After Over 196 Episodes, Has the Golden Age of Star Wars TV Ended?

It feels like the end of the era when it comes to Star Wars TV. George Lucas always dreamed of turning Star Wars into a true transmedia franchise, but he was unable to get his live-action Star Wars: Underworld off the ground. Everything changed under Disney, though, when the House of Mouse directed all studios to prioritize content for the Disney+ streaming platform. Lucasfilm pivoted away from the movies completely – we haven’t had a new Star Wars film since 2019’s Rise of Skywalker – and instead we’ve had a staggering number of animated and live-action Star Wars TV shows.

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In a recent discussion on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, ScreenCrush counted a staggering 196 episodes since 2019’s The Mandalorian Season 1 premiered on Disney+. The numbers will have increased since then, because of the release of Young Jedi Adventures Season 3, but the video ends with a fascinating aside asking a simple question; has the golden age of Star Wars TV come to an end? It’s a timely question, because it really does seem to be the case.

Star Wars TV is Slowing Down

The numbers speak for themselves. Between 2019 and the present, we had a steady stream of new Star Wars TV shows; going by ScreenCrush‘s count, that comes to 32.7 episodes a year. That’s particularly impressive when you bear in mind that live-action productions were disrupted badly by the pandemic. Next year, though, is likely to have a much lower output; there’ll be Ahsoka Season 2, Maul: Shadow Lord, and a four-episode Star Wars: Visions spinoff. Looking beyond 2026, we actually don’t know of any other live-action shows currently in pre-production.

In 2023, there were reports that Lucasfilm was under instructions to “ramp up” the movies. The result is clearly a shift in focus, with TV shows suddenly a lot less important to Star Wars’ future. Most notably, there’s also a striking reversal of past trends; we now have a TV show becoming a Star Wars movie for the first time in The Mandalorian and Grogu, rather than the other way round.

Why is Lucasfilm Moving Away from Star Wars TV?

2025 has been a good year for Star Wars TV, with Andor Season 2 coming in for popular and critical acclaim (even if it is shockingly under-represented at the awards). But it’s important to note that Andor is an exception; according to third-party data, Star Wars TV has been releasing to diminishing returns for quite some time. Disney fears the high output was actually a mistake, resulting in brand dilution. Meanwhile, The Acolyte seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, with Leslye Headland’s High Republic series leaving the fandom more divided than it’s seemed in a long time.

The problems are bigger than that, though. Disney+ became Lucasfilm’s focus because of corporate mandates from Disney CEO Bob Iger himself, and the streaming service has failed to bring in the profits Iger hoped for. Instead, the streaming bubble has burst, and we’re seeing a massive shift in the industry as a whole; the next few years are expected to see streamers shut down or consolidate, and Netflix’s current push to acquire Warner Bros. (including HBO) should be seen in that context. Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy recently revealed that Disney execs told him “streaming is dead.”

This, fundamentally, is why the golden age of Star Wars TV really is coming to an end. Lucasfilm’s streaming push was driven by a flawed business model that no longer makes sense, if it ever did. It’s reasonable to assume that 2026 will set the pattern for the future; that we’re moving to a new status quo where there’s one live-action TV show a year, one animated series, and a miniseries or anthology of some kind. That’s more sustainable, and will allow Star Wars to return to the movies. It may also help reverse Star Wars TV’s declining performance at last.

Will Lucasfilm’s New (Old) Star Wars Approach Work?

The worrying question, of course, is whether the fandom will follow this change in format. Pixar has been badly damaged by the shift to Disney+, with declining box office takings that suggest audiences now see it as a streaming brand; the same may well be true for Star Wars. The Mandalorian and Grogu is unlikely to help, given it’s literally a film based on a streaming TV show. Viewership of the first trailer was shockingly low, and there are concerns the film will fail to perform, with audiences waiting for it to go on Disney+ instead of turning up at theaters.

There is hope on the horizon, though. If the worst happens, then the real reset moment will be in 2027 – Star Wars’ 50th anniversary year, already set up as a big moment for the franchise. The original 1977 cut of the first Star Wars movie is returning to cinemas in February, a once-in-a-generation event that had seemed impossible until a copy was discovered at the British Film Institute. Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter is then sweeping in to the big screen in May, the first film to be set after the sequels, already being teased as a thrilling standalone.

It’s not too late for shrewd marketing to make a difference for The Mandalorian and Grogu. But, assuming the current trends continue, 2026 sadly looks set to be a difficult year for Star Wars; the golden age of Star Wars TV has indeed come to an end, and the franchise’s box office performance looks uncertain. Lucasfilm bosses will surely be pinning all their hopes on 2027, the 50th anniversary, and a fresh injection of hope.

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