Back in 1977, George Lucas and the creative team behind Star Wars released a pop culture juggernaut of a dimension and scale that no one could have predicted. Nowadays, it would be fair to call this the single biggest and most iconic transmedia franchise in history, and like any great transmedia franchise, Star Wars made the jump to the small screen all the way back in 1985.
Following this jump, several Star Wars TV shows slowly arrived throughout the years; some great, some middle-of-the-road, and some downright awful. Without counting web series, there have been 19 Star Wars series throughout history, and it’s relatively easy—as well as irresistibly fun—to point to both the best and the worst ones. When this year’s Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord comes out, we’ll have a nice, round 20 Star Wars series, and fans can only hope that it’ll be near the top of the list in terms of quality and entertainment value.
20
‘The Book of Boba Fett’ (2021)
Since he debuted back in The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett immediately became one of the most beloved Star Wars characters. He barely talked, and fans didn’t exactly get a ton of insight into who he was as a person, but he was such a badass antagonist that it was difficult not to love him. Then, Temuera Morrison stepped into the iconic armor in the second season of The Mandalorian, and fans couldn’t have been happier. The announcement of a Boba Fett solo spin-off show was the cherry on top.
Unfortunately, though, The Book of Boba Fett turned out to be one of the most disappointing pieces of Star Wars media ever. While bringing back Cad Bane—one of the best Star Wars TV show characters ever—as a primary antagonist was a nice touch, it was too little, too late. Boba has no personality, the writing and tone are all over the place, and Pedro Pascal‘s Din Djarin feels more like the protagonist than the titular character toward the end of the series. This fan-favorite deserved better.
19
‘Star Wars: Ewoks’ (1985–1986)
Along with its sister series, Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars: Ewoks was the first-ever Star Wars TV show. Both series first aired on the same day, just a couple of years after the original trilogy came to an end with Return of the Jedi. Throughout the ’80s, there were plenty of phenomenal cartoons that have aged like fine wine, but Ewoks isn’t really one of them.
Even back then, Ewoks was poorly received, and that hasn’t really changed in 40 years. Visually, it’s not particularly appealing, and as for the narrative, things don’t get any better. The world-building, storytelling, and character work are all childish to a fault, making it feel like the entire series was nothing more than a two-season-long commercial to sell action figures and lunch boxes to kids. It definitely wasn’t without its moments, and it’s not nearly as aggressive in its badness as Book of Boba Fett, but that doesn’t make it any good, either.
18
‘Star Wars: Droids’ (1985–1986)
Star Wars: Droids was always slightly more fun and interesting than its sister series (though just barely), probably because its two lead characters were far better-known, more iconic, and more popular. Beloved though R2-D2 and C-3PO may be, however, Droids suffers from the same kind of excessive childishness and commercial feel that made Ewoks dead on arrival.
Considering that Droids, a prequel to A New Hope, is no longer considered part of the Star Wars canon, it’s not even worth checking out for lore completionists. Hearing Anthony Daniels as C-3PO is always a treat, but that’s honestly the only thing that this show has to offer, apart from a few fun scenes and decent episodes. It’s definitely watchable, but not particularly pleasant for any Star Wars fan over the age of five.
17
‘The Acolyte’ (2024)
Now that the hate campaign that the culture war waged against The Acolyte has died down (at least somewhat) two years after the show’s conclusion, it’s time to sit down and get real: the show isn’t actually that bad, and it’s not even close to being “the worst piece of Star Wars media of all time,” like many people during its run were making it out to be.
But while The Acolyte deserves more attention from people who might have opted out of giving it a chance in 2024, fairness also necessitates admitting that, though it isn’t awful, it is nowhere near greatness, either. Character motivations feel inconsistent, the tone and pacing feel erratic, the dialogue is pretty bad (though, in all honesty, that’s often a staple of the franchise), and the acting can be quite wooden at times. There are some amazing action sequences and a couple of great characters (namely The Stranger and Master Sol), but it’s not enough to fully redeem the show.
16
‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ (2022)
For years, since Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, fans had been clamoring and begging for some kind of project about Obi-Wan Kenobi’s life on Tatooine between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Around 2016, the project started materializing as a spin-off film with Ewan McGregor reprising his role as the Jedi Master. That film was what eventually metamorphosed into the Disney+ miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Looking back, fans would have very likely preferred the original plan for a movie, or at least a project that was better-written and better-directed. As it is, Obi-Wan Kenobi is one hot mess, full of stiff drama and plot holes the size of a Star Destroyer. It’s definitely not without its share of redeeming qualities, most of them involving Hayden Christensen‘s return to the role of Anakin and Darth Vader, but it’s not enough. With more consistent direction or scripts that actually felt like a passionate homage to the titular character, Obi-Wan Kenobi surely might have turned out okay.
15
‘Star Wars Resistance’ (2018–Present)
The sequel era of Star Wars isn’t exactly a fan-favorite, but if there’s any area of the franchise that’s succeeding at building up this phase of the chronology as a genuinely interesting one, it’s television. However, fans tend to agree that that’s definitely not the case with Star Wars Resistance. Though it was received with remarkable warmth by critics, audiences were far less merciful.
It’s yet another case of a Star Wars show being way too kid-friendly for its own good. If there’s anything that animated Star Wars television has proved throughout its history, it’s that it’s perfectly possible to make a show that appeals to small and grown-up fans of the franchise alike. Resistance has annoying characters, a shallow story that doesn’t really add anything particularly interesting to the canon, and very few truly memorable episodes. The anime-inspired visual style is nice, but not enough to make the series more than just okay.
14
‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’ (2023–Present)
When she was introduced in the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars film, Ahsoka Tano became far and away one of the most hated characters in all of Star Wars. It’s a testament to how well-written the Star Wars: The Clone Wars show is that, throughout its run, it gave Ahsoka an arc that transformed her into one of the most beloved Star Wars characters. Star Wars: Ahsoka was supposed to be a continuation of that legacy, as well as a semi-sequel to the criminally underrated Star Wars Rebels.
Ahsoka certainly has its moments. Fan service is mostly used well; “Part Five: Shadow Warrior” (with yet another Hayden Christensen appearance) is one of the best episodes of live-action Star Wars television, and watching the characters of Rebels come alive is cool. However, the story is mostly composed of dull fluff, and the characters are barely given anything to do. Poor Rosario Dawson tries her best with the title character, but the material she’s given has such a glaring lack of charm that she ends up feeling like entirely the wrong choice for such an iconic part of Star Wars.
13
‘Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures’ (2023–2025)
Much like Ewoks, Droids, and Resistance, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures feels like it was made for preschoolers. The difference that makes it stand out above those shows? It actually was made for preschoolers, and it never pretends otherwise. The little ones of the family deserve their own Star Wars shows, too, and it’s nice to see one that has no dissonance between who it looks like it was aimed at and who it actually was aimed at.
It’s a criminally underappreciated series, one whose mediocre 5.6 rating on IMDb generally comes from older Star Wars fans who seemed to miss the “Disney Jr.” logo at the bottom of the screen. Sure enough, it’s a childish show that doesn’t care if it bends the canon a bit here and there, but fans coming into this expecting a serious addition to Star Wars lore are looking in the wrong place, anyway. For what it tries to do, Young Jedi Adventures is pretty solid.
12
‘Star Wars: Tales of the Empire’ (2024)
There have been three Star Wars shows released under the Tales banner, a collection of anthology series in the animation style of The Clone Wars. Each show consists of six shorts exploring stories led by different characters from the franchise, and unfortunately, it’s rather easy to pick the weakest of the bunch: It would have to be Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, the middle installment in the trilogy.
The miniseries is split into two arcs, one following Diana Lee Inosanto‘s Morgan Elsbeth and the other following Meredith Salenger‘s Barriss Offee. While both characters are interesting, neither is interesting enough to make an entire arc based around them feel particularly satisfying. With the extreme abundance of Star Wars baddies out there who would have been more popular choices for protagonists, Tales of the Empire feels all the more like an afterthought. It has plenty of great moments, but it’s mostly rather forgettable.
11
‘Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld’ (2025)
The last installment in the Tales trilogy was Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. It’s considerably superior to its predecessor, perhaps largely because it focuses on two far more interesting and iconic protagonists than Elsbeth and Offee: Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. It’s more than enough to make this a satisfying miniseries for those who have always been interested in the bounty-hunting side of Star Wars.
It’s nothing game-changing, nor even required viewing, but it’s irresistibly cool to watch two of the most badass Star Wars TV characters in action again.
Some may go so far as to call Tales of the Underworld one of the best sci-fi anthology shows of the last 10 years. It’s nothing game-changing, nor even required viewing, but it’s irresistibly cool to watch two of the most badass Star Wars TV characters in action again. Does it add a ton of depth to either Ventress or Cad Bane? Not really, but it never pretends to be anything more than a cool side adventure for people who already know and love these characters.
