Every Star Wars movie and TV show Disney has made, ranked worst to best
From The Force Awakens to the final Clone Wars season to The Mandalorian, Disney has done a lot with Star Wars in a few short years. How’s it holding up?
Like any good Star Wars junkie, I was both concerned and elated when I learned that Disney had purchased LucasFilm. On the one hand, my favorite franchise of all time was being revisited, and there would be new stories to enjoy set in a galaxy far far away. On the other hand, Disney was in charge, and I do not always trust the mouse when it comes to handling franchises, especially ones started by someone else. George Lucas and his collaborators had crafted a unique world full of political intrigue, mystical forces, and rich history. Disney planned to expand that universe in a way that stayed true to the themes Star Wars fans had come to know and love. It was a tall order.
So far, Disney has released nine movies and TV series set in the Star Wars universe, with varying degrees of success. Let’s take a look at what they’ve done so far. What hit, what missed, and has the changeover been worth it?
10. Solo: A Star Wars Story
There was really only one thing about this movie that I had no problems with whatsoever: Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian. That casting choice was perfect. I would have rather had an entire movie about him, or at least about Han Solo’s relationship with him.
Instead, the movie tries to add too much and ends up doing the character of Han Solo a disservice. Going into this movie, I thought to myself: “Gosh, I really hope they don’t give Han some sort of tragic love story to explain why he’s jaded towards Leia.” And then…UGH! Han was cool because he was cool, that’s all we needed. To give him this sad, complicated backstory takes away from the character Lucas and Harrison Ford created. They showed a man who was equal parts hero and villain, a pirate smuggler with a heart of gold. He didn’t need a sad backstory to explain why he was too cool to admit he was in love with Leia. Their relationship is more nuanced than that, but Solo turns it into a boring old trope.
It might have helped if the movie took place a long time before the original trilogy, making it remote, but the movie finishes with Han winning the Millenium Falcon from Lando and flying off. The next time these two see each other is in The Empire Strikes Back, where Lando jokes about the Falcon being his ship and then turning over Han and the gang to the Empire. I appreciate them including the origins of the Falcon and showing us the relationship between Lando and Han, but the way that Solo ends, I don’t get the idea that Han would ever trust Lando enough to seek refuge with him during Empire. Watching that movie with Solo in mind, it kind of plays as though Lando betrayed Han solely to get his ship back, which cheapens the story.
Seeing Darth Maul at the end was cool, and I enjoyed the movie’s vision of a galaxy fully under the Empire’s control, but the good bits were too few and far between. Solo is a mess. If I could retcon one Disney Star Wars movie out of existence, this would be it.