A long time ago in a galaxy far away… you were lucky if you got a new Star Warstrilogy once every couple of decades. Heck, the first 30 years of the franchise’s existence saw just six films and a small smattering of mediocre TV shows spring from the mind of George Lucas.
But since Disney bought the rights to Star Wars in 2012, things have gone into hyperdrive. A new trilogy of movies was just the start of things. Soon the House of the Mouse brought us standalone prequel flicks like Rogue One and Solo too. And then the avalanche of TV content really got going as The Mandalorian, Andor, The Book Of Boba Fett, Rebels, The Bad Batch, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka and more filled our download screens with more Jedi, droids, wookiees and Sith than you can shake a lightsaber at.
As the latest offering, The Acolyte, nears its conclusion, it’s time to take a long hard look at what’s good about the Star Wars universe and what’s not, which shows and movies that you absolutely have to watch and which ones you can quietly brush under the sands of Tatooine and forget about for ever. Below we rank all the main Star Wars content (and before you ask, no, we’ve not bothered with any of the Lego remakes) now available on Disney + from best to worst. Strap yourself in. We’re hitting the hyperspace button…
1 Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
From its giant battle on the surface of an ice planet to the – spoiler alert – revelation that Darth Vader is actually Luke’s dad, it’s genuinely hard to fault George Lucas’s second adventure in a galaxy far, far away. Darker and a smidgeon more grown up than A New Hope, it sets a very high bar for everything that followed. 10/10 – 100% essential
2 Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
The one that started it all. Yes, the special effects now look ever-so-slightly ropey in spots (even after George Lucas tweaked them decades later with CGI) and the less said about Luke Skywalker snogging his sister Princess Leia the better, but this is still a crackling and timeless sci-fi action fairy tale. 10/10 – 100% essential
3 Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)
Who knew that explaining just how the Rebellion laid their mitts on the Death Star plans (and quite how an invincible battle station came to have such a fatal flaw) could be this satisfying? A dark and moody war movie instead of a glossy space opera, this prequel introduces a raft of new characters… and then kills most of them off in a variety of gritty and realistic ways. Even divorced from Star Wars, this would be a fantastic movie. 10/10 - 98% essential
4 The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
Kicking off with a feature-length animated movie, The Clone Wars ran for more than 133 entertaining, challenging and universe-expanding episodes. It starts out by recounting what Anakin and Obi-Wan got up to between Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith, but it grew to be so much more, experimenting with storytelling styles, trying out everything from comedy to tragedy, and creating new characters all of its own – Ahsoka Tano, for instance – who went on to impact the franchise as a whole. 9/10 – 97% essential
5 Andor (2022-)
Properly examining just what it means to fight a covert war against an all-powerful galactic empire, this supremely grown-up prequel series to Rogue One abandons laser swords and space wizards in favour of self-sacrifice and political sophistication. Watching the young Cassian Andor transition from small-time crook to dedicated resistance fighter is utterly transfixing. It also features staggeringly good supporting performances from Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw and Andy Serkis. 9/10 – 95% essential
6 Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1984)
On the plus side: Luke finally going full Jedi with his lightsaber during the battle on Jabba’s barge, some really nifty speeder bikes and, if you’re Ross from Friends, Princess Leia in a gold bikini. On the downside: Ewoks. The inclusion of a bunch of jabbering space teddy bears remains a mystery to everyone except Star Wars’ merchandising department. 8/10 – 88% essential
7 The Mandalorian (2019-)
Set on the lawless outer fringes of the galaxy after Return Of The Jedi, this space western is the biggest TV hit so far for Star Wars. The exciting and often heart-aching adventures of the helmeted Mandalorian and his adopted son Baby Yoda… sorry, Grogu… roped in a new generation of fans, provided a springboard for spin-off shows, and sold a Star Destroyer full of cuddly toys.8/10 – 87% essential
8 Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Summoned from hiding on Tatooine to save a kidnapped young girl, Ewan McGregor’s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi is a brilliantly bittersweet six-episode redemption arc as this broken Jedi rediscovers just who and what he once was. Hayden Christensen’s appearance as Anakin/Darth is great, but the show is stolen by Vivien Lyra Blair as the smart, feisty and entirely adorable ten-year-old Princess Leia. 8/10 – 84% essential
9 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)
To call the first of the prequel movies a bit divisive is like calling Darth Vader a bit breathy. However, get past the yawn-inducing stuff about trade negotiations and midichlorians, and there are some genuinely jaw-dropping bits – the final three-way lightsaber fight remains the high-watermark for laser sword action. Just don’t get us started on jive-talking CGI frog-rabbit Jar Jar Binks. 7/10 – 79% essential
10 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Set 30 years after Return Of The Jedi, this is a thoroughly enjoyable chunk of fan service that successfully introduces a new cast – Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac are all excellent – while still letting us catch up with old friends. The moment when a grizzled Han Solo bursts onto the Millennium Falcon and growls ‘Chewie, we’re home’ is guaranteed to make hearts swell. Just as Han’s last appearance later in the film is sure to break them. 7/10 – 78% essential
11 Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)
It ties itself into a knot trying to bolt neatly on to the original trilogy, but there’s still a lot to relish here. Not least the final scrap on a lava world between Obi-Wan and the now thoroughly mad, bad and dangerous to know Anakin. Watching Darth Vader emerge from surgery and speak for the first time in the voice of James Earl Jones remains properly goosebumpy. 7/10 – 75% essential
12 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
Another film that left some fans fuming, as fantastic set-pieces just about made up for a muddled plot as Daisy Ridley’s Rey trains, Genera Leia demonstrates her Jedi abilities and Finn goes to a space casino for some entirely forgettable reason. Mark Hamill’s full return as Luke is the undoubted highspot – this irascible old mystic feels a long way from the daydreaming farmboy of A New Hope. 7/10 – 72% essential
13 Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones (2002)
The most ‘Meh’ of the prequel movies, Attack Of The Clones isn’t so much bad as simply dull. Still, at least we get to see Ewan McGregor sport his full Alec Guinness beard, Samuel L Jackson in action with his purple lightsaber as Mace Windu and - finally - all the fuss about Yoda becoming clear as the little green guy bounds into combat against Christopher Lee’s Count Dooku. 6/10 – 67% essential
14 Rebels (2014-2018)
Another attempt to fill-in gaps between movies with an animated series, Rebels tell the story of a small band of resistance fighters in the years before A New Hope. It starts off a bit weakly, but over four series gets stronger and and stronger as it develops its core cast and weaves in characters from the films and The Clone Wars show. 6/10 – 66% essential
15 Clone Wars (2003)
Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky of Samurai Jack fame, this hugely stylish manga style animated show did a pretty elegant job of bridging the gap between the end of the Attack Of The Clones and the start of Revenge Of The Sith. It ran for three series, but ultimately is now best remembered as being the blueprint for the later The Clone Wars show. 6/10 – 65% essential
16 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)
Anyone who can make real sense of the plot of the third film of the third trilogy deserves a giant gold medal. There’s some stuff about cloning and Rey’s parents, and the Emperor comes back and… well, look, just let it wash over you and enjoy the flashes of spectacle. We’ll never know quite what it all would have been like if Carrie Fisher hadn’t died before filming properly commenced: Leia’s scenes here are mostly a mishmash of reused old footage. 6/10 62% essential
17 The Bad Batch (2021-2024)
A direct sequel to The Clone Wars, this three-series animated adventure follows an A-Team-style squad of specialist clone troopers as they go on the run from the rising forces of the Empire in the years after Revenge Of The Sith. It has some fun moments but never really grabs you by the scruff of the neck. 6/10 – 60% essential
18 Resistance (2018-20)
Wondering what happened in the years immediately before the start of The Force Awakens? Wonder no more – this two-series animated gap-filler follows a young pilot recruited by the Resistance to spy on the growing threat of the New Order. Don’t be surprised if some of its characters pop up again as the years go on. 5/10 – 59% essential
19 Ahsoka (2023-)
Created for The Clone Wars epic animated series, Jedi padawan turned resistance fighter Ahsoka Tano made her debut live-action appearance in The Mandalorian (played by Rosario Dawson) before graduating to this series. A direct sequel to the animated Rebels show (watch that first or this will leave you baffled), this works well at introducing live-action versions of those characters but never proper explodes into action. Maybe the promised second series will light the fuse. 5/10 – 58% essential
20 The Acolyte (2024)
If The Mandalorian is a western, then this newest Disney show is pitched somewhere between a kung-fu movie and a noir detective case. Relying on hand-to-hand combat rather than lightsaber slashing, and mystic musing about the nature of the force rather than political intrigue, it’s a slow-burn show that so far is struggling to satisfy. 5/10 – 55% essential
21 Visions (2021-)
An animated grab bag of standalone stories, each created by a different studio, some brilliant, some distinctly less so. The first series of nine episodes had a solely anime vibe, but the second run cast its net wider, resulting in one delightfully silly episode created by Wallace and Gromit’s Aardman studios. 5/10 – 54% essential
22 Tales (2022-)
Another animated anthology. Series one tells tales from the early days of Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku, while series two centres on Ahsoka’s Morgan Elsbeth and fallen Jedi Barriss Offee. Fun for fans but only hard-core completists desperately need to catch it. 5/10 – 50% essential
23 The Book of Boba Fett (2021)
When Boba Fett was a mysterious armoured figure in the background of The Empire Strikes Back, he was irresistibly alluring, but the more Star Wars tells us about him, the less fascinating he becomes. This live-action show chips away at his mystique even more as it recounts his attempts to take over the Tatooine underworld. Luckily the Mandalorian and Grogu arrive halfway through to brighten things up. 4/10 – 48% essential
24 Star Wars: Solo (2018)
Alden Ehrenreich has a good stab at playing the young Han Solo in this prequel movie, but equalling the weapons-grade charisma of Harrison Ford was always going to be a big ask. The only one who emerges from this murky space robbery flick with serious credit is Donald Glover whose playful turn as the young Lando Calrissian even prompted talk of a spin-off. 3/10 – 39% essential
25 Young Jedi Adventures (2023-)
Imagine Dora the Explorer filtered through the lens of Star Wars and you’re not far off this primary coloured animated show aimed at the smallest of all audiences. Every episode is designed to teach its youngling audience a valuable life lesson, while freeing everyone over the age of four from childcare duties for a precious 24 minutes. 3/10 – 32% essential
26 Droids (1985)
The first attempt at a prequel to the original trilogy was, believe it or not, this single series of cheery kids cartoon recounting the adventures of C-3PO and R2D2 before they ended up in Luke’s care at the start of A New Hope. Cheesy, dated stuff with an agonisingly upbeat theme song, it’s oddly still lazily watchable. 2/10 – 29% essential
27 Ewoks (1986)
How this cartoon series managed to make it to not just one but two series would be baffling if this wasn’t also the era that saw the Gummy Bears and My Little Pony gracing TV screens. Presumably the kiddie-friendly adventures of the space teddy bears didn’t seem so awful by comparison. Thirty years on, though, and this is an agonisingly saccharine watch. 1/10 - 14% essential
28 Caravan of Courage / Ewoks: The Battle For Endor (1984/1985)
Just what we all wanted - more Ewoks. This pair of live-action adventures follows the young survivors of a starship crash on the moon of Endor as they enlist the help of the infuriatingly cute tribal teddy bears to help them repair it. In the second movie they battle some evil invaders. They make Solo look like Citizen Kane… 1 /10 – 2% essential
