6 Star Wars Movies & TV Shows That Could Save The Franchise

What's the deal with "Star Wars"? I mean really, what's going on over there? It's now been over half a decade since the franchise last hit cinemas with a new movie, and even the recent Disney+ shows have been struggling. Despite reportedly solid ratings for series like "The Acolyte" and "Skeleton Crew," combined with some significant critical praise in the case of the latter, it seems that the money just hasn't been lining up. Part of that is due to the ever-tumultuous nature of the streaming business, but part of it also has to do with a lack of unified direction when it comes to "Star Wars." Thankfully, I have a plan to fix it. A little backseat billion-dollar franchise management never hurts, right?

First things first: Effective immediately (by which I mean the moment "Andor" Season 2 is finished), we are blacking out anything set during the prequel trilogy, the original trilogy, or the 20-year gap between them. Enough has been done. Between "The Clone Wars," "Star Wars Rebels," "The Bad Batch," "Rogue One," "Solo," "Tales of the Jedi," "Tales of the Empire," and all the video games, this 40-year span has become overloaded. To be fair, a lot of those projects I just listed are some of the best things Disney has done with the franchise. Still, you can't keep going back to the well of George Lucas' "Star Wars" movies forever.

For "Star Wars" to truly thrive again, Disney and Lucasfilm need to hone their focus. I recommend two distinct eras ripe for development: the period between "The Mandalorian" and the sequel trilogy, and the ancient past of the "Star Wars" galaxy. We'll start with the latter. Here's how Lucasfilm can save "Star Wars" with the right mix of new movies and shows.

As has basically been the case since Disney took over Lucasfilm, it's hard to tell right now which previously announced "Star Wars" movies will actually make it to theaters. 2026 was originally supposed to bring a pair of films: "The Mandalorian & Grogu" and, potentially, a film about Rey (Daisy Ridley) creating a new Jedi order after the events of "The Rise of Skywalker." However, the latter project has since been pushed to the back-burner after being exchanged between several different writers.

Dave Filoni, who's now the Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm, is also supposed to be working on a second film set during the "Mandalorian" era — one that would theoretically bring the somewhat disjointed Disney+ series (including "The Book of Boba Fett," "Skeleton Crew," and "Ahsoka") together into a cohesive cinematic finale. That, too, seems less than certain at this point, although the supposed "Mandalorian Avengers," as some have called it, could still be a promising project if it actually gets made.

The first two seasons of "The Mandalorian" were huge and probably the most universally loved things Disney has produced in the franchise thus far. The show had mass appeal for both diehard and casual fans, and it provided some clarity into how "Return of the Jedi" led to "The Force Awakens." The Disney+ shows have fallen off significantly since, though, in part because "The Mandalorian" lost its focus in Season 3. But Baby Yoda Grogu still carries major clout in the culture. With the right storyline (Lars Mikkelsen's Thrawn seems like the inevitable villain) and a good script (one that reintroduces characters like Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano and Jude Law's Jod Na Nawood efficiently for casuals), this could be the triumphant return to theaters that "Star Wars" desperately needs.

Once the "Mandalorian" era gets cleaned up and sent off with the big Filoni "Heir to the Empire" movie (again, all hypothetical at this point), Lucasfilm needs some way to carry that momentum forward. Movies carry more weight than shows, and "Star Wars" hasn't fallen off so hard that a new movie wouldn't be a huge deal. In other words, something big and exciting centering Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal et al) and tying together the Disney+ series could be a catalyst for renewed casual interest. After that, however, it's time for Filoni to go back to what he knows best: animation.

Since he joined up with Lucasfilm back before the Disney acquisition, Filoni has always had some major animated series running. "The Clone Wars" was hugely successful and "Star Wars Rebels" was another bit, but "The Bad Batch," despite great reviews (and stunning animation), fell off hard in terms of cultural exposure. Part of that came from its placement on streaming, but a lot of it was likely because kids don't want to watch a show without lightsabers, and adults don't want to watch cartoons.

The answer is simple: a new animated series set between the "Mandalorian" era and the sequel trilogy, following a middle-aged Luke Skywalker and his apprentice, a young, plucky Ben Solo. You've got your audience surrogate (a formula that worked great for Ahsoka and Ezra Bridger), and you can tell new stories with Luke, Han, and Leia without the disgusting AI deepfakes or the controversy of live-action recasting. This show can also help develop the politics of the New Republic era, just as "The Clone Wars" did for the prequels, retroactively making them more compelling. Air it on Disney XD and Disney+ simultaneously. Instant home run, six seasons and a movie.

We've laid the groundwork now for the main task at hand: turning the sequel trilogy from something utterly forgettable into a rich pasture for cultivating new stories. After the "Mandalorian" movie cashes in on the latent goodwill of the show's first two seasons, you then you bring in a new generation of kids with a fresh cartoon and a huge marketing budget, all the while adding texture and depth to the New Republic. That puts us around 2028 or 2029, depending on production timelines, which is just in time for the team behind "Andor" to come out with a new prestige TV series set in the years before "The Force Awakens."

Critically speaking, "Andor" is the greatest achievement Disney has reached with "Star Wars" to date. But with "Andor" Season 2, that brief chapter of high-concept, Emmy-worthy sci-fi will end. Showrunner Tony Gilroy has made it pretty clear that he's not interested in sticking around for more "Star Wars," but Lucasfilm might be able to retain some of the other core members of the show's creative team, like writer Beau Willimon (who penned Season 1's phenomenal Narkina 5 prison arc) or director Toby Haynes.

The stagnant neoliberal cesspool of New Republic Coruscant is a perfect venue for the "Andor" style of complex character drama and political intrigue, and a show with that level of sophistication could give the First Order real, material teeth in subsequent viewings of the sequel trilogy. Plus, you could bring back Genevieve O'Reilly's Mon Mothma as a sort of connection between the two series. It's hard to catch lightning in a bottle twice, but it would also be ridiculous for Lucasfilm not to try to carry the success of "Andor" forward. Gilroy has claimed that he received basically no notes on Season 2 thanks to the critical success of Season 1. Maybe Disney can turn that trust into more gold down the line.

Once all of this work has been done adding substance to the empty space between the original and sequel trilogies, we can finally move beyond them. The problem right now is that other than Kylo Ren and a controversial kiss, very little from that last trilogy has become iconic in the casual fandom the way that Darth Vader, Hoth, the Millenium Falcon, the Darth Maul fight, and a million other things from George Lucas' movies are. Through careful cultivation of both the younger and older sides of the fandom, focused through the "Mandalorian" and expanded in the fictional years after, the sequel trilogy could become a proper foundation for additional stories.

Maybe.

For many, "The Rise of Skywalker" will always be a hard pill to swallow. That's why Disney can't fully redeem the failings of the sequel trilogy until we get something set after them. With enough "Andor"-style economics of the First Order's secret fleet construction and Luke Skywalker adventures learning about dark Force cloning, does the Battle of Exegol get better? Does the Citizens' Fleet carry more dramatic weight if we see, for example, that the galaxy doesn't create yet another corrupt republic, but instead turns to a more communal-yet-localized model of governance? Would that imbue a lackluster climax with newfound thematic value?

As much as Daisy Ridley deserves a break, I'm not sure a "Rey's Jedi Order" movie is the way to go here. What we really need are new ideas. But Disney can't keep cowering before the current end of the timeline forever. Rerelease the sequels in theaters, rekindle some excitement, and then move forward.

Now that we've laid out a (clearly quite actionable, reasonable, and inexpensive) plan for the sequel trilogy era of "Star Wars," let's take a moment to look at the other space ripe for Disney development: the timeline's ancient past. This era is already set to be covered by James Mangold's (supposedly) developing "Dawn of the Jedi" movie, which is described as a sort of biblical epic following the creation of the Jedi order.

While quite different in concept from everything else I've been talking about here, this is also a great place for Lucasfilm to put its focus, for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's a fresh start. Lightsabers and Jedi are the two things everybody knows about "Star Wars." Plus, a prequel set in the far past would require no prior familiarity with anything else, and the trailers would go wildly hard. Imagine the first teaser showing stunning, fantastical backdrops, robed figures swinging proto-lightsabers — it basically writes itself. And while we'd still need an actual writer (a great one, please, if possible Disney), it's so easy to imagine the mere idea of an accessible Jedi movie rejuvenating the franchise.

There's even a recent model: Denis Villeneuve's "Dune" films, which naturally blend science-fiction, fantasy, feudalism, and the stylings of the cinematic epic. Regardless of its "Star Wars" affiliation, modern moviegoers have been primed to see that sort of film as event viewing. Add in some lightsabers, and this seems like an easy win, so long as the production can follow through.

Last but not least, let's talk about one of the long-held pipe dreams of the "Star Wars" fandom. If James Mangold's "Dawn of the Jedi" movie becomes a hit, it could naturally segue into some kind of adaptation of the "Knights of the Old Republic" video games and associated media from the old Expanded Universe, aka Star Wars Legends.

If you were reading "Star Wars" novels or comics in the '90s or early 2000s, you know that while the stories of the Old Republic spanned thousands of years, they were all connected. Sith ghosts, ancient relics and prophecies, and a prevailing focus on primal Force magic helped make a vast part of the timeline feel cohesive. And with legendary characters like Revan, Darth Bane, Exar Kun, and Nomi Sunrider all on the table as inspiration, there's plenty of material to pull from.

The benefit here, again, is that the Jedi and the Sith as holistic concepts are widely understood, making the barrier to entry for an Old Republic movie or prestige TV series (hey, I can dream) relatively low. And if Lucasfilm manages to recapture the zeitgeist around "The Mandalorian," there's extra synergy, seeing as the Mandalorian and Jedi wars are a huge part of the EU's Old Republic.

A decade or so and a few billion dollars later, you've got yourself a salvaged franchise, renewed excitement, and a whole fresh generation of young fans. Just follow the blueprint, and "Star Wars" is in great shape. What could be simpler?