Every Live-Action Star Wars TV Season Ranked

Spoilers ahead for all live-action “Star Wars” shows.

It’s been nearly six years since the great Disney+ “Star Wars” project began with “The Mandalorian” season 1 in 2019. In the absence of any theatrical films since “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker,” streaming has become the de facto platform for the franchise, and Lucasfilm has put out an honestly staggering amount of live-action television in just over half a decade. That’s in addition to the fantastic work constantly being done by Lucasfilm Animation, but today, we’re specifically talking about the live-action “Star Wars” series.

As of right now, the future of live-action “Star Wars” on Disney+ is unclear, with “Ahsoka” season 2 being the lone exception to the rule. Not only that, but “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy (while addressing the show’s massive budget) has also claimed Disney told him, in his own words, “Streaming is dead, we don’t have the money we had before.”

Admittedly, not all live-action “Star Wars” projects need to cost the $650 million that “Andor” apparently did. But the question remains: Is this a sustainable model going forward? Disney CEO Bob Iger and other Disney execs have said repeatedly they plan to focus more on quality over quantity with streaming, while “Star Wars” itself will finally return to the big screen in 2026. Given all of that, and in the wake of “Andor” season 2, let’s look back at all the live-action “Star Wars” shows so far and rank them.

It’s a shame to start this list off with such a big-name show — one with so much potential — but here we are. Yes, “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” the series apparently named by a four-year-old pointing at the screen, got decent reviews upon its initial release in 2022. But it had major issues even then, and looking back, it’s become one of the most forgettable “Star Wars” projects of the entire Disney era.

This should have been a home run. After purchasing the franchise from George Lucas, Disney seemed terrified of invoking the then-still-hated “Star Wars” prequels in any way, instead creating new films hyper-loyal to the aesthetics of the original trilogy. This show was the big break from that trend, bringing back both Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. And it just…flops.

First and foremost, this is the worst-looking live-action “Star Wars” show by a parsec. In the years leading up to it, Disney kept pushing the limits of the Volume soundstage technology used on “The Mandalorian,” and this is where it broke. The sets feel tiny, the costuming is a far cry from the prequels, and everything looks as if it’s bathed in some fuzzy Instagram filter. Take the supposedly climactic rematch between Darth Vader and Obi-Wan, which is so dark, nauseatingly shot, and confusingly choreographed that it immediately removes all drama from the occasion.

The writing is another pain point, with a wild amount of filler packed into just six episodes. While the visual issues can be blamed on budget to some degree, the whole angle of the show also feels off. “Obi-Wan Kenobi” earns a few points back with great performances from McGregor and Christensen, similarly strong work from Moses Ingram and Vivien Lyra Blair, and a handful of genuinely touching moments. But those high points can’t save the show from being a near-complete fumble.

Many would probably put “The Book of Boba Fett” at the very bottom of this list. After all, it has space mopeds, and we hate that, right? Well, yes, it’s a bit silly. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau’s less tactful samurai homages come out here in the “daimyo” arc for Boba (Temuera Morrison), who insists that he is both a crime lord and the kind of “cool” local cop who encourages delinquent teens to play chess instead of smoking dope. Tatooine has never looked more boring, and there’s the Jedi Temple of it all — the show’s gravest sin, in my opinion. Still, there are some redeeming qualities here.

First and foremost, Morrison is fantastic. You could argue that no actor has ever been better-suited to a role in “Star Wars.” Meanwhile, Ming-Na Wen makes for a perfect partner in (very gentle) crime as fellow ex-bounty hunter Fennec Shand. There’s also a bit of welcome reparative work done on the Tusken Raiders. They’re certainly less regressive than Lucas’ “Sand People,” but still pull heavily from both “Dances with Wolves” and more generic “Noble Savage” stereotypes, so it’s kind of a wash.

Perhaps the most damning thing about this show is that most would call the Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) episode the highlight, which it basically is. The finale is a pretty fun battle of “Star Wars” action figures, but the character assassination of Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and CGI Deepfake Muppet Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) bring the vibes down hard. Ultimately, “The Book of Boba Fett” just feels like a mess.

It’s a shame to see a show that’s had such historic highs reach the place “The Mandalorian” has. Season 3, already two years old now, still has some great material, which is why it ranks a few places up from the bottom on this list. But by its third outing, the inaugural live-action “Star Wars” show had already been dragged down by the collective weight of the franchise.

It’s not hyperbole to say that for a few years, “The Mandalorian” was “Star Wars” in the eyes of casual fans. It was a big hit that everyone loved after a controversial end to the sequel trilogy, and as such, it became the franchise standard-bearer. That bloating mostly occurs in season 2, which stealth-pilots “Ahsoka” and brings Luke back, among other world-build-y things. Season 3 tries to get things focused again by centering on the Mandalorians themselves, but it just winds up feeling disjointed.

The one-off episodes don’t have the same legibility or accessible resonance as they do in the earlier seasons, and the larger Mandalore plot meanders aimlessly until the final couple of episodes (which, admittedly, are pretty strong). Your mileage may vary based on how much you enjoy darksaber politics, but the ultimate showdown with Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) makes good on a show-long arc, and the larger bits of world-building we get in season 3 about the New Republic and Grogu are pretty interesting for the most part.

That Jack Black episode, though? And the pterodactyl? Nope.

This may be the most controversial ranking here, but please, bear with me. The first three seasons on this list are all pretty messy, with frequent pacing issues, visual lapses, and struggles with the plot. “Skeleton Crew” is decidedly better across the board, kicking off what I would call the second tier of this list. It’s a show that graciously dodges the worst craft offenses of the preceding seasons. The sets look great, there are tons of practical effects that work wonders on the sense of immersion, and the story is smart enough not to bite off more than it can chew. This is a very straightforward “Star Wars” adventure anchored by a strong cast of young actors and some real star power from Jude Law.

So, why does it rate so relatively low on this list? Because, at least for me, “Skeleton Crew” plays it a little too safe. It looks incredible next to the sloppiness that has plagued Disney+ “Star Wars” (including in seasons and shows we have yet to discuss), but there’s also very little ambition here. Don’t get me wrong, I love a self-contained narrative. I am really, really glad that we didn’t get Exegol coordinates or some ancient Sith weapon hidden in this show. But I also struggle to get excited about any part of it. To me, “Star Wars” is about grandeur and scale, even when the stories are smaller. But “Skeleton Crew” never feels like it has real stakes.

Yes, it’s meant for kids and families, but so is most of “Star Wars” and other projects have taken bigger swings. For that reason, I’m putting it below a couple of shows with bigger problems but definitively higher highs.

“Star Wars: The Acolyte” should have gotten another season.

Yes, I’m one of those people, and you should be too. Are the first four episodes full of strange pacing, vague mysteries, and writing that could have used some tightening? Absolutely. But the back half of the show is so dramatically better in every respect that it nearly pushes this season into the upper half of this list.

This is classic “Star Wars” prequel trilogy dilemma: ambition vs. execution. The execution on a lot of “The Acolyte” feels unfinished, like the production team ran out of time, money, or both. But then you hit “Night,” and you realize where all of the focus went. The lightsaber fights in this show are probably the best we’ve gotten since the prequels, and there are some all-timer performances here from Manny Jacinto and Lee Jung-jae. While the meat of the story is really about twins Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg), it’s the shame of the Jedi and the (very potent, sexual even) allure of the dark side that anchor this plot and make it shine.

Had “The Acolyte” been renewed, season 2 could have been spectacular. All of the Coruscant politics, toxic love stories, absolutely incredible dark side gear — it was right there on the table, with most of the show’s kinks seemingly worked out by the end. Sometimes, production teams just need a little extra time to click with each other. “The Acolyte” feels like such a show, but even with just one season, it does some incredible things for the franchise.

“Ahsoka” season 1 is kind of a curious case. It’s not as clean or consistent as “Skeleton Crew,” nor as ambitious as “The Acolyte.” But as a whole, I think it’s the strongest overall season of the three, largely thanks to some back-half boosting from Lars Mikkelsen, Eman Esfandi, and the late Ray Stevenson.

For the most part, “Ahsoka” looks pretty good, blending practical effects for things like the space battles with the better bits of Disney+ era CGI. The locations are striking, the action is constant and varied, and the treasure-map structure of an extragalactic adventure is novel for “Star Wars” yet fits perfectly within the franchise. It’s also worth noting that the Kiners, who primarily compose “Star Wars” animated shows, turn in some fantastic music here, blending the classic John Williams aesthetic with something more cosmic and swashbuckle-y.

My main issue with “Ahsoka” season 1 is Ahsoka herself. She doesn’t really feel anything like her animated counterpart, which could be fine given how much older she is here, but the new angle on the character also doesn’t really work for me. The main emotional hook of the season is the terse master-apprentice dynamic between her and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), but the origins of that tension happen off-screen, leaving viewers to fend for scraps of consistent character work in a relationship between characters who both feel totally different. Thankfully, the likes of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Mikkelsen), Ezra Bridger (Esfandi), Baylan Skoll (Stevenson), Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), and Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) provide much more compelling material.

And yes, the Clone Wars flashback episode is great. A sugar rush of gooey fan-service, sure, but I can’t say I didn’t love it.

Simple process of elimination can tell you what remains to be ranked on this list, and it’s the really good stuff — two shows that have demonstrated different but similarly compelling visions of what serialized live-action “Star Wars” can look like. Up first is “The Mandalorian” season 2, an eight-episode run that’s dragged down at times by its obligations to the larger franchise but which mostly still delivers on season 1’s fantastic precedent.

Season 2 really excels on the strength of its supporting cast, from Timothy Olyphant’s Tatooine marshal Cobb Vanth to Bill Burr’s ex-Imperial scoundrel Migs Mayfeld and Katee Sackhoff’s live-action debut as Bo-Katan Kryze (a character she had previously voiced in multiple “Star Wars” animated series).

This season is also responsible for bringing Morrison properly back as Boba Fett, delivering all the general cool guy energy you’d expect after decades of fan-fiction and Expanded Universe/Legends storylines. Then there’s the late Carl Weathers, who not only turns in another stellar performance as put-upon magistrate Greef Karga but also directs one of the season’s best episodes.

Of course, it’s the “Mandalorian” season 2 finale most people remember — that climactic montage of Luke carving his way through a shipload of un-killable Imperial battle droids. The ramifications of that moment on the franchise writ large are substantial, and not necessarily in a good way. If anything, the positive response seemed to encourage Disney to continue down the dark path of CGI Deepfakes instead of actual re-castings. If you can remove that larger context from your mind, though, this first Luke scene still works pretty well.

Although much of the Disney+ “Star Wars” era has delivered middling results, it started with an enormous bang in 2019. “The Mandalorian” season 1 was about as hyped as a show can be, and it gave the franchise the mass-appeal, appointment viewing, prestige TV cultural zeitgeist that Lucasfilm seemed to be looking for. Baby Yoda, later named Grogu, became an overnight sensation, turning the show into the most universal hit the property had seen since “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

That’s all well and good, but how does season 1 hold up six years later? Thankfully, the answer is incredibly well. From the detailed, lived-in sets and practical effects to the strategic use of the Volume to create grand vistas, grounded episodic storylines with interesting side characters, fantastic action, and a standout leading performance from Pascal, there’s lots to love here.

Where later seasons arguably made the show too central to the larger “Star Wars” lore, season 1’s world-building is really strong. We get interesting looks at the remnants of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic, as well as a vision of Mandalorian culture that, for better or worse, has come to dominate the fandom. In short, “The Mandalorian” season 1 is about as good as your typical “Buck Rogers”-style “Star Wars” gets outside of the original trilogy.

It’s probably been said too many times already, but I’m going to say it again: “Andor” is a miracle. I mean that in the most literal sense, too. The combination of timing, strategy, and personnel scheduling that had to come together for this show to happen is, frankly, unbelievable. It was commissioned at a time when Disney was throwing money at the wall to fill out its streaming library and building off the success of “Rogue One,” which Gilroy was only brought in on as a fix-up artist. Combine that with the particular collision of writers, actors, costume designers, composers, and everything else that just hits perfectly in this series, and it’s a wonder it exists.

Thankfully, though, it does. “Andor” season 1 is a perfect season of television and a perfect “Star Wars” story — the tale of one man’s gradual radicalization against fascism, set against an epic backdrop of shifting galactic politics and localized oppression. We get plots about the Imperial Security Bureau and the fractured early Rebellion, whose central spymaster, Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), hides in plain sight on Coruscant. This is also where Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) began her journey to becoming everyone’s favorite “Star Wars” character. And at the core of it all is Diego Luna turning in debatably the greatest leading “Star Wars” performance of all time as Cassian Andor.

There’s not enough room in this article to praise everything worth praising in “Andor” season 1. I could spend 1,000 words just on Nicholas Britell’s stunning musical score or Andy Serkis’ guest turn in the prison arc or the impeccable pacing and awe-inspiring climax of the Adhani heist episode. But the big picture here is that “Andor” treats “Star Wars” with the highest level of respect — enough to make every single scene, character, plot point, and even lone TIE fighter feel powerfully, inescapably real.

I spent a lot of time weighing which “Andor” season was going to wind up on top here. And for all my internal reasoning, I can’t say for certain that recency bias hasn’t played a part. I noted that “Andor” season 1 is a perfect season of television, and I might argue season 2 is a hair less than perfect. It takes bigger swings, attempts less traditional plot arcs, and is overall riskier than season 1. As a friend of mine once put it, “Andor” season 1 is a 10/10 but season 2 is a 19/20.

In sports, when two players seem tied up for the MVP, you’ll likely vote for the one who hit the biggest shot in overtime. And the back half of “Andor” season 2 (specifically, episodes 8, 9, and 10) is the one-legged behind-the-back buzzer-beater of all time for “Star Wars.” Season 2 delivers both the most beautiful and the most hideous romances in the entire franchise. It’s a story where Saw Gerrera’s (Forest Whitaker) breathing apparatus gives birth to a Shakespearean monologue about the incendiary instinct to fight fascism. Years pass over the 12 episodes, granting characters you never would have considered core players some of the most affecting arcs in all of “Star Wars.”

In my heart, no “Star Wars” project will likely ever topple “Andor” season 1. It was such a surprise, week after week, as it continued to one-up itself. But season 2 is the thing all that work builds toward, and the prestige at the end hits perfectly. So, I’m going to just barely give “Andor” season 2 the edge, as well as the title of “Best ‘Star Wars’ I Have Ever Seen.”