Is Star Wars Rebounding?

Twenty years ago, even a mention of Star Wars filled people with nostalgia and happiness about the good old days. But the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final movie of their third trilogy, left many fans with anger and laughter about how poorly the situation was handled. To the majority of people, this was the final straw after many controversial decisions in the trilogy and they left their once-beloved franchise. Many considered it to be over for Star Wars, but after a few mistakes and fantastic shows, they are rising closer and closer to their former peak.

The negative reception of The Rise of Skywalker left Lucasfilm and Disney in an awkward position since they had no other movies planned until 2027. However, Disney had just released their online streaming service, Disney+, and needed new content to add to its inventory. They decided that the first addition to Disney+ would be The Mandalorian, which followed a bounty hunter known as The Mandalorian and Grogu, or as the fans passionately know him as “Baby Yoda”. As they go on adventures to find survivors and remnants of their people, even though most of them have been massacred, The Mandalorian becomes a father figure to Grogu. This show earned worldwide recognition and more than 16 million separate views, more than 60% of Disney's subscribers at the time. The release of the second season saw an increase in viewership by about six million and about 26 million viewers in total. This was a relief for Disney, believing that the first show was an outlier and that the second season would see a decrease in viewership.

The success of The Mandalorian convinced Disney to start producing more and more Star Wars shows, with the release of The Bad Batch, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, season three of The Mandalorian, Andor, and Ahsoka all in a three-year timeframe. However, it wasn’t filled with sunshine and rainbows, with three of these shows, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the third season of The Mandalorian not reaching the success that they thought they would. These three shows filled people with excitement and anticipation, with the main characters of all these shows being some of the most popular and beloved throughout the franchise. Instead, they felt unfocused, cheap, and not fully ready. With season three of The Mandalorian being the worst example of these shows since the main story, villain, and character’s motivations weren’t introduced until the last two episodes. They also contained huge amounts of fan service, such as original characters we had not seen for years, which were unnecessary and maddening.

However, the other three shows would earn praise or were universally enjoyed, those being The Bad Batch, Ahsoka, and Andor. The Bad Batch follows a group of soldiers with enhanced mutations running away from the Empire trying to capture them and a young girl named Omega. Ahsoka also follows an ex-Jedi named Ahsoka Tano as she tries to prevent another war from occurring. Finally, Andor follows a rebel known as Cassian Andor, one of the main characters of Rogue One, dealing with the iron grip of the Empire. Andor was the best of these shows, becoming a roaring success, and being nominated for eight Emmy awards. While the other two shows, Ahsoka and The Bad Batch, did not have the highs of first and second seasons of The Mandalorian or Andor, they were still great shows and helped expand Star Wars’ evergrowing universe.

While the other three shows left a bad taste in viewers' mouths, filled with mistakes and errors, Star Wars has a lot of momentum going into 2024, going into the new year with Andor and Ahsoka being the last shows for the year. Disney also has new seasons being released for The Bad Batch, Andor, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. As well as new shows called The Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte, and multiple movies coming in the near future. The Skeleton Crew is about four children coming across a mysterious discovery and getting lost in the dangerous galaxy. Meanwhile, The Acolyte follows two Jedi following the clues of a Sith, in a mystery-type genre. The future for Star Wars looks bright as long as they can follow the steps that made them successful in the first place, and incorporate creative elements that have made the majority of their shows so intriguing.