The Star Wars franchise released a slate of great television shows in 2023, but how do they compare to one another? Since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it is undeniable that the franchise’s main success has come from the small screen. This is set to continue with upcoming Star Wars TV shows set for release in 2024, from the live-action debut of the High Republic in The Acolyte to the culmination of Star Wars: The Bad Batch with season 3.
While the future of Star Wars’ TV ventures certainly looks promising, looking back on 2023’s releases in the medium is natural. Firstly, it is worth pointing out that no Star Wars TV show from 2023 was outright bad, with every single release from Lucasfilm on the small screen having merit in one way or another. As the wait for TV shows like The Mandalorian season 4 grows ever shorter or the anticipation of the New Republic’s intriguing future stories with Ahsoka season 2 grows larger, it is worth viewing 2023’s TV releases in retrospect and ranking them against each other from least good to best.
5 Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures
The collection of animated shorts set in the High Republic is better for younger viewers of Star Wars.
Ranked as the worst Star Wars TV show in 2023 is Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures. As alluded to previously, this placement does not mean Young Jedi Adventures is a bad TV show and its ranking is simply a reflection of the show being created for younger viewers. The show details a group of Padawans training to become part of the Jedi Order in the High Republic era, with the first visual depiction of this section of the Star Wars timeline making for an incredibly exciting aspect of the series.
However, it remains the case that Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is mostly inconsequential. While it provides details and adds contexts concerning some of the High Republic’s biggest events, the more child-friendly nature of Young Jedi Adventures means it is difficult to invest in as an integral part of the Star Wars franchise. While Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is beautifully animated and features some very compelling characters with a sincere, earnest depiction of childhood in the galaxy, it is simply less appealing than the other Star Wars TV shows of 2023 regarding overall storytelling.
4 Star Wars: Visions Season 2
Star Wars’ second venture into anime storytelling makes for some of the best, albeit inconsequential, stories of 2023.
Star Wars: Visions is the TV show that first blended the world of Star Wars and anime. As such, a second season was quickly produced given the overwhelmingly beautiful art styles of different countries’ animation studios depicting the world George Lucas created. The sheer quality of the animation on display in every single episode of Star Wars: Visions, including season 2, can not be understated as each story makes for one of the most visually appealing entries into the entire franchise.
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This phenomenal artistry often combines with stand-out stories like Star Wars: Visions season 2’s “Sith” and “Journey to the Dark Head” to make individual installments of the series some of 2023’s best. That said, Star Wars: Visions‘ biggest drawback is similar to that of Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures‘ in that the stories feel inconsequential. Even more so than Young Jedi Adventures, Visions‘ stories are difficult to invest in as they are not canonical events in the Star Wars galaxy. For this reason alone, it is difficult to rank Star Wars: Visions season 2 above any of its 2023 peers aside from the decidedly child-friendly Young Jedi Adventures.
3 The Mandalorian Season 3
Din Djarin and Grogu’s third outing paled in comparison to its predecessors, though it still offered an enjoyable Star Wars adventure.
The excitement for The Mandalorian season 3 was palpable before its release, largely due to the overwhelmingly positive response to seasons 1 and 2 of the show. That said, this excitement and the high bar of its predecessors meant that The Mandalorian season 3 was a notable step down from earlier entries of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s New Republic era. The story of The Mandalorian season 3 was where the 2023 TV show was let down, with a much less focused, messier story having to be told given the hurdle of The Book of Boba Fett‘s Din Djarin-centric episodes.
Din’s reckoning with Grogu being trained by Luke Skywalker after The Mandalorian season 2’s ending would have been a perfect entry point to The Mandalorian season 3, though this aspect of the show was instead included in The Book of Boba Fett. This meant that The Mandalorian season 3’s opening chapters spun their wheels, catching audiences not familiar with Boba Fett up on events via a series of meaningless character interactions and exposition-heavy scenes. When combined with a series-worst entry in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 6, “Guns for Hire,” the show’s dip in quality becomes disappointingly evident.
Where The Mandalorian season 3 shined was in its overarching story, at least when this was the focus. The return of Moff Gideon, the exploration of Mandalore, and the characters of Din, Grogu, and Bo-Katan all remained as appealing as ever. When combined with some fantastic action sequences, The Mandalorian season 3’s final two episodes rank among some of the show’s best despite being found in a season that fluctuated in quality. These elements, as well as the exciting teases of what is to come, meant that The Mandalorian season 3 was an overall success and the third-best Star Wars show of 2023 despite a dip in overall quality.
2 Ahsoka Season 1
The highly-anticipated solo journey of Ahsoka Tano made for a great Star Wars TV journey and the second-best of 2023.
Ahsoka season 1 was perhaps the most anticipated Star Wars entry since the ending of the Skywalker Saga in 2019 which means it is even more remarkable that Ahsoka largely worked in spite of lofty fan expectations. The core reason for Ahsoka‘s success was Dave Filoni, a Star Wars creator long-hailed as George Lucas’ true successor after crafting beloved projects like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. What’s more, Filoni aided the creation of The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Tales of the Jedi, further attesting to his eye for a good Star Wars story.
It is clear that, above most other Star Wars creators, Filoni understands what makes the franchise tick. From compelling characters, fantastic lightsaber sequences, deep explorations of the mystical side of the Force, and wider Star Wars cameos that only work to benefit the story, Ahsoka was filled with Filoni’s understanding of the franchise. When combining all of these elements with one of the best Star Wars musical scores outside of John Williams’ efforts from Kevin Kiner and the already-compelling characters of The Clone Wars and Rebels, Ahsoka worked almost entirely across the board.
1 Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2
What began as an enjoyable Clone Wars spin-off quickly became an emotionally powerful 2023 TV show with fantastic characters.
Upon its announcement and even throughout the show’s first season, Star Wars: The Bad Batch was dubbed an unnecessary albeit enjoyable spin-off of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. That said, the enjoyable stories of the first season allowed the titular characters to become some of the more easily believed in Star Wars’ long history. This group of characters was then depicted with an even greater sense of emotional depth to elevate Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 to hold the title of the best TV show from a galaxy far, far away in 2023.
While The Bad Batch is not as consistently strong as Ahsoka with the former containing some subpar episodes, it is season 2’s stronger episodes that help lift it above its Star Wars 2023 peers. From the double-episode story of “The Clone Conspiracy” and “Truth and Consequences” to the solo Crosshair episodes of “The Soliatry Clone” and “The Outpost,” Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 included some of the best single episodes of Star Wars TV in 2023. This only continued with the two-part finale of The Bad Batch season 2 which solidified how much audiences have subliminally come to care for the show’s titular characters in heartbreaking fashion.
This is all without mentioning the fantastic animation quality on display in The Bad Batch season 2. When comparing the show to the early seasons of The Clone Wars, it becomes evident how far this style of Lucasfilm’s animation has come. The characters, planets, ships, and creatures are rendered to perfection which combines with The Bad Batch season 2’s more confident story to push it above other 2023 Star Wars TV shows. With 2024 offering a conclusion via Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3, it could easily be the case that the animated story ranks as the best installment of Star Wars‘ TV shows two years running.
