Star Wars TV shows have introduced and/or featured myriad brilliant villains over the years, but some Star Wars TV show villains are so much better than others. Although movies were the name of the game in Star Wars for decades, TV shows have become increasingly important.
In fact, many of Star Wars’ best TV shows have been released within the last five or so years, including titles like Andor and The Mandalorian. Yet, while some of these shows have absolutely nailed new or returning villains, some have fumbled the ball, so to speak. Here’s every canon, mainline Star Wars TV show, ranked by the strength of its villains.
11 Star Wars Resistance
Star Wars Resistance is a canon Star Wars TV show, but it generally isn’t considered a particularly strong one. Resistance is set within the sequel trilogy era, with the show beginning just before Star Wars: The Force Awakens and eventually overlapping with it.
Because of that timing, there’s no surprise that the show’s main villains include some of the most significant sequel trilogy antagonists, like General Hux, along with Resistance original characters like Commander Pyre. Unfortunately, these villains fall a bit flat.
Part of the problem is almost certainly that Resistance debuted in 2018, a year before the sequel trilogy ended with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The sequels were already experiencing a bit of a rocky road, so creating a show before the ending was even clear was presumably no easy feat.
10 The Book of Boba Fett
Unfortunately, The Book of Boba Fett is widely viewed as Star Wars’ worst live-action TV show. This is particularly disappointing as the titular lead, Boba Fett, is one of the most beloved Star Wars characters, dating back to the original trilogy. Nevertheless, this show failed to captivate audiences.
This extends to one of the show’s main villains, Cad Bane. Bane was actually introduced several years earlier, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as a fairly ruthless bounty hunter. In that show, he proved to be a fan favorite, and many were excited to see his return, especially given it was also his live-action debut.
Yet, Cad Bane, along with the show’s other main villains, the Pyke Syndicate, are far from being the best villains in Star Wars TV shows.
9 Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew was quite an interesting addition to Star Wars movies and TV shows, for myriad reasons. For one, it was set in the New Republic Era of the Star Wars timeline, between the original and sequel trilogies. Several other shows, such as The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, are also set during this era.
Even so, this continues to feel like a period with plenty of opportunities for new stories, which made this particularly exciting. Skeleton Crew was also something truly brand-new, with a focus on pirates rather than Jedi, Sith, and/or the Skywalkers. All these factors set up a brilliant show, as did famed actor Jude Law playing the villain, Jod Na Nawood.
For the most part, Jod was a great villain. He was mysterious and compelling, and it was legitimately a nice change of pace for a show to feature a non-Sith (or dark side Force-user) as a villain. However, even by the last episode, Jod’s behavior felt somewhat inconsistent, which made him less villainous than he could (or perhaps should) have been.
8 Star Wars: The Bad Batch
Star Wars: The Bad Batch was yet another fascinating Star Wars show. Like Skeleton Crew, The Bad Batch was a creative break from the typical Jedi versus Sith structure, focused on Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch.
This show set itself apart by featuring clones as full-fledged characters, fleshing them out considerably, especially when compared against the prequel trilogy movies, which had just barely humanized the clones. That aspect of the show was absolutely brilliant, and the villains of the show were quite good as well.
In season 1 of The Bad Batch, the main villain was really Admiral Rampart, although that shifted into a greater focus on Doctor Hemlock over time. Overall, though, the true villain of the Bad Batch was really the Empire/Palpatine.
This especially became clear in the final season of the show, which saw the Bad Batch’s youngest member, Omega, abducted and experimented on. With all three villains, though, the story arcs were compelling and the stakes felt legitimately high (especially because we didn’t really know what happened to the Bad Batch until The Bad Batch season 3 finale).
7 Ahsoka
Unlike several other installments on this list, Ahsoka felt very tied to the Jedi and the larger Skywalker Saga as the titular lead, Ahsoka Tano, was Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Padawan. However, the show did still manage to introduce some brilliant new villains.
Alongside Morgan Elsbeth and Grand Admiral Thrawn, both of whom had been seen before, Ahsoka introduced master and apprentice duo Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, both of whom were immediate hits. Neither Shin nor Baylan are Sith, although they certainly aren’t Jedi either; they’re more on the dark side than the light, to be sure.
It’s perhaps for this reason that audiences took to Baylan and Shin so quickly and so strongly. This is only good news, as the two will be returning in Ahsoka season 2, which has reportedly just wrapped filming and is set to be released sometime next year.
6 Obi-Wan Kenobi
One would think that Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been received with open arms, not only because Obi-Wan is one of Star Wars’ best characters, but also because the show saw the returns of prequel trilogy Obi-Wan actor Ewan McGregor and Anakin Skywalker actor Hayden Christensen to Star Wars.
Sadly, that didn’t go quite right, as many took issue with the show for various reasons, including issues with one of the show’s villains, Reva. Reva was introduced as one of the Imperial Inquisitors, dark side Force-users who reported to Darth Vader himself during the Dark Times.
It cannot be overlooked that part of the backlash to Reva was rooted in racism toward the actor, Moses Ingram, which even Ewan McGregor addressed head on and very publicly. This is obviously a shame because the racist attacks hurled at Ingram were awful, but also because Reva is such a better villain that she gets credit for.
After all, a spurned Order 66 survivor who had been just a youngling at the time, plotting for years to get revenge on Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is actually genius. What’s more, the main villain of Obi-Wan Kenobi is really Darth Vader, and we see him at some of his most dangerous and violent points in this show.
5 Star Wars Rebels
Although Thrawn’s live-action debut was in Ahsoka, several years before, he had his canon, on-screen debut in Star Wars Rebels. This show, like The Bad Batch, is set in the Dark Times, so the overarching villain is of course the Empire. However, Thrawn really steals the show in terms of villains, and he does so brilliantly.
Thrawn got his start in Legends, and Rebels felt very true to that origin story because it depicted Thrawn as intelligent, calculating, and a mastermind of warfare. He was therefore a perfect adversary for the Rebels characters, ranging from Jedi Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger to ace pilot Hera Syndulla.
Thankfully, this fascinating dynamic will continue to be explored in Ahsoka season 2, as the Ahsoka finale revealed that Thrawn and Ezra have now both returned to the main Star Wars galaxy, with Thrawn clearly ready to try and rebuild the Empire under his rule.
4 Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The Clone Wars is absolutely one of Star Wars’ best shows, and arguably its best animated show to date. The complex, seven-season nature of the show means that there were many villains, including fan-favorite characters like Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and Asajj Ventress.
It’s true that these villains are incredible, with especially Ventress stealing the show at many points (which is particularly impressive, given that this was her canon debut, which cannot be said of the other aforementioned villains). As has become true of Star Wars more broadly, though, the real villain of The Clone Wars is Palpatine, and it’s one of the greatest Palpatine stories overall.
While the prequels made it clear that Palpatine was a genius, along with being one of Star Wars’ most powerful Sith, it was really The Clone Wars that showed just how masterfully he had plotted the downfall of the Jedi and the Republic and the rise of his Empire.
3 The Acolyte
The Acolyte proved to be one of Star Wars’ most controversial additions, and the backlash to The Acolyte continues even now, a full year after the show was canceled. Despite the negativity surrounding the show, though, Qimir/the Stranger is actually one of the best Star Wars TV show villains.
Played by Manny Jacinto, Qimir was introduced as Star Wars’ newest Sith, and he revealed himself to be not only powerful in the Force but also an incredibly skilled duelist, cutting down multiple Jedi all at once in The Acolyte episode 5. What’s more, Qimir felt like something truly new in the franchise.
In fact, while Qimir did continue the Star Wars trend of shirtless villains, he also had so much potential to become a truly formidable villain. Sadly, with The Acolyte season 2 seemingly being permanently squashed, we may never see what could have come of that character.
2 The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian has become one of the most beloved parts of the franchise, which is perhaps why the show is getting its own movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu. While plenty of love is directed at the leading characters, bounty hunter and Mandalorian Din Djarin and his now-adopted Force-sensitive son, Grogu, the villains of The Mandalorian are also celebrated.
This certainly includes Moff Gideon, who is the main villain in the show. Portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito, Moff Gideon is a brilliant villain, perfectly balancing being a genuine threat to the protagonists while also being plenty charismatic and compelling in his own right.