by The Star Wars franchise does not end with the epic films. He has produced many television spin-offs, which are equally, if not more, admired by fans.
From successful hits such as The Mandalorian, Obi Wan Kenobi and Andor to the more recent and well-received series Ahsoka, following ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), Star Wars spin-offs have engage with audiences from 2019, and there’s more to the story. way with The Bad Batch returning for season 3 this year.
But Star Wars TV shows are by no means a new phenomenon. The first spin-off series, Droids, was released in 1985, and in the four decades since, over a dozen spin-off animations, shorts and micro-series have followed.
There will likely be more to come, but for now here’s a ranked list of our favorite Star Wars TV shows so far, from least to best.
6. Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021)
The Bad Baisc are a group of clone troopers (foot soldiers of the Empire, who became a feature of the franchise), who became good due to a genetic mutation. They now have the ability to resist the effects of the Order 66 killing protocol, which means they can follow their own will – and happily choose to go on missions to undermine the Emperor.
Set between Revenge of the Sith (2005) and A New Hope (1977), there is no subtlety here, and the script is a bit clunky, but the series is fun and action packed which makes it a bit of a winner. And, most importantly, you don’t need to have read your Star Wars lore to dive right in. The first and second seasons of the animated series consisted of 16 episodes. The show’s third and final season was released on February and Disney+ is continuing to release subsequent episodes every Wednesday until May 1, 2024.
5. Star Wars Rebels (2014)
We really enjoyed this 3D animated one-off series, which is more kid-friendly – and so did other Star Wars fans: it has an impressive Traumameter rating of 98 percent.
Created by Simon Kinberg (who wrote Mr. & Mrs. Smith and X-Men: Days of Future Past) alongside Star Wars mastermind Dave Filoni (who directed The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and the upcoming Ahsoka , and wrote Tales of the Jedi, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars) the story is set more than ten years after the Galactic Empire seized power. It follows a group of rebels, the Spectres, who are all working to try and undermine the Empire’s many operations.
4. Andor (2022)
This series starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor tells the story of the birth of the Rebellion, aka The Rebel Alliance (the resistance movement that works in secret to try to restore a liberal government in place of the evil Galactic Empire).
Unfortunately, despite a starry cast (Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw and Kyle Soller also star), and despite incredible special effects and what could have been an interesting plotline, the reunion series. There are flashes of confusion, too much emphasis on normal activities and not enough activity. It feels like a “slow-moving series that makes you feel trapped in carbonite,” said the Standard.
However, it should be noted that others liked it: Rotten Tomatoes, for example, gave it a stellar tomato rating of 96 percent, and the second series is due for release in August 2024.
3. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Ewan McGregor returned to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in this smear series last year, which is set ten years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). Fans of the franchise will remember that it was a very dramatic film: the Jedi were almost destroyed after the Order 66 killing protocol turned robots into Jedi killers. After all the drama, Kenobi fled to the planet Tatooine, where the new series takes place.
Now Kenobi is taking care of the son of his old apprentice, wrong’un Anakin Skywalker, aka Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen). But after Anakin’s daughter, Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair), is kidnapped, he goes on a mission to save her. The series was met with mixed reviews, with some pandering to the action scenes and praising McGregor’s acting, while others said the series didn’t bring anything new to the franchise.
2. Tales of the Jedi (2022)
This six-episode animated anthology series is split in two, following the lives of Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and then Count Dooku (Corey Burton). Although the episodes fly by about 15 minutes each, they still manage to complete the backstories of the two Jedis by providing snapshots of some of the most important moments in their lives.
The show was widely praised (it has an incredible 100% Tomatometer rating), but was generally seen as a treat for Star Wars enthusiasts rather than a series created for people involved in the franchise: Empire rated the series, saying, “it adds in mind for fans. why they fell in love with those animated performances in the first place”; The Hollywood Reporter said it was, “just for the fans”.
1. The Mandalorian (2019)
For most Star Wars fans, The Mandalorian was everything they imagined a spin-off series could be. “The Mandalorian is too cool to resist,” said The Guardian in 2020; “The Mandalorian was perhaps the ultimate expression of what George Lucas was getting at at all… Star Wars should never have been a movie series, it should never have been a TV show. Thanks to the Maker we finally have it,” the Standard said of The Mandalorian’s third season.
The space western, whose fourth season is due to be released sometime next year, is set after the fall of the Empire, and stars Pedro Pascal as hero and bounty hunter Din Djarin / The Mandalorian. The story focuses on the adventures of Djarin and Grogu (Baby Yoda). Action-packed, fun and thrilling, made up of a stellar cast (Katee Sackhoff, Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, Taika Waititi and Omid Abtahi star) and with a score by Ludwig Göransson, it is no wonder that the series was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards (a won seven) in 2020.
Ahsoka is available on Disney+ from 23 August
