All 13 Star Wars Animated Shows Ranked From Worst to Best (2026 Updated List)
Few things in the Star Wars franchise have been as consistently remarkable as its animated television output. While the live-action films have lurched from triumph to disaster and back again, the animated side of the galaxy far, far away has quietly delivered some of the best Star Wars storytelling ever produced — full stop.
Whether you're a lifelong fan who remembers watching Ewoks on a Saturday morning or a newer viewer who discovered the galaxy through The Clone Wars on Disney+, this complete ranking of all 13 Star Wars animated shows will give you the full picture: what's essential, what's skippable, and what you absolutely must not miss.
How We Ranked These Shows
Every Star Wars animated series was evaluated on:
- Story quality and emotional impact
- Character development and originality
- Animation quality for its era
- Significance to the broader Star Wars canon
- Rewatchability for fans of all ages
Some shows on this list are children's programming with limited appeal to adult viewers. Others are full-blown masterpieces that rival anything in the live-action franchise. The ranking reflects both honest critical assessment and the full context of when and why each series was made.
13. Young Jedi Adventures (2023–Present)
Platform: Disney+ / Disney Junior | Target Audience: Preschoolers
Young Jedi Adventures is Star Wars' first series made specifically for preschoolers, following a young Padawan named Kai Brightstar training under Master Yoda during the High Republic era — roughly 200 years before The Phantom Menace.
There's genuinely nothing wrong with this show on its own terms. It's competent, warmly animated, and thoughtfully designed for young children. The High Republic setting is actually quite interesting, placing the story in an era of the franchise that only The Acolyte had previously explored in live action.
But for anyone over the age of five, there's simply nothing here in terms of dramatic stakes, moral complexity, or emotional weight. It exists for a very specific audience — and it serves that audience well.
Best for: Parents introducing tiny children to Star Wars.
Skip if: You're looking for any kind of narrative tension.
12. Ewoks (1985–1986)
Platform: ABC | Target Audience: Children
The 1980s were a dark time for Star Wars animation. After Return of the Jedi left audiences without a new film to anticipate, Ewoks — produced by Toronto's Nelvana studio — attempted to fill the gap with a children's series set on Endor before the events of Jedi.
Notably, the show was written by Paul Dini, who would later become legendary for Batman: The Animated Series. The hand-drawn animation is charming, and the series introduces some fantasy elements — non-Force magic systems — that would later become significant in other Star Wars animated projects.
But as a storytelling exercise for anyone past elementary school? There's not much here. It's a pop culture museum piece more than a rewatchable series.
Best for: Star Wars historians and animation nostalgia collectors.
Skip if: You want stories with actual stakes.
11. Droids (1985)
Platform: ABC | Target Audience: Children
Droids follows C-3PO (voiced by original actor Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 through various adventures before the events of A New Hope. It was produced in the same 1980s era as Ewoks and has similar limitations.
What gives Droids a slight edge over Ewoks is its atmosphere. The show actually feels like a Star Wars property — there are bounty hunters, Imperial soldiers, and the kinds of alien environments you'd expect from the franchise. Daniels' voice performance provides a thread of genuine authenticity. But storytelling sophistication remains extremely limited.
Best for: C-3PO fans and fans of 1980s animation history.
Skip if: You want character depth or narrative complexity.
10. Star Wars: Resistance (2018–2020)
Platform: Disney Channel / Disney+ | Target Audience: Tweens and up
Resistance is the most frustrating entry on this list because it had everything it needed to be great — and consistently refused to be. Set during the events of the sequel trilogy (The Force Awakens through The Last Jedi), it follows young mechanic Kaz Firro on a spy mission that uncovers a First Order threat.
The premise is solid. The canonical placement is significant. The show even brought back Gwendoline Christie and Oscar Isaac to reprise their sequel trilogy roles. But the writing never rises above the surface level, the characters feel flat and unearned, and the series ends with no meaningful contribution to the Star Wars canon that Filoni would build in subsequent years.
Best for: Completing your Star Wars animated education.
Skip if: You have limited time and want maximum impact.
9. Tales of the Empire (2024)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Older teens and adults
Tales of the Empire is one of three "Tales" anthology seasons, and it's a split package. The half focused on Morgan Elsbeth — tracing her origin as a Nightsister who survives General Grievous's massacre of her clan — is beautifully animated but ultimately plays like solid, if conventional, retroactive character work.
The half focused on Barriss Offee, however, is extraordinary. Filoni developed Barriss during The Clone Wars, and her arc in Tales — a genuinely moving redemption story — is one of the best character conclusions in all of Star Wars animation. It alone justifies watching the full season.
Best for: Clone Wars fans who want resolution for Barriss Offee.
Skip if: You haven't seen The Clone Wars first.
8. Tales of the Underworld (2025)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Older teens and adults
The third "Tales" anthology season focuses on two beloved Star Wars characters: Asajj Ventress and Cad Bane. What sets this season apart from Tales of the Empire is consistency — both storylines are genuinely engaging, and neither half lets the other down.
Ventress's resurrection and redemption arc is canonically consequential in a way the "Tales" series rarely achieves, while Cad Bane's tragic story adds meaningful depth to a fan-favorite character. The narrative structure is tighter and more continuous than previous seasons, making it an easier watch.
Best for: Fans of Ventress and Cad Bane.
Skip if: You're new to Star Wars animation (watch Clone Wars first).
7. The Bad Batch (2021–2024)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Teens and adults
The Bad Batch follows Clone Force 99, a squad of genetically mutated clones with unique abilities, navigating the galaxy in the immediate aftermath of Order 66 and the rise of the Empire. It was Dave Filoni's first fully original animated series for Disney+.
The show starts slowly — its first season is cautious and, at times, scared of pushing characters into real danger. But Season 2 is a revelation, delivering the kind of morally complex war storytelling that The Clone Wars built its reputation on. The third and final season is uneven, but the emotional payoff for the core characters lands.
Best for: Clone Wars fans ready for something that takes time to reach its potential.
Skip if: You give up after Season 1 (push through — Season 2 is worth it).
6. Tales of the Jedi (2022–Present)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Teens and adults
Tales of the Jedi set the gold standard for the anthology "Tales" format before Underworld arrived. The season is split between two storylines: the tragic fall of Count Dooku and post-war episodes following Ahsoka Tano.
The Dooku episodes are remarkable. The character was always underdeveloped in the prequel films and inconsistent in The Clone Wars, but Tales of the Jedi finally shows us why Dooku left the Jedi Order — and it's a genuinely compelling story about senatorial corruption and institutional rot that makes his villainy feel earned.
The Ahsoka episodes are less revelatory but serve as a strong complement to Dooku's story.
Best for: Prequel trilogy fans who want more political and moral depth.
Skip if: You're hoping for lightsaber action over character study.
5. Maul — Shadow Lord (2025–Present)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Adults and older teens
Maul — Shadow Lord has only one season as of 2026, but what a season it is. The show follows Darth Maul in the early days of the Galactic Empire, exploring his position as an outsider in a Sith order that has no real use for him — and his passionate, violent desire to tear the new regime apart.
What makes Shadow Lord special is how clearly it understands its character. Maul is selfish, cruel, and cowardly — but his rage at being betrayed and discarded by the Sith gives him a kind of righteous fury that makes him endlessly compelling to watch. This is the Star Wars series Disney+ should have been producing all along.
Best for: Anyone who became a Maul fan during The Clone Wars.
Skip if: You need more than one season to commit (more is coming.
4. Star Wars: Visions (2021–Present)
Platform: Disney+ | Target Audience: Older teens and adults
Star Wars: Visions is the franchise's most creatively ambitious animated project. Rather than building on existing canon, it invited a rotating roster of world-class animation studios to create short films set in the Star Wars universe — but freed from canonical constraints.
The result is an anthology of extraordinary range. Episodes like The Duel, Tatooine Rhapsody, and the haunting Season 3 short BLACK represent some of the most artistically daring Star Wars storytelling ever made. Not every episode reaches those heights, but the hits are genuinely transcendent.
Visions returns a sense of wonder and unpredictability to Star Wars that the franchise's interconnected canon sometimes struggles to deliver.
Best for: Anyone who loves animation as a medium and wants Star Wars to surprise them.
Skip if: You need canon connections to invest in a Star Wars story.
3. Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003–2005)
Platform: Cartoon Network | Target Audience: Teens and adults
Before Dave Filoni reimagined The Clone Wars as a full series, Genndy Tartakovsky (creator of Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory) produced the Emmy Award-winning micro-series that bridged Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Tartakovsky's Clone Wars was the first Star Wars animation to take the Clone Wars seriously as a military conflict — complete with war crimes, individual clone personalities, and the kind of visceral, kinetic action that the prequel films could never quite deliver. It introduced Asajj Ventress as a character and elevated figures like Mace Windu and General Grievous beyond their film appearances.
The animation style is bold and graphic — completely unlike anything else in the Star Wars universe — and it holds up beautifully today.
Best for: Animation fans, Star Wars historians, and anyone who wants to see Mace Windu be genuinely scary.
Skip if: You exclusively want stories that fit neatly into current Disney canon.
2. Star Wars: Rebels (2014–2018)
Platform: Disney XD / Disney+ | Target Audience: Teens and adults
Rebels takes too long to get started — its first season is noticeably cautious — but from Season 2 onward, it becomes one of the best Star Wars stories ever told, in any medium.
The series follows a small crew of rebels in the early days of the Rebellion, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. What Filoni does brilliantly is use surviving characters from The Clone Wars — Ahsoka, Maul, Darth Vader — in ways that feel emotionally inevitable rather than merely fan-servicey. When Ahsoka comes face-to-face with Vader in Twilight of the Apprentice, it's one of the most powerful scenes in all of Star Wars.
The Force mythology that Rebels develops — the World Between Worlds, the Loth-wolves, the nature of the Force as a living entity — informs nearly every significant Star Wars project that came after it.
Best for: Clone Wars fans ready for the next chapter, and anyone interested in Force mythology.
Skip if: You can't push through a slow first season.
1. Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020)
Platform: Cartoon Network / Disney+ | Target Audience: Teens and adults
The Clone Wars shouldn't be as good as it is. It launched with a theatrical film that most fans consider the worst theatrical Star Wars release ever made. Its early episodes were inconsistent, aimed at young audiences, and struggled to find its identity.
And then something extraordinary happened: Dave Filoni was given room to grow, and the show became one of the greatest animated series ever made in any genre.
The essential episodes of The Clone Wars — the Umbara arc, the Mortis arc, the Order 66 Siege of Mandalore, Ahsoka's trial — rival anything in the live-action Star Wars films in terms of emotional impact, storytelling complexity, and thematic depth. The show explores war from a post-9/11 American perspective, asking uncomfortable questions about military violence, institutional corruption, and what it costs a society to fight an unwinnable war.
It also gave us Ahsoka Tano — arguably the best character in the entire Star Wars franchise, original trilogy characters included.
Best for: Every Star Wars fan, period. This is essential viewing.
Skip if: You only watch the first season and give up — push to Season 3 before judging it.
Complete Ranking Summary
| Rank | Series | Platform | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Clone Wars | Cartoon Network/Disney+ | 2008–2020 |
| 2 | Rebels | Disney XD/Disney+ | 2014–2018 |
| 3 | Tartakovsky's Clone Wars | Cartoon Network | 2003–2005 |
| 4 | Visions | Disney+ | 2021–Present |
| 5 | Maul — Shadow Lord | Disney+ | 2025–Present |
| 6 | Tales of the Jedi | Disney+ | 2022–Present |
| 7 | The Bad Batch | Disney+ | 2021–2024 |
| 8 | Tales of the Underworld | Disney+ | 2025 |
| 9 | Tales of the Empire | Disney+ | 2024 |
| 10 | Resistance | Disney Channel/Disney+ | 2018–2020 |
| 11 | Droids | ABC | 1985 |
| 12 | Ewoks | ABC | 1985–1986 |
| 13 | Young Jedi Adventures | Disney+/Junior | 2023–Present |
FAQ: Star Wars Animated Shows
Q: Which Star Wars animated show should I watch first?
Start with Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008). Begin at Season 3 if you find the early episodes slow, then go back to Seasons 1 and 2 with context. After that, watch Rebels.
Q: Are Star Wars animated shows canon?
Most modern Star Wars animated shows — including The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch, and the "Tales" anthology series — are considered official Disney-era canon. Star Wars: Visions is specifically non-canon. The 1980s shows (Ewoks, Droids) and Tartakovsky's Clone Wars are classified as "Legends" (former canon).
Q: Is Ahsoka Tano from the animated shows?
Yes. Ahsoka Tano was created by Dave Filoni for Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2008. She has since appeared in Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and her own live-action series Ahsoka (2023) on Disney+.
Q: Where can I watch all Star Wars animated shows in the US?
Most are available on Disney+. The 1985 Ewoks and Droids series are harder to find but sometimes appear on streaming or can be purchased digitally.
Q: How many episodes of The Clone Wars are there?
Star Wars: The Clone Wars ran for 7 seasons with 133 episodes, plus a theatrical film.
Q: What is Maul — Shadow Lord about?
Maul — Shadow Lord (2025) follows Darth Maul in the early days of the Galactic Empire, exploring his position as an outsider within the new Sith order and his obsession with destroying it from within.
Conclusion: The Best Star Wars Stories Are Animated
Here's the truth that the most passionate Star Wars fans already know: the best Star Wars storytelling since the original trilogy has largely come from animation. The Clone Wars kept the franchise alive during its darkest years. Rebels built the mythology that powers much of what Disney+ has produced since. Visions reminded everyone that Star Wars can be genuinely surprising.
If you've been sleeping on Star Wars animated shows — start tonight. Begin with The Clone Wars, and don't stop.
Suggested External Authority Links
- Star Wars – The Clone Wars on Wikipedia — for series history and details
- StarWars.com – Animated Series — official franchise source
- Rotten Tomatoes – The Clone Wars — for critical consensus
- Disney+ Star Wars Collection — for streaming information
- Ahsoka Tano – StarWars.com — official character source