner. A vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi sends Luke there, and after some reluctance Yoda takes him on as a student, with lessons on the Force and on the dangers of anger.

When Luke sees his friends in pain, he cuts his training short to go to their aid, ignoring warnings from both Yoda and Obi-Wan. The planet comes back in Return of the Jedi (1983), directed by Richard Marquand, when Luke returns to complete his Jedi training. There Yoda confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father.

Endor is the forest moon beside which the Empire builds its second Death Star in Return of the Jedi (1983), directed by Richard Marquand. A shield generator on the moon's surface protects the station, so a strike team led by Han Solo and Princess Leia lands there and gains the help of the local Ewoks.

While the Rebel fleet attacks the Death Star, the ground team fights to bring the shield down. The duel between Luke and Vader and the Emperor's defeat happen on the station, and the shield falls and the Rebel fleet destroys the second Death Star. Celebrations then break out across the galaxy and on Endor. Exteriors for the moon were filmed in California, under the cover title Blue Harvest.

Kamino is the ocean planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi finds the clone army in Attack of the Clones (2002), directed by George Lucas. Following clues about an assassination attempt on Padmé, he learns that a huge army is being grown there for the Republic from the bounty hunter Jango Fett.

The discovery drives the rest of the film. Obi-Wan chases Jango to Geonosis, and the clone army that lands there later becomes the force the Jedi lead as generals. Kamino therefore explains where the troopers of the Clone Wars come from. Temuera Morrison is credited in the film as Jango Fett and the Clone Troopers.

Geonosis is the planet where the Clone Wars begin in Attack of the Clones (2002), directed by George Lucas. Having chased Jango Fett there, Obi-Wan discovers that Count Dooku is assembling the separatist leaders and constructing a droid army.

Captured Obi-Wan is joined by Anakin and Padmé, and all three are sentenced to die in an arena. Mace Windu then arrives with a Jedi strike force, a large battle erupts, and the clone army lands against the droids. Windu kills Jango. Dooku escapes after wounding Obi-Wan and Anakin and cutting off Anakin's right arm, and Yoda fights him before he gets away with stolen plans for a superweapon.

Crait is the salt planet where the last Resistance survivors dig in and are surrounded by the First Order in The Last Jedi (2017), directed by Rian Johnson. The fleet gets there only after Vice Admiral Holdo rams the enemy flagship at lightspeed, and Kylo Ren then names himself Supreme Leader.

With the besieged Resistance running out of options, Luke Skywalker walks out to meet Kylo alone and holds his attention while the others slip away in the Millennium Falcon. Kylo eventually realizes he is facing only a Force projection. The real Luke is on Ahch-To, where he dies peacefully after the effort. Back among the survivors, Leia tells Rey the Resistance can rise again.

Corellia is the industrial world that opens Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), directed by Ron Howard, and it is where the young orphans Han and Qi'ra are first seen working for a criminal gang. Their attempt to leave on a transport fails at the checkpoint, where Qi'ra is caught and Han gets away alone.

Han then enlists in the Imperial Navy and receives the surname Solo, and the story carries on to the war-torn world of Mimban, where he meets the smuggler Tobias Beckett. Starting here places the beginning of Han's story well before he ever meets Luke on Tatooine.

Rey is from Jakku, the desert planet where The Force Awakens (2015), directed by J.J. Abrams, opens. She scavenges alone there until BB-8, which holds a map fragment pointing to Luke Skywalker, comes into her care.

The stormtrooper Finn, who has lost his nerve, helps Poe Dameron get free and then crosses paths with Rey. A chase across the desert follows, and a stolen ship delivers them to Han Solo and Chewbacca. Rey and Finn leave Jakku aboard the Millennium Falcon, which ends her solitary scavenging life on the planet.

Scarif is the planet that houses the Imperial vault holding the Death Star plans in Rogue One (2016), directed by Gareth Edwards. When the Rebel leaders decline to support a mission to take the plans, Jyn Erso rounds up volunteers, including Cassian Andor, and they launch the raid regardless.

Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus and Bodhi Rook die during the fighting, and the Rebel fleet turns up to assist. Two Star Destroyers are crashed together by Rebel ships, and that collapses the planet's shield. Jyn and Cassian retrieve the plans and transmit them to the fleet. The Death Star then fires on Scarif and kills them both, and the plans reach Princess Leia, a handoff that leads straight into the 1977 film.

None of the film plots from The Phantom Menace to The Mandalorian and Grogu name Kashyyyk, Bespin or Yavin 4 as a setting. Cloud City appears in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as the home of Lando Calrissian, where Han Solo is frozen in carbonite, but the film's story never names the planet it sits on.

In story order, the saga's planets run from Naboo and Tatooine in The Phantom Menace (1999) to Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Following the chronological order of the films, the first four are The Phantom Menace (Naboo, Tatooine, Coruscant), Attack of the Clones (Kamino, Geonosis), The Clone Wars (Christophsis, Teth) and Revenge of the Sith (Utapau, Mustafar, Alderaan).

Solo: A Star Wars Story then covers Corellia, Mimban, Vandor-1 and Kessel, and Rogue One covers Jedha, Eadu and Scarif. The original trilogy follows with Tatooine and Alderaan, then Hoth and Dagobah, then Endor. The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026), set on Shakari, comes next in story order, ahead of the sequel trilogy, which moves through Jakku, Ahch-To, Crait, Pasaana and Exegol.

The same few worlds anchor each era: Naboo and Coruscant for the Republic, Mustafar for its collapse, Hoth and Endor for the Rebellion. In my opinion Tatooine is the one world the whole story depends on, since the Jedi reach it in The Phantom Menace to repair their ship and it is still the setting for Rey's final scene in The Rise of Skywalker. If you are new to this, watch in release order and use the story order afterward to place each world on the map of the story.