While George Lucas may have created the entire Star Wars franchise himself and remained at the helm for the original, he also returned to the prequels (much to the dismay of many fans). Besides Lucas, there have been a lot of other directors, taking on both official Skywalker Saga episodes and expanded universe tales.
Here is a list of everyone who has ever directed a Star Wars feature film, ranked by how good they are as directors, not necessarily how good the film(s) they directed were.
Dave Filoni
He might not have directed a live-action entry into the Star Wars series, but Dave Filoni is still a major player in the world of Star Wars. He directed both the Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels TV shows, which are great, but they aren’t what we’re focusing on in this list.
The reason Filoni is at the bottom of our list is because he directed the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film. Not only did the film not have very many of the franchise’s cast members, but many would agree that the film wasn’t very good and lacked all the life and soul that even the prequels managed a tiny bit of.
Ron Howard
Despite being a well-known and incredibly successful actor in his own right, Ron Howard was given the hugely important role as director of Solo: A Star Wars Story. It isn’t exactly the best Star Wars film in the world, but many would agree it’s entertaining none the less. Howard doesn’t have the knack for cinematography that many of those whose primary experience is in direction, but he does do a good job. He has to be ranked quite low, however, because no matter what you believe, he made a film that did almost single-handedly put the knife in the back of Star Wars spinoff films.
Richard Marquand
Richard Marquand directed Return Of The Jedi. It might be known by fans as the worst of the original trilogy films, but it’s still an exceptionally good film full of great characterization and visuals that were incomprehensible to audiences watching at the time.
Beyond his most well-known role at the helm of Return Of The Jedi, Marquand directed Eye Of The Needle a few years before, which received universal critical acclaim, and probably helped him land the Star Wars gig.
Rian Johnson
Star Wars: The Last Jedi was nothing if not divisive. The Star Wars prequels are acknowledged by most fans to be pretty bad in comparison to the rest of the series, while fans just can’t seem to make their mind up about Rian Johnson’s effort.
It’s either considered one of the greatest episodes ever made, or the absolute worst. As such, he has to sit in the middle of this list. The twist with Luke’s projection of his pre-death force ghost gains a lot of points in his favor, but the absolute monstrosity of having Leia float across the sky? What’s that all about?
George Lucas
George Lucas is almost impossible to pinpoint. On the one hand, he created the entirety of Star Wars and directed the film which started it all.
On the other, he allowed himself to direct all three of the prequel films, despite the negative response to each one heavily suggesting that he should get someone else on board. He didn’t, though, and now we have to try and disassociate the brilliance of Episode IV from the misstep of the prequels.
JJ Abrams
The man who both turned Lost into a manic, confusing thriller about time travel, and the man who brought Star Wars back to our screens. Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker might have been as incredibly divisive as most of the other entries into the franchise, but pretty much everyone agreed that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a fun film full of revitalized visuals and a cool cast of new characters.
Gareth Edwards
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was a massive risk from Disney. They could have very easily messed with the legacy of the first film by retroactively interfering with the events that led directly into the beginning of the whole saga. Instead, an incredibly brilliant film was made that was almost universally praised and was able to avoid messing with anything the fans knew and loved.
Gareth Edwards was at the helm, commanding some of the most beautiful visuals Star Wars has ever known while making the re-introduction of Vader at the end of the film one the most goosebump-inducing moments in modern cinema.
Irvin Kershner
You have to give Irvin Kershner a lot of points by default, simply because he directed what is typically considered the best Star Wars film: The Empire Strikes Back. It was the very start of the 1980s, but he managed to harness some of the most amazing visuals the franchise ever pulled off, with those scenes of Hoth holding up like almost nothing else from the era. Beyond Star Wars, he also directed the James Bond film, Never Say Never Again, as well as Robocop 2.
