Julien Neaves, Sci Fi Head Writer
Happy May the 4th my fellow Star Warriors (it’s a work in progress). The original version of my Star Wars TV series ranking came out back in July 2022. But with Disney+ releasing new Star Wars shows faster than Netflix can cancel new shows that you love, it was time to do some updating.
A quick caveat—there will be no online-only series so don’t expect to find Forces of Destiny here. With that out of the way and a Death Star-sized SPOILER ALERT let’s get to ranking every single Star Wars series:
#14 Ewoks (Two Seasons, 1985-1986)
Unless you’re jonesing for nostalgia or are a diehard completionist I can’t think of any other reason to watch this classic animated series centered on the titular violent teddy bear-like creatures from Return of the Jedi. It’s cutesy, VERY 80s and the least Star Wars of any show on this list, hence it’s placement at the bottom. Maybe your kids will like it.
#13 Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C3PO (One Season, 1985)
Ewoks’ sister show Droids is at least better in that it feels more like Star Wars. We have everyone’s favourite droid duo as the main protagonists and we do see a couple of familiar faces in Boba Fett and IG-88. And there is some okay animated action to be had in their misadventures with various masters. But the slapstick comedy and stilted animation makes it feel super dated. It’s definitely a show of its time and adds little to the franchise lore. So, if you miss it, you aren’t missing much.
Related Content: Revisiting 1985 Star Wars: Droids in 3 Blasts
#12 Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (One Season*, 2023-)
This series set during the High Republic Era was also created for Disney Junior, which should tell you exactly what age bracket the show is aiming for, if the overly cutesy designs did not already clue you in. I checked out the shorts, and they’re fine. Yoda shows up a to offer sage advice, we get some Force powers and a little lightsaber action, and even some space battle. The full seven episodes came out today, and I’ll check them out when I get a chance.
Young kids should like it and it may be a nice palette cleanser for older fans. Just try not to think about what happened to these adorable Younglings when Order 66 happened. Yikes!
#11 Resistance (Two Seasons, 2018-2020)
This is the only series set in the timeline of the sequel trilogy. It received generally positive reviews from critics and won a Saturn Award for Best Animated Series on Television in 2019. Well, either someone was sniffing death sticks or 2019 was a very poor year for animated content because Resistance Season 1 is rough! For most of the first season we are focused on boring ship racing around the aircraft refueling station the Colossus with our annoying lead Kaz, his more annoying alien friend Neeku and mostly uninteresting characters. Thankfully, the monotony was broken up by spy missions with Poe Dameron (voiced by Oscar Isaac himself) and we do get a lot of the adorable BB-8 so that’s something.
Only in the latter episodes when the First Order take over the station do things actually get interesting. And the second season where the Colossus is on the run from the First Order is much, much better. We do also get appearances by Captain Phasma, General Hux, Leia, C-3PO and even Kylo Ren, and I appreciated that. But I could not blame fans for switching off in the drudgery of the early first season arc. The series does a good job of expanding on the sequel trilogy era, though unfortunately that is the least interesting of the three eras. I would still recommend it checking it out.
Related Content: Reviewing the Star Wars Series No One Talks About—Resistance
#10 The Book of Boba Fett (One Season*, 2021-)
What do you do when you have a super popular show about a bounty hunter, and you want to make another one about your franchise’s most famous bounty hunter? Well, you make him not a bounty hunter but a crime lord, only a very decent crime lord who actually doesn’t do much in the way of crime. Yeah, Boba Fett was just flawed from the concept stage. If Disney had really gone dark, it could have been enjoyable, but they played it too safe. What we were left with is a practically unrecognisable character in a show that seems struggling to find itself. And to add insult to injury its already short season run takes a break for two episodes to showcase the Mandalorian and push Boba to the side. That’s not good.
But Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen deliver strong performances, there are other interesting characters like Twi’lek cantina owner Garsa Fwip and Wookie bounty hunter Krrsantan rolling about (not those Mod racers though, ugh!) and the finale delivers some wonderfully excessive action. Let’s just hope the show finds itself in its next season.
Related Content: The Book of Boba Fett S1: Decent ‘Read’ in 4 Blasts
#9 Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi (One Season*, 2022-)
The first season of this animated series focused on two Jedi, Ahsoka and Count Dooku, with each character receiving three episodes each. The Ahsoka episodes were a bit underwhelming, with only the final episode delivering the goods. By contrast, the Dooku episodes are all solid, with the final episode being quite epic and required viewing for Star Wars fans. I am excited to see which two Jedi the series will focus on for the next season.
Related Content: Ahsoka’s Arc and Dooku’s Descent: Tales of the Jedi Season 1
#8 Visions (Two Seasons*, 2021-)
Next up we have the animated anthology Visions. Now combining Star Wars with varying styles of animation was an inspired idea and I was looking forward to this show. Bu I found the first season a bit lacking. There was an over reliance on Jedi stories and some episodes were dull or underwhelming. Still, there were a few bangers like The Ninth Jedi, The Elder and Lop, and Ochō.
But thankfully Season 2 is a vast improvement. We have much more variety in the storytelling and animation, and the overall quality of the episodes is higher. Of the episodes, the exciting anime Journey to the Dark Head, the astoundingly beautiful In the Stars, the twisty Screecher’s Reach, and the kooky claymation story I Am Your Mother are among the standouts. They are not all winners, but I could not find any stinkers here. I was hoping some of the stronger episodes in Season 1 could have seen sequels in Season 2, but with the enchanting new content presented in the sophomore season I truly did not mind.
Related Content: Visions Review in 3 Slices
#7 The Bad Batch (Two Seasons*, 2021-)
Spun off from the vastly superior The Clone Wars, The Bad Batch follows the titular group of clone troopers with genetic mutations working as mercenaries and on the run from the brand-new Empire. The most interesting aspect is the era and I enjoyed seeing the early days of Imperial rule.
But with stock characters and mostly bland storytelling in Season 1 the show just never impressed. Heck, the best episode was Bounty Lost, which focuses not on the clones but bounty hunters Cad Bane and Fennec Shand. And that’s not a good thing. Still, it was interesting seeing the destruction of Tipoca City on Camino and learning how the Empire transitioned from clone troopers to stormtroopers.
Thankfully, like Visions, Bad Batch upped its game in Season 2. I enjoyed seeing the clones working as Mercs under the lovable mercenary Cid. Echo leaves to join Rex and the effort to protect the clones, leaving room for the rest of Clone Force 99 to get some much needed fleshing out. There was so much fleshing out that when my boy Tech died (presumably, we didn’t see a body) I teared up a little. The plotting was better, with the Crosshair-centric episodes The Solitary Clone and The Outpost not just the best of the series so far, but top tier Star Wars in its own right. We had a couple of dud episodes like Faster and Pabu, but there were far more hits than misses. I will definitely be joining up for the third and final season next year.
Related Content: The Bad Batch S1 Finale Arc is a Passable End to a Passable Season
#6 Clone Wars (Two Volumes, 2003)
From the brilliant mind of Genndy Tartakovsky, the man behind Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan and new HBO Max series Primal, we got this fantastic, multiple award-winning 2D micro-series (not to be confused with the CGI animated The Clone Wars, which appears later on this list). Set in the prequel trilogy between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, in the first volume we get to see Mace Windu being a droid-destroying hurricane, Kit Fisto in underwater action on Mon Calamari, Obi Wan combatting the monstrous cybernetic bounty hunter Durge, Anakin battling Asajj Ventress on Yavin 4 and the first appearance of General Grievous, who we see snuffing out Jedi like a slasher movie villain.
The second volume was stronger on story and showed pivotal moments like Anakin becoming a Jedi and the Siege of Coruscant and the capture of Chancellor Palpatine, leading directly into the start of Revenge of the Sith. The second storyline also highlighted Togruta Jedi Master Shaak Ti, which I enjoyed. There was also a side story of Anakin going on a quest to rescue some tribal aliens who were being turned into cyborg weapons by the Separatists, but that is decidedly less interesting. But that is a minor quibble for a thoroughly enjoyable series.
#5 Obi-Wan Kenobi (One Season*, 2022-)
The best movie to compare the Obi-Wan Kenobi series to is Solo: A Star Wars Story. The Han Solo-focused film spent its entire runtime trying to justify its existence by cramming in as much character lore as possible. And it was an epic failure. But Obi-Wan Kenobi began with a simple concept: Obi-Wan overcoming the trauma of killing his friend and brother (as he thought) and later the realisation of his turn to the Dark Side. Ewan McGregor is simply brilliant and elevates the material. And we also had Hayden Christensen and James Earl Jones back as Darth Vader, Ian McDiarmid back as Emperor Palpatine, Jimmy Smits back as Bail Organa, and Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse back as Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru respectively. In terms of new folks, we saw Vivien Lyra Blair doing solid work as young Leia Organa, Moses Ingram’s breakout performance as Reva Sevander/Third Sister and the first live action appearance of the Grand Inquisitor.
Sure, we had to do a bit of retcon gymnastics of Obi-Wan and Leia now having met much earlier than previously thought, and Obi-Wan and Vader battling multiple times before their reunion in A New Hope. But Anakin and Count Dooku’s reunion in Revenge of the Sith got a retcon with their multiple battles in The Clone Wars, so it’s not the first time this was done. And I think it was worth it to finally get to see Alderaan in all its glory and Leia’s early life, meeting young Luke, and the epic encounters between Obi-Wan and Vader. “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker…I did.” Way more emotionally satisfying than their encounter in A New Hope #justsaying. That final battle was 13 flavours of awesome sauce! The series is not perfect but is very good, and more than justifies its own existence. And maybe even a second season, which remains up in the air.
#4 Rebels (Four Seasons, 2014-2018)
Rebels, which is set a decade after Revenge of the Sith, started off as an okay show with some interesting characters. But when this motley crew joins up with Ahsoka and the Rebellion it elevates into one of the best Star Wars series ever!
Over the four seasons I grew to love all these characters. (SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t seen the series) My jaw dropped when Ahsoka battled Darth Vader, I smiled over the machinations of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and my heart broke when Kanan sacrificed himself to save his beloved Hera and the crew. (SPOILER ALERT ends). The series fully deserved its multiple awards and nominations, especially for its third and fourth seasons. And with multiple Rebels characters returning for the live action Ahsoka series it is high time to check it out if you haven’t already.
Related Content: Top 5 Reasons the Force is Strong With Star Wars: Rebels
#3 The Mandalorian (Three Seasons*, 2019-)
If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ve already seen Jon Favreau’s space western The Mandalorian (or should have. What ARE you doing with your life?!) and have fallen in love with bounty hunter Din Djarin and Grogu. So, what else can I tell you? The show is awesome. Pedro Pascal is pitch perfect, infusing so much life and character in a character wearing a helmet 99 per cent of the time. Grogu is totes adorbes and easily one of the most lovable aliens in the franchise. We also have a slew of stellar supporting characters including Greef Karga, Mr “I have spoken” Kuiil, IG-11 (pour some oil out for my boy), the Amorer and Cobb Vanth just to name a few. And Giancarlo Esposito delivers another terrific villain performance as Moff Gideon.
While some episodes have been better than others, I did not see a bad episode in its first two seasons. But then Season 3 happened, and it was like Favreau took a break and let a less talented person take over the showrunning. This season was just all over the place, with needless filler, weird pacing, Grogu feeling like a glorified mascot and Din pushed aside in favour of Bo-Katan in a story arc that felt rushed and unsatisfying. But there was some strong action to be had, especially of the Mandalorian variety, and the final two episodes were a tsunami of nerdgasm-inducing set pieces. Without the weaker third season, though, the Mandalorian could have made it higher on the list. But it will have to settle for the bronze. Still a great show though.
Related Content: Top 16 Mandalorian Moments (So Far)
#2 Andor (One Season*, 2022-)
And now for the show many consider to be the best Star Wars series ever (it’s number two on the list, so you know I disagree, but number two is still great). Now let me get Andor’s flaws out of the way first. It is a very slow-paced show, sometimes to the point of tedium. Diego Luna’s titular character is the least interesting in his own show, though maybe that was on purpose to show his growth. And we get stuck with the mind-numbing storyline of incel-ish Deputy Inspector Syril Karn. I truly kept waiting for his arc to pay off, but pretty much nada. Maybe next season.
But everything else is top tier here. The acting is spectacular, especially from Stellan Skarsgård as secret rebel Luthen Rael, Genevieve O’Reilly as fellow secret rebel Mon Mothma, Denise Gough as ambitious Imperial Security Bureau Deedra Meero, and the always great Andy Serkis as prisoner Kino Loy. The set design, production quality, cinematography and music are all masterful. There is not a lot of action, but when we do get the pew pew, it is always well executed. And it was fascinating seeing the evil of the Empire in the banal and mundane, and the Rebellion getting their hands dirty. This is easily the most grounded Star Wars has ever been, and really feels like the franchise being elevated. Hopefully, the pacing will also be elevated, and the storytelling tightened somewhat in Season 2. Because if I have to sit through another scene of Karn talking to his abrasive mother I will pull my nose hairs out.
#1 The Clone Wars (Seven Seasons, 2008-2014 & 2020)
While the prequel trilogy is seeing something of a fan resurgence in recent years, and especially in reaction to the haphazard sequel trilogy, I still consider The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones two of the weakest films in the franchise. Revenge of the Sith, though, is one of the best films of the franchise and remains underrated. And Dave Filoni’s award winning masterpiece The Clone Wars expands on ROTS and the world of Star Wars like no other series before or since.
Over seven seasons we saw Ahsoka grow from a bratty Padawan to Jedi Knight to a Force User outside the Order, and also one of the most important characters in the franchise (looking forward to her live action series). We got so much more story and development on Anakin, Obi-Wan, and so many other Jedi that we just glimpsed in the films. The clone troopers were fleshed out and humanised. And we had awesome villains like Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. There was so much grand action that stretched across the galaxy.
The show was so beloved they had to bring back in 2020 for a final season. And that season’s final arc is inarguably one of the best things with the name Star Wars. The Clone Wars is not only required viewing for Star Wars fans but for any space opera fans.
So that’s my list. What is your favourite Star Wars series? Feel free to share, and check out more great articles from a galaxy far, far away below:
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.