Exact Answer: 19 Years
Order 66 and New Hope are episodes of popular American Soap Opera titled “Star Wars”. This multimedia franchise was created by Geoge Lucas in 1977. The franchise depicts an epic adventure involving both humans and aliens. It shows the happenings of the characters a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, where humanoid and humans coexisted.
Order 66, also referred to as the clone protocol 66, was a top-secret order in the Star War series. This order could identify all Jedi as traitors to the Galactic Republic and major threats to the galaxy. Thus, order 66 was a cue for the entire clone troopers army to execute all their Jedi commanders and other Jedi they come across.
New hope is the 4th episode of the Star Wars series which was released in 1977. Originally this was called simply Star Wars as there were no other episodes in the series at that time. Later, in 1981, it received its designation as Episode IV and the subtitle called A New Hope.
How Long After Order 66 Is New Hope?
| Star Wars Episodes | Duration |
| Episode I – Episode II | 10 years |
| Episode III – Episode IV | 19 years |
| Episode VI- Episode VII | 30 years |
Star Wars which is hugely popular for its complicated timeline and fantastic story amazes its viewers every time. All the major events of the series are spread and scattered all across the Star Wars timeline. As the series went on to become bigger and bigger after its initial release in 1977, it showcased several important events that happened in the galaxy.
Sometimes due to the vast number of events in such a huge series, it gets difficult to keep a track of events. One might not be aware of how long after a certain event the next crucial event occurred. Thus, one might be acquainted with the fact that the time gap between Order 66 and New Hope is 19 years.
Order 66 was first introduced in Star Wars Episode III titled “Revenge of the Sith”. It takes place 19 years ahead of Star Wars: A New Hope. This order has major relevance in the entire series as it was created with the agenda to demolish the current greatest threat. Thus, order 66 was formed so that Emperor Palpatine and the Sith could effectively achieve their goal of bringing about the long-awaited fall of the Jedi order.
The events of Order 66 which involves the destruction of the Jedi Order were first mentioned in Star Wars: A New Hope as this was the first installment in the Star War series. Jedi Order consisted of Jedi knights which were the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic.
Why Is New Hope This Long After Order 66?
As New Hope is set about 20 years after Order 66, one might think that Jedi were only a myth as the Clone Wars somewhat ended when Order 66 was executed.
Order 66 has an astounding effect on the entire galaxy. People know that in total there were 4 major survivors. The survivors of the purge were Yoda, Obi-Wan, Caleb Dume, and Jocasta Nu. There probably were other survivors as well, but some went to the ground immediately.
When Order 66 was executed it greatly depleted the Jedi Order’s rank with an estimated of only 100 Jedi surviving it. This was only the beginning of the Great Jedi Purge which was spread across years and claimed the lives of many of the survivors of the initial onslaughter.
After the purge, the empire wiped out all the knowledge of the Jedi from the Galaxy. The only knowledge of Jedi that remained was either in minds of the people who saw them in fight or hidden away in secret. So the Jedi and most of the knowledge of their order faded away over 2 decades.
A New Hope is set 19 years after the formation of the Galactic Empire and the events of the Revenge of the Sith which include Order 66. In New Hope, the construction of the weapon capable of destroying a planet is finished on the Death Star. Thus, it can be concluded that New Hope was nineteen years i.e almost two decades later Order 66.
Conclusion
The creator of Star Wars, George Lucas describes the Star War series as a collection of films for a generation growing up without fairy tales. In the Star Wars series, almost all of the Jedi were killed by Order 66 and its survivors were killed in the Great Jedi Purge that followed after.
Despite this, the Jedi Order survived due to the acts of surviving Jedi such as Obi-Wan, Yoda, and others. Thus, the New Hope which is Episode IV in the series is about 19 years after the formation of the Galactic Empire and the execution of Order 66 which is in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
