With so many different formats of Star Wars material out there, it is sometimes difficult for non-hardcore fans to determine exactly what is canon to Star Wars mythology and what isn't. Lucasfilm plans to fix that and, as THR reports, is phasing out its "Canon Hierarchy" for a more streamlined approach.

For those who aren't master Jedi of Star Wars lore, here is how it used to work. In 2000, Lucas Licensing appointed Leland Chee to create a database for Star Wars continuity known as "The Holocron." The Holocron established continuity in the following order:

1. Absolute Canon (G-Canon): the movies in their most recently-released format, the scripts, the novelizations of the movies, the radio plays, and any statements by George Lucas himself.

2. Television Shows (T-canon): Star Wars: The Clone Wars and future Star Wars TV series such as Star Wars Rebels.

3. Expanded Universe (C--canon): Books, comics, and games bearing the label of Star Wars.

4. Secondary Canon (S-canon): Non-continuity stories with canon elements if they do not contradict any of the above. An example includes the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies.

5. Non-Canon (N-canon): Anything else, including "What-if" stories, crossover appearances in other media and anything else directly contradicted by higher-level canon.

Does it seem confusing? It is unless you are a serious devotee. (Thus why they had to hire someone to keep track of it all.) The new plan is to have Chee and the Lucasfilm Story Group streamline official cannon by being involved in all pieces of Star Wars storytelling going forward. Chee noted, "Star Wars Canon is now determined by the Lucasfilm Story Group which [Pablo Hidalgo] and I are both a part of." He said that the group "has a hand in all facets of Star Wars storytelling, including movies, TV, games and publishing."

Chee added that a primary goal of the new group is to eliminate confusion in regard to a hierarchy and what falls where in favor of one cohesive canon across the Star Wars franchise. He added, "more so than ever, the canon field will serve us internally simply for classification rather than setting hierarchy."

At this point, the canon hierarchy terms will be used only for for internal classification purposes, rather than to dictate hierarchy. What this means in terms of where the Expanded Universe elements will fall in terms of canon is not yet known, but we should know more next year when Star Wars: Episode VII releases and perhaps even this fall, when Star Wars Rebels premieres on Disney .
Read more at http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/309164#4FR2XqsthwaF9ARA.99

I didn't know the animated shows were a different canon. Then again didn't really watch them all the way through so I didn't see anything that conflicted with the movies.