Ever since Disney acquired LucasFilm in 2012, the Star Wars franchise has expanded exponentially year on year, for better or worse. There have been some incredible highs, like The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, and some dreadful lows, like The Rise of Skywalker, but overall we’re happy this latest era exists.
No matter what, it’s always a delight to dive into the galaxy far, far away and see what our favourite characters–old and new–are getting up to. Whether it’s the rising Rebellion trying to take down the evil Empire, or stories from long ago in corners of the franchise that had previously been untouched, there’s simply so much of Star Wars to explore.
A key development in Disney’s expansion of the Star Wars franchise has been the introduction of live action TV shows – such as Andor, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi – and ‘anthology’ movies such as Solo and Rogue One. As today, May 4th 2025, is officially “Star Wars Day,” we’re ranking all of Disney’s live action Star Wars movies and TV shows outside of the Skywalker Saga. We’ll also show you where to watch them all on streaming services.
May the Fourth be with you!
1. Andor
Honestly, there’s no contest for the top spot here: Andor wins it hands down. While the original trilogy will always have a fond place in any Star Wars fan’s heart, Andor is inarguably the most flawless, technically astounding piece of work the franchise has ever produced, and it’s criminal how underseen the TV show actually is.
When you watch the Skywalker Saga, it almost feels like the Rebellion just suddenly emerged, but Andor allows you to see how this galaxy-wide uprising was truly born, out of the frustrations, fear, and anger of normal people being crushed under the boot of the Empire. It looks incredible, the whole Andor cast are on fire, and the writing for the show is so nuanced you sometimes forget you’re watching something that exists within a major, blockbuster franchise. Simply put, Andor is perfect.
2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
With Andor being at the top of this list, it should come as no real surprise that its companion piece, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story takes second place. It’s a gripping, thought-provoking war movie that gets into the nitty gritty of conflict and espionage on the front line of the struggle for peace in the galaxy.
Just like Andor, Rogue One looks sublime and excels on every single technical level. It does a fine job of not just supplementing the main story of the Skywalker Saga, but actually elevating everything we thought we knew about the original trilogy.
3. The Mandalorian
This is a tough one, and it very much depends on what season of The Mandalorian you watch, but for that fantastic first season alone, this show deserves to be in the upper reaches of our ranking. When it first began back in 2019–as one of the very first things you could watch on Disney Plus–The Mandalorian thrived with its episodic approach, feeling like old-fashioned Saturday morning television rather than a cog in the franchise machine.
Sadly, the show lost its way with each passing season. And the reason? Attempts were made–once The Mandalorian exploded in popularity–to tie the whole thing to the main timeline, with unnecessary cameos and gimmicks detracting from the early success.
4. Solo: A Star Wars Story
People will say Solo: A Star Wars Story was a film we simply didn’t need. They might be right in that respect. But for anyone who says Solo is not at least a fun adventure with a character we all love, well, they’re simply wrong.
It’s a bit messy, sure, and the fact it so blatantly sets up a sequel that will never happen is a real shame. But, Alden Ehrenreich does a great job of embodying the spirit of Han Solo without leaning too heavily on Harrison Ford’s portrayal of the character. In short, Solo is absolutely harmless, it’s full of warmth and charm, and it deserves more love.
5. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
If there’s one thing Disney has generally got right when it comes to Star Wars, it’s fleshing out the aesthetics of the galaxy and giving us some truly stunning movies and TV shows to look at. In Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, they took that to the next level, with beautiful lighting, colours, production design, and framing really making this show pop on the small screen.
While the story itself may be a little bit forgettable and certainly relies a little too much on tropes of classic ‘80s adventure movies, you could do far worse than spend a weekend binge watching this intriguing offshoot of the franchise.
6. Obi-Wan Kenobi
There’s a lot to move in this spin-off series, but also a lot that we either didn’t need, or simply will never remember. For the most part, the Obi-Wan Kenobi series is bland, cheesy even by Star Wars standards, and is plagued by weak technical elements, particularly the visuals and the CGI.
Still, there is one episode, or more specifically one moment, that makes it just about worth watching, as we see Obi-Wan and Darth Vader come to blows, and the spirit of Anakin Skywalker make one final appearance from beneath that terrifying, black costume to remind us all just how far he has fallen.
7. The Acolyte
The premise of The Acolyte is arguably one of the most fascinating you’ll find in the Star Wars franchise. Taking us way back to the High Republic era, Jedi Masters are being killed in brutal fashion, and one young Padawan must face her past mentor to get to the bottom of the crimes. Sounds amazing, right? Well, sadly, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The pacing of the show is all off, the acting is poor, and by and large, the technical elements are far from what we could and should expect. There are some very cool moments in The Acolyte, and Manny Jacinto’s turn as ‘The Stranger’ is riveting at times, but it’s not enough to make this a worthwhile adventure.
8. Ahsoka
She’s one of the best characters in all of Star Wars, but sadly, the Ahsoka series was a real disappointment. Just like the worst episodes of The Mandalorian, this show was far too concerned with showing us characters we’ve met in the past and making clever little nods and references to the rest of the franchise that it almost forgot to tell a story at all.
Indeed, the story we did get was convoluted, lacking any clear direction aside from wanting desperately to set up a second season that simply wasn’t earned at all. There’s something very interesting deep within the fibres of this show, but it’s all so buried beneath fan service and sloppy visuals that no one will ever find it.
9. The Book of Boba Fett
After reading what we had to say about Ahsoka, you may be wondering how anything could fall below that, but The Book of Boba Fett is on a whole different plane of existence. Indescribably messy in its plot, this spin-off flicks between mind-boggling absurdity to downright dull, and it’s the one project on this whole list that genuinely has no right to even exist.
Why this story wasn’t just folded into The Mandalorian, we’ll never know. Honestly, we much preferred Boba Fett when he didn’t talk and we knew so little about him that he was mysterious and pretty badass. Now, he’s lost all his enigmatic qualities, and is the laughing stock of the Disney era.
Where to watch all the Disney live-action movies and TV shows
Check out our list below for options on where to watch this wide range of Star Wars movies and TV shows, the good and the bad, by finding them on streaming services like Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more!
