May the Fourth Be with You: Ranking Every Star Wars Movie...

May the Fourth Be with You: Ranking Every Star Wars Movie & TV Show

Every May 4, fans across the galaxy celebrate Star Wars — and there’s no better time to partake in one of the toughest debates: What truly ranks as the best of the best?

RELATED: Who Is The Best “Star Wars” Character?

From the original trilogy to every Disney+ series, I’m stacking every movie and show against each other, weighing impact, storytelling and rewatch value.

RELATED: 35 Movies Filmed in Texas

A heads up: there are spoilers ahead. If you’re not fully caught up, proceed carefully — and may the Force be with you.

33. Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

Director: Steve Binder

Status: Legends

Era: Galactic Civil War

Star Wars Holiday Special is stuff of legend when it comes to the Star Wars mythology. Set prior to the events of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the Holiday Special had very little involvement from Star Wars creator George Lucas.

The special was created for and aired on CBS, and was so poorly received that it never aired again, or was released on home media. To this day it’s one of the only Star Wars properties unavailable on Disney+.

The lone highlight from the special was the introduction of the legendary Star Wars villain and bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

32. Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)

Director: John Korty

Status: Legends

Era: Galactic Civil War

Set prior to the events of the original Star Wars trilogy, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure was the first full-length spinoff film of the franchise, which aired on ABC before a limited theatrical release.

Wicket actor Warwick Davis reprises his role from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

The film isn’t regarded as must-see Star Wars viewing – at all.

31. Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures (2023-2025)

Showrunner: Michael Olson

Status: Canon

Era: High Republic

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is a show made for preschool-aged kids, and doesn’t offer much to the overall storyline of the franchise. While I understand Disney’s commercial reasoning for creating such a property, the Star Wars franchise is far-better served by mature storytelling.

30. Star Wars: Ewoks (1985-1986)

Showrunner: Paul Dini

Status: Legends

Era: New Republic

Star Wars: Ewoks slots right in with some of the more obscure 1980s children cartoons, that had little to offer other than another way for the franchise to sell toys.

29. Star Wars: Droids (1985-1986)

Showrunner: Peter Saunder, Ben Burtt

Status: Legends

Era: Galactic Civil War

Just like Star Wars: Ewoks, Star Wars: Droids doesn’t bring much to the table, especially considering it features perennial favorites R2-D2 and C-3PO as the main protagonists.

28. Star Wars Resistance (2018-2020)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: New Republic, Rise of the First Order

Star Wars Resistance is another forgettable cartoon, this time from Disney’s Star Wars era. It too suffers from a lack of mature story telling, especially when compared to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.

27. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985)

Director: Ken and Jim Wheat

Status: Legends

Era: Galactic Civil War

While it’s an improvement over its predecessor, Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, Ewoks: The Battle for Endor doesn’t offer much when it comes to a Star Wars spinoff story. Ewoks speaking basic (English) just feels wrong.

26. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)

Director: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: Clone Wars

While it’s regarded as one of worst Star Wars films, it’s also one of the franchise’s most-important properties. It serves as the vehicle to introduce the world to the proceeding Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, and served as the first bit of digital media since 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

The film also introduces Ahsoka Tano, the one-time controversial padawan of Anakin Skywalker who would go on to become one of the franchise’s most-beloved characters.

25. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the First Order

A movie with seemingly the sole objective to undo everything done to the franchise by The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker was a terrible conclusion to the legendary Skywalker Saga.

The film gave us some of the worst dialog and exposition of the entire franchise (“Somehow, Palpatine returned”, “Rey Skywalker”, etc.), wastes John Boyega’s Finn and limited the scope of the entire future of the franchise further than the previous films.

It wasn’t until the seventh season of The Clone Wars when my love for the franchise recovered after the sequel trilogy.

24. Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017)

Director: Rian Johnson

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the First Order

This is where the chronological future of one of the greatest franchises in history goes to die. The divisive The Last Jedi has spilt the fanbase in half like never before.

Despite some praise from critics, I don’t view it as a good film – without even talking about why it’s a terrible Star Wars film.

One could cite Leia Organa-Solo’s Marry Poppins-like revival in space, Admiral Holdo leaving Poe Dameron out of the loop for story conflict, Finn and Rose Tico’s misadventures, Captain Phasma’s untimely demise and more as for why this film sucked. For me, this is the moment when Star Wars “jumped the shark”.

The biggest issue with the film is that it completely betrays Luke Skywalker’s character, while also shrinking the impact of his character and the events of Return of the Jedi, before unceremoniously killing off the franchise’s greatest character in a head-scratching manner. Even Mark Hamill took great issue with Johnson’s choices with the film and his character.

Disney’s vision for the trilogy has killed a lot of possibilities for the future of the Star Wars franchise, which would’ve been much-better served had they followed a story closer to the “Expanded Universe” original canon, now deemed “Star Wars Legends“.

23. Star Wars: The Acolyte (2024)

Showrunner:

Status: Canon

Era: High Republic

I’ll start by saying The Acolyte was review bombed by a very toxic section of the Star Wars fanbase, however, it is not a good show for very valid reasons. The show had so much potential, but never truly capitalized on it.

The Good:

• Bringing a new era (High Republic era) into live action
• Manny Jacinto’s Qimir
• Best lightsaber duels of the Disney era
• Unexpected character fates

The Bad:

• The dialogue
• Uninteresting main characters
• Breaking Star Wars canon
• Ki-Adi-Mundi’s inclusion
• Disregard of the Force’s established abilities
• Wasting Darth Plagueis

22. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024-2025)

Showrunner: Jon Watts and Christopher Ford

Status: Canon

Era: New Republic

Skeleton Crew had the potential to be a cool, gritty miniseries, but what Disney gave us was “Goonies in space”.

21. The Book of Boba Fett (2021-2022)

Showrunner: Jon Favreau

Status: Canon

Era: New Republic

Boba Fett’s return in The Mandalorian was among the franchise’s best moments. When it was announced that a show would be centered around him, expectations were high; Disney missed the mark entirely.

While I enjoy The Book of Boba Fett more than the average fan, it put a major dent in the character’s armor. Boba Fett is better served exploring the galaxy as a bounty hunter on dangerous jobs and missions, but here he’s unfortunately anchored to Jabba the Hutt’s thrown.

Boba Fett was never meant to be a crime boss, and the slow pacing of the early episodes hurt the show’s momentum.

Another problem is the best episodes of the series don’t feature Boba Fett at all – they serve essentially serve as “The Mandalorian season 2.5″ – an odd choice for a show that should’ve been all Boba Fett.

20. Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Director: Ron Howard

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire

The Star Wars story no one really asked for, Solo is an okay film with some interesting characters and ideas. What detracts from the film is the fact that Han Solo isn’t played by Harrison Ford, making it feel more like a fan film than a true Star Wars movie.

While Alden Ehrenreich’s Han is forgettable, Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian was a pleasant surprise. Woody Harrelson’s Tobias Beckett and Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra are also great characters, but due to the lack of success from the film, it’s unlikely we will get much more of those characters in the future.

While Solo’s sequel potential was essentially “canceled”, Maul – Shadow Lord may give fans an answer to the movie’s cliffhanger.

19. Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021-2024)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire

I love how Disney has been fleshing out the post-Order 66 era of Star Wars, and I was initially excited about The Bad Batch and its potential. Then we met Omega.

Omega is another symptom of Star Wars‘ Disney era, where many of the shows seem to feel the need to shoehorn in a child character, which drags the show down nearly every time.

While characters like Ahsoka Tano and Ezra Bridger got better over the course of their respective series, Omega remains insufferable throughout. She steals the spotlight from what was a badass clone trooper squad and turns them into space babysitters.

While the show has some great moments and overall is a positive edition to coloring in the Star Wars timeline between the prequel and original trilogies, it’d have been better if Omega was a minor character, or didn’t exist entirely.

Reportedly, 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling may also suffer a similar child-focused fate.

18. Star Wars Tales (2022-2025)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: Various

Any excuse for more Clone Wars-styled animated projects is a welcomed one, and Tales is just that. Tales is a collection of short Star Wars stories meant to flesh out character storylines, typically centered around prequel trilogy and Clone Wars characters.

While the series at times suffers from the inclusion of characters similar to Omega, it’s been a great vehicle to give us more of characters like Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku, Barriss Offee and Yaddle.

17. Star Wars: Ahsoka (2023-Present)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: New Republic

Effectively a sequel series to Rebels, Ahsoka is a spinoff of The Mandalorian series that explores the former jedi’s hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Its first season had some great moments, like the return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, anything with dark jedi Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, Captain Rex, Thrawn and Ezra Bridger in live action.

However, it suffers from flat live portrayals of Ahsoka Tano, Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren, along with Sabine’s questionable decision making and her jedi storyline.

Hopefully, season two will address and fix some of what has hurt the series.

16. Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord (2026-Present)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire

Maul – Shadow Lord has a ton of potential heading into the final two episodes of its first season. It’s a welcomed return of the fan-favorite Sith Lord with Sam Witwer reprising the voice role of Maul from The Clone Wars and Rebels.

While the show is good, it’s been off to a bit of a slow start, which leads me to expect big things in its ninth and tenth episodes that were released on Monday.

My one nitpick is the animation style seems to lean toward Rebels‘, which has an inferior animation style when compared to The Clone Wars.

This also could be how we get Darth Talon in the current canon, which would be great despite it being a major retcon from here original story featured in Star Wars: Legacy.

15. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)

Director: George Lucas

Status: Canon

Era: Fall of the Republic, Clone Wars

Attack of the Clones may be one of the most-rewatchable Star Wars movies, but it’s also one of the worst. While overall the prequels have aged better thanks to the expansion of the canon, like with The Clone Wars, Episode II hasn’t aged as well as its fellow trilogy films.

The dialogue is an all-time low for the franchise, which can be partly to blame for Christensen’s rough portrayal of Anakin Skywalker.

Ewan McGregor, however, is a major bright spot in the film despite the overall dialogue. His chemistry with Christensen is pretty good too. The worlds introduced in the film are great and memorable too, something lacking in the sequel trilogy.

It’s depicts the start of the long-awaited Clone Wars, mentioned by Obi-Wan Kenobi way back in the 1977 original. Also, the battle in the Geonosis coliseum is fantastic.

14. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

Director: George Lucas

Status: Canon

Era: Fall of the Republic

Of the “original six” Star Wars films, The Phantom Menace used to be typically regarded as the worst of them all, but the years have been kind to the 1999 franchise reboot.

While plagued by too much CGI, Jar Jar Binks, midichlorians, Watto, young Anakin Skywalker and more, the movie kicked off arguably Star Wars‘ most interesting era; the fall of the Republic.

The movie revived the series for the 21st Century, setting it up to be relevant for generations to come.

It gave McGregor his start as Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the best portrayals in Star Wars.

It fleshed out the Jedi Order, and introduced several other characters that’d become very important to the franchise, despite some limited appearances.

It also gave us pod racing. God, do we love pod racing! Oh, and Darth Maul too. God, do we love Darth Maul!

13. Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)

Showrunner: Joby Harold

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire

It’s safe to say most Star Wars fans were thrilled to hear McGregor would be reprising his role as the title character. Unfortunately, reception was mixed for this miniseries.

McGregor is great again as Kenobi, but the story wasn’t exactly what fans wanted. Some took issue with another child-centered storyline, although the young Princess Leia wasn’t too bad in my opinion compared to other young characters (looking at you, Omega).

The series suffers from the portrayal of and focus on the Imperial inquisitor Reva Sevander, a former jedi padawan out for revenge against Darth Vader. Unfortunately, the toxic section of the fanbase made their criticism about the character’s race, not the genuine discussion around the writing and the character’s portrayal.

In the Legends canon, Kenobi never leaves Tatooine during the time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. I was pleasantly surprised by how they managed to take Obi-Wan off world and make it a plausible story.

The true highlight was the return of McGregor and Christensen to their prequel-trilogy characters, and how the fanbases embraced the latter after nearly two decades of criticism for his portrayal of Anakin Skywalker. Their chemistry and lightsaber choreography had not fallen off in the nearly 20 years since the last time they played the characters, and that was special to see.

12. Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018)

Showrunner: Simon Kinberg, Dave Filoni, Carrie Beck

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire, Galactic Civil War

Disney canceled The Clone Wars prematurely so they could make their own series, Rebels. While Rebels is highly regarded by much of the fanbase and critics alike, I’m a bit more critical of it.

In my opinion, Star Wars isn’t meant for kids primarily, as the fanbase leans heavier toward adults than children from my perspective. When compared to The Clone Wars, Rebels‘ clearly shifts to less-mature storytelling.

It was frustrating to watch some of the episodes, or see major canon plot points (like Maul’s death) occur in a show clearly meant for kids. Every time someone in Phoenix squad would go to great lengths to spare a stormtrooper’s life, it took me out of the show because that kind of thing wouldn’t realistically happen in Star Wars, based on everything prior to it.

Also, the animation style is terrible. The characters appear too rounded and “shiny and clean” (compare Anakin’s depiction in The Clone Wars versus the hologram of him in Rebels) and the lightsabers are too skinny.

I loved the inclusion of Thrawn, one of the greatest Expanded Universe characters ever, as his inclusion in the new canon was sorely needed.

Overall the story is a good one, I just wish it could’ve been more like The Clone Wars.

11. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015)

Director: J.J. Abrams

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the First Order

The Force Awakens is the poster child for wasted potential. From the moment the first teaser dropped (above), I was so ready for some new live-action Star Wars.

While the movie was definitely way too similar to A New Hope, it was a joy to watch in theaters. Was it the nostalgia? Probably.

With Disney hearing the criticism (including from George Lucas himself), it’s no surprise they went in the complete opposite direction with allowing Rian Johnson to intentionally subvert fan expectations in The Last Jedi.

Admittedly, The Force Awakens would be a bit higher on this list if it wasn’t for the next two films in the trilogy, as it’s once exciting story and characters have been tarnished.

However, while it injected new life into the franchise, from the start it had shrunk the scope of the franchise’s future (when comparing it to the timeline of the Legends continuity):

• Luke Skywalker became a hermit willingly, turning his back on the galaxy
• The original six Rebels never reunite onscreen again
• There’s no new Jedi Order, or any jedi at all
• Mara Jade and Ben Skywalker do not exist
• The Solos have one kid
• Coruscant is nowhere to be found
• The New Republic is kind of pathetic
• The Resistance and First Order feel small

10. Star Wars: Visions (2021-Present)

Showrunner: James Waugh, Josh Rimes, Jacqui Lopez

Status: Non-Canon

Era: Various

Visions is a series of short stories created in the animation style of Japanese anime, a cool first for Star Wars. Another first for the franchise is that the stories are not canon, which opens up the realm of possibility for multiple continuities within the Star Wars mythology.

While Star Wars should not go to the multiverse like Marvel, the idea of the franchise embracing multiple active continuities could really benefit the franchise.

For many longtime fans, including myself, it was heartbreaking to hear that Disney would be throwing out over 30 years of characters and stories we loved after they bought the franchise from Lucas in the early 2010s.

With the current canon, many of the stories and characters now considered Legends are impossible to reintroduce. If they open up multiple continuities, Disney can dip back into a vast pool of characters and stories it currently does not have at its disposal, and the fans may get more of what they had previously lost recognized.

9. Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)

Showrunner: Genndy Tartakovsky

Status: Legends

Era: Clone Wars

From the studio that brought you Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory, comes the miniseries that gave Star Wars fans the first digital depiction of the Clone Wars in full swing.

The original Clone Wars-based cartoon bridged the gap between episodes two and three, which was remarkable at the time due to several original characters from the show made their live-action debut in Revenge of the Sith (most notably General Grievous). It also fleshed at some of the prequels background characters for the first time (unless you were a fan of the comics).

It was also the first Star Wars animated series since the 1980s, and paved the way for its successor to take the concept and run with it.

8. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014, 2020)

Showrunner: Dave Filoni

Status: Canon

Era: Clone Wars

Arguably one of the most important pieces of Star Wars media, which put Lucasfilm-successor Dave Filoni on the map, The Clone Wars is among the best of what the franchise has to offer.

While early on it wasn’t an immediate critical success, it has gone on to become a staple in the franchise’s host of properties.

The show single-handedly redeems the prequel trilogy, fleshing out its main and minor characters (like Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Aayla Secura, etc.), and giving us a more realistic depiction of Anakin Skywalker.

It’s crowning achievements are the introduction of Ahsoka Tano, and humanizing the clone troopers, who are central to the spirit and the action of the show, and not just some mindless soldiers feeding the Republic’s war effort.

The show isn’t perfect, as it suffers from some poor episodes and annoying characters from time-to-time.

Thankfully, Disney revived it in 2020 for its seventh and final season, which led up to Revenge of the Sith and gave many of our favorite characters a proper sendoff. Remarkably, most of the shows released since its 2014 cancelation and 2020 revival have been spinoffs of The Clone Wars, heavily tied to original characters from the show.

7. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Director: George Lucas

Status: Canon

Era: Clone Wars, Rise of the Empire

No movie has benefitted more from the prequels’ reevaluation than Revenge of the Sith. Amongst Star Wars fans, the final film of the trilogy often ranks among the top films in the franchise, typically for those of a certain generation.

The film answers so many of the franchise’s biggest questions since the end of Return of the Jedi. We see Anakin fall and Vader rise. We see Obi-Wan’s duel with Anakin, the greatest lightsaber duel in all of Star Wars media.

We see how the Jedi Order falls, thanks to Palpatine and his clone army. We are even treated to a sneak peak at the early days of the Death Star.

6. The Mandalorian (2019-2023)

Showrunner: Jon Favreau

Status: Canon

Era: New Republic

If Star Wars had a western, it’d be The Mandalorian. The first and one of the most successful live action Star Wars TV shows under Disney, The Mandalorian greatly expanded the popularity and fanbase of the franchise.

“Baby Yoda” (Grogu) became a fan-favorite overnight, and Pedro Pascal’s portrayal as the title character has been phenomenal.

The first two seasons gave us some of the franchise’s best moments, and introduced many animated characters into live action for the first time. While the last season isn’t the greatest, we have The Mandalorian and Grogu to look forward to on May 22, a welcomed return after three years without our favorite space father-son duo.

5. Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)

Director: Richard Marquand

Status: Canon

Era: Galactic Civil War

The conclusion to one of cinema’s greatest trilogies, Return of the Jedi was the proper sendoff to our favorite Rebels (later undone by Disney).

While some fans weren’t thrilled by the quest for merchandise sales that is the Ewoks, I believe the fanbase overall views this movie very favorably.

Growing up it was my favorite of the trilogy, and I believe it still holds up when compared to the entire franchise.

4. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Director: Gareth Edwards

Status: Canon

Era: Galactic Civil War

Made with the look and feel of the original trilogy in mind, Rogue One is Disney’s crowning Star Wars cinema achievement.

It is faithful to the original trilogy, and is the perfect vehicle to drive you right up to A New Hope (literally).

The film pulls off introducing us to a true cast of new characters, and by the time they are killed one by one, we feel devastated as if we had spent an entire trilogy with them.

Rogue One is a dark and gritty Star Wars tale, giving fans a more realistic depiction of what the Galactic Civil War was like through the eyes of those who fought in it. This is what modern Star Wars should be like.

It also gave us the iconic Darth Vader tunnel scene aboard Admiral Raddus’ flagship, giving fans a fully-unleashed and terrifying Vader onscreen for the first time ever.

3. Star Wars: Andor (2022-2025)

Showrunner: Tony Gilroy

Status: Canon

Era: Rise of the Empire, Galactic Civil War

Thanks to the success of Rogue One, Andor was created to showcase the rise of the Rebellion and its founding members, while also give a window into the often underutilized ISB of the Empire.

Several characters return from Rogue One, including title character Cassian Andor, who we see go from a selfish scoundrel to the same man who gave his life for the Rebellion on the beach of Scarif over the course of two seasons.

Other standouts are Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma, amongst several other amazing characters.

It’s amazing how O’Reilly’s bit role as a younger Mothma is Revenge of the Sith could turn into such an impactful role nearly 20 years later, where like McGregor, has taken ownership of the role over the original portrayla from the original trilogy.

For me, Andor is proof that Star Wars can be at its best when telling darker and more mature stories.

2. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)

Director: George Lucas

Status: Canon

Era: Galactic Civil War

A New Hope is where everything clicks — the tone, the characters, the sense of adventure. It’s simple in the best way, introducing Luke, Han and Leia with a clarity that still holds up nearly 50 years later.

Lucas changed the way movies could be made and the stories that could be told with the original Star Wars.

1. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Director: Irvin Kershner

Status: Canon

Era: Galactic Civil War

The Empire Strikes Back is the high point of the entire franchise — the rare sequel that deepens everything while raising the stakes. Luke Skywalker grows, Darth Vader becomes more terrifying, and the galaxy suddenly feels far less safe.

It’s darker, more emotional and far more complex than the original. This is Star Wars at its absolute peak — the standard everything else still chases.

While it was only the third entry into Star Wars‘ motion-picture media it has topped everything that has come before it, and after it.