Too many storylines
Indeed, this might be a problem with the whole Star Wars universe, as it’s developed over the past decade – while the interconnected web of storylines might be a boon for committed Star Wars fans, it’s a burden for the casual viewer. The post-Empire narrative begun by The Mandalorian, and set to be continued by The Mandalorian & Grogu, has run across not only other live-action series The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew, but also the acclaimed animated offerings Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, also created by Filoni: these shows have 11 seasons combined. “It has felt like homework to try to keep up with everything, so I wonder if that might limit their audience,” says Harrison, who is also the author of forthcoming book A Star Wars World.
Where Andor succeeded, other Star Wars shows have failed to capture its rejuvenating appeal
Clarisse Loughrey, chief film critic for The Independent, agrees, pointing by contrast to Tony Gilroy’s critically-acclaimed series Andor, which consistently grew its viewership through its two season run, as a standalone Star Wars show you could enjoy on its own: “That could be your first piece of Star Wars that you’ve ever seen, and you’re not going to feel like you’ve been thrown in the deep end.”
Andor also stood out from the other series as a defiantly prescient critique of authoritarianism, offered “in terms you could legibly graft on to the world right outside your door”, wrote Vulture’s Nicholas Quah. It was a Star Wars saga that didn’t require a single lightsaber, Jedi-Sith battle, or an abundance of fan service to entice viewers but instead wielded characters that “felt like flesh-and-blood beings whose lives extended beyond their service to the story”, as he put it.
Yet where Andor succeeded, others have failed to capture its rejuvenating appeal. The Book of Boba Fett was criticized for being too much of a Mandalorian-linked mini-series, and reducing the beloved eponymous bounty hunter, who appeared in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, from a mysterious antagonist to what critics have described as a “superfluous bystander” in his own story. Meanwhile, critics suggested that Ahsoka, while visually appealing, relied too much on backstory from the two animated series Clone Wars and Rebels, in which its ex-Jedi lead character was a firm fixture.
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