By George & Josh Bate
(L-R): The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season two, exclusively on Disney+. © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
With the recent release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s MandoVerse (the unofficial umbrella term for the Star Wars stories they’ve masterminded) makes its way onto the big screen for the first time.
But how does the new Star Wars movie compare to the six seasons of MandoVerse stories that preceded it?
Check out our ranking of every MandoVerse movie and show ranked from worst to best below….
7. The Mandalorian Season 3
(L-R): Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) with the Darksaber in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season three, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
The third season of The Mandalorian certainly suffered from high expectations established by its stellar sophomore season. At this point, The Mandalorian and Grogu had become household names, had been the standout elements from the Boba Fett show, and featured on merchandise available at seemingly every store.
Unfortunately, Season 3 suffered from recontextualizing Din Djarin’s decision to remove his helmet in front of Grogu as a moral mistake and proceeded to center its narrative around correcting for this mistake. Chapter 16: The Rescue finally saw Din Djarin break away from the dogmatic rules of his Mandalorian cult to forge a true bond with his adoptive son, only for Season 3 to claim that Mando has to repent for this failing. It’s a plot element that never sat right with us, especially as it deprives the audience of enjoying more of Pedro Pascal, arguably the industry’s most in-demand moviestar, unmasked in a live-action Star Wars project.
Beyond that core issue, Season 3 also errs in positioning Bo-Katan as a co-lead alongside Din Djarin. While we love Katee Sackhoff and her portrayal as the character ever since the days of The Clone Wars, Bo-Katan quickly hijacks the story and becomes just as central, if not more central, than its titular character and his adorable apprentice.
For as much hate as Season 3 receives though, there’s still plenty to enjoy. Chapter 23: The Spies is a terrific episode of television, filled with intrigue and suspense. We learn more about Grogu’s origins and find out that Ahmed Best’s Kelleran Beq was the Jedi who helped him escape from the Jedi Temple after Order 66. There’s some great action in the series, namely in a finale involving a darksaber-wielding Bo-Katan, a Darth Vader-esque Moff Gideon, and Praetorian Guards. And the ending of the season could have served as the ending for these characters overall, giving them a happy ending and a suburban life to enjoy.
6. The Book of Boba Fett
(L-R): Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) in Lucasfilm’s THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, exclusively on Disney+.
After two stellar seasons of The Mandalorian, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni showed cracks in their previously invulnerable Beskar armor with The Book of Boba Fett.
The seven-episode series became infinitely more interesting upon Chapter 5 and the introduction of The Mandalorian, although this strange decision pivoted the series entirely away from its titular character. Chapters 6 and 7 are awesome episodes of Star Wars television but hardly fitting for a show about Boba Fett.
The preceding episodes aren’t poor necessarily, although they’re certainly lacking in key areas. The lack of a compelling antagonist hinders the entire series, as do drab visuals that render Tatooine rather lifeless. Boba Fett’s arc from vicious bounty hunter to wholesome gangster could have been developed more and tied into the loss of his Tusken Raider family from Chapter 2 more overtly.
That being said, The Book of Boba Fett bolsters a great main duo in Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. Seeing Temuera Morrison back in the Star Wars fold, now playing Boba Fett in a full-fledged series, was such a sight to behold, while Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand played a delightfully more prominent role here.
5. Ahsoka Season 1
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in Lucasfilm’s AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+
Deliberately slower paced, Ahsoka unfolded with arguably more intrigue than any other installment of the MandoVerse (with the possible exception of The Mandalorian Season 2).
Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll instantly became a fan favorite and was the winner of our Character of the Year in 2023. Every scene in which he featured was captivating and far more compelling than everything around him.
Rosario Dawson certainly evoked Ahsoka Tano visually, although her acting, possibly due to Filoni’s direction, is far too stoic and devoid of personality, rendering her a rather flat and disinteresting protagonist.
The connections to Star Wars Rebels are great, even if they risk alienating viewers who have not seen the animated show. Dawson herself even branded Ahsoka as essentially Rebels Season 5.
Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Lars Mikkelsen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Eman Esfandi are all perfectly cast as Sabine, Thrawn, Hera, and Ezra respectively.
And, while the story loses steam after the Clone Wars flashback/vision episode, there’s so much quintessential Star Wars goodness to enjoy about this show. Nightsisters, Thrawn, a set up for Heir to the Empire, space whales, lightsaber duels, Force visions, and traveling to another galaxy (!!!) all help elevate Ahsoka above some of its mediocrities.
4. The Mandalorian and Grogu
The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm. © 2026 Lucasfilm Ltd™. All Rights Reserved.
The Mandalorian and Grogu made the seven year wait for a new Star Wars movie worthwhile.
Unabashedly and quintessentially Star Wars in nearly every way, Jon Favreau’s film checks virtually every box one could want from a Star Wars film and, in doing so, proves that a Star Wars movie can entertain and even thrive without lightsabers. Favreau makes great use of aspect ratio changes, IMAX formatting, and a host of impressive practical and digital effects to craft a film that feels epic in scale and cinematic in scope.
Conversely, the film bolsters a narrative almost entirely devoid of intrigue that fails to justify why it demands to be told on the big screen. Rotta the Hutt emerges as an unexpected standout in this narrative as the character formerly known as Stinky brings a cinematic presence to the action and endearing heart to the story. While neither Din Djarin nor Grogu undergo substantive arcs or develop in a meaningful way, the galaxy’s Lone Wolf and Cub continue to make for an undeniably lovable duo and are responsible for some genuinely heartwarming moments amidst a story about fatherhood and legacy.
Arguably just as important as any character in the film is the score from Ludwig Göransson, which fuses orchestral, John Williams-inspired motifs with tenets of hip-hop and techno to become a truly singular and atmospheric backing to the film.
After so many years since a Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu overwhelmingly accomplishes the mission at hand. In capturing the spirit and joy of the original trilogy and telling an exceedingly exciting adventure story akin to classic Indiana Jones films, Jon Favreau’s movie is quintessential Star Wars.
3. Skeleton Crew
Jude Law as Jod Na Nawood in Lucasfilm’s SKELETON CREW, exclusively on Disney+
Unfolding at the intersection of Amblin family movies and swashbuckling pirate adventures, Skeleton Crew triumphed as a delightful, humorous, and wholesome Star Wars adventure.
With four child characters at the center of the story, the series stands out from other Star Wars projects in focusing so centrally on the perils children face when they are thrown into an adult situation. Series creators Jon Watts and Christopher Ford lean on sensibilities demonstrated in the MCU Spider-Man movies in depicting children so authentically and endearingly in the new series, while Neel very quickly became one of our favorite new Star Wars characters.
Touches of The Goonies, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Harry Potter, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Hook are all over a show that embraces its light-hearted tone and certainly exceeds our admittedly middling expectations (even with some spotty visual effects and cinematography here and there).
Perhaps the greatest testament to the quality of Skeleton Crew is that it had us grinning ear-to-ear for the vast majority of its first two episodes and, ultimately, that sense of joy is what Star Wars is all about.
2. The Mandalorian Season 1
The Child in THE MANDALORIAN, exclusively on Disney+
The show that singlehandedly kicked off Disney+ and made Baby Yoda a staple of pop culture for years to come, The Mandalorian’s inaugural season has to rank among the very best of the MandoVerse to date.
Seeing live-action Star Wars in television format brought our favorite media franchise to the comfort of our living rooms for the first time. Every week, it felt like we were getting a brand new live-action Star Wars movie to enjoy.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni excelled in crafting a compelling show in which the protagonist is masked. This risky decision could have easily fostered a show that kept its lead character at too much of an emotional distance, but Pedro Pascal’s voice performance and great direction from top to bottom made Din Djarin an instant fan favorite.
The same can be said for Baby Yoda. The franchise that has, in our opinion, the greatest plot twist of all time (“No, I am your father”) shocked the world once again by revealing that Mando’s 50 year old bounty is in fact a baby of the same species as Yoda. It was such a smart decision, both creatively and financially, from Favreau and Lucasfilm. And it immediately posed all manner of intriguing questions to ponder. How did this Baby Yoda get here? What does the Empire want with him? Where did he come from? Was he a Jedi?
The rest of the season lived up to the jaw-dropper of a first episode cliffhanger by fleshing out the bond between Mando and Grogu with heart and passion. The adventures they go on range from mediocre (Chapter 5: The Gunslinger) to superb (Chapter 7: The Reckoning), and yet they all managed to keep us glued to our screens and tantalized by what’s to come.
1. The Mandalorian Season 2
Grogu and the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) in Lucasfilm’s THE MANDALORIAN, season two, exclusively on Disney+. © 2020 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All Rights Reserved.
The very best of the MandoVerse to date has to be The Mandalorian Season 2.
Jon Favreau followed up the hit debut season of The Mandalorian with eight cinematic, breathtaking episodes filled to the brim with exciting guest appearances, thrilling action, and powerful emotion.
Season 2 is the only season of Star Wars live-action television that comes remotely close to the quality of the 24 episodes of Andor. Chapters 9-16 are shrouded in so much intrigue and mystery as we are unsure where Grogu will end up and what Jedi will end up training him. These questions are answered in the most epic of ways in a finale that, iffy de-aged VFX aside, will remain one of the most iconic moments in Star Wars history for years to come.
The Mandalorian Season 2 takes full advantage of long-form storytelling by offering an adventure of the week and a guest star of the week. From Frog Lady to Bo-Katan to Cobb Vanth to Ahsoka to Boba Fett to Mayfeld and to Luke Skywalker, all of these guest stars play critical roles but never overshadow the emotional core of the show, which is Mando and Grogu.
Whether it be in a Mandalorian Season 4 or a sequel to The Mandalorian and Grogu, hopefully Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni return to the peaks of The Mandalorian Season 2 sooner rather than later.