By: Jake Kleinman Published: May 4, 2026, 9:57 AM EDT
Image: Lucasfilm/Disney
(Link) | (Archive) | (Ghost Archive) | (Megalodon.jp) | (Wayback)
Happy Star Wars Day to all who celebrate! If you're a fan of the original trilogy, the prequels, or even some of the spinoff shows like Andor or The Clone Wars, you've got plenty to celebrate. But one group that apparently isn't celebrating this May 4? Sequel trilogy enjoyers, because according to a new report, they don't really exist.
A new report from Nielsen and published by Variety reveals that nobody is watching the most recent trio of core Star Wars films — at least not on Disney Plus. The report reveals two interesting data points: the most-watched Star Wars properties on May 4, 2025 and the most-streamed Star Wars title for each generation of fans. In both cases, the Disney-era movies are nowhere to be seen.
The most-watched property last year was Andor (likely because it was just wrapping up its final episodes at the time), followed by a mix of original and prequel trilogy films, with some other shows and even Rogue One mixed in.
Meanwhile, along generational lines we see some surprising trends: Gen Alpha and the Baby Boomers share a love of The Mandalorian, while Gen Z loves animated The Clones Wars, and Millennials and Gen X both indulge in the grounded, political thrills of Andor. Again, no love for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, or The Rise of Skywalker.
This isn't exactly a surprise. While the Disney-era films performed well in theaters, The Last Jedi divided fans, while everyone hated The Rise of Skywalker. The latter left such a bad taste in the fandom's collective mouth that it may have retroactively ruined even the solidly enjoyable The Force Awakens.
This might not seem like the biggest problem facing Star Wars. After all, the sequels still crushed at the box office and clearly there's plenty of appetite for the franchise overall. However, the data does seem to confirm a sneaking suspicion we've held for a while now: the sequel trilogy failed to set up the franchise for future success. While the movies leaned heavily on nostalgia and brought back all of the original cast, they also introduced a new generation of heroes who could presumably carry the story forward. But in the seven years since The Rise of Skywalker, that's failed to happen. Rey's spinoff movie is in development hell, Kylo Ren's solo adventure was killed by Disney executives, and both John Boyega and Oscar Isaac seemingly want nothing to do with Star Wars.
The sequel trilogy was supposed to push Star Wars forward. Instead, it turned out to be a dead end. Thankfully, Disney still has Baby Yoda, which is hopefully going to convince the Boomers and their Gen A grandkids to return to theaters when The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters later this month. But after that? The future of Star Wars has never seemed more precarious.
Image: Lucasfilm/Disney
(Link) | (Archive) | (Ghost Archive) | (Megalodon.jp) | (Wayback)
Happy Star Wars Day to all who celebrate! If you're a fan of the original trilogy, the prequels, or even some of the spinoff shows like Andor or The Clone Wars, you've got plenty to celebrate. But one group that apparently isn't celebrating this May 4? Sequel trilogy enjoyers, because according to a new report, they don't really exist.
A new report from Nielsen and published by Variety reveals that nobody is watching the most recent trio of core Star Wars films — at least not on Disney Plus. The report reveals two interesting data points: the most-watched Star Wars properties on May 4, 2025 and the most-streamed Star Wars title for each generation of fans. In both cases, the Disney-era movies are nowhere to be seen.
The most-watched property last year was Andor (likely because it was just wrapping up its final episodes at the time), followed by a mix of original and prequel trilogy films, with some other shows and even Rogue One mixed in.
Meanwhile, along generational lines we see some surprising trends: Gen Alpha and the Baby Boomers share a love of The Mandalorian, while Gen Z loves animated The Clones Wars, and Millennials and Gen X both indulge in the grounded, political thrills of Andor. Again, no love for The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, or The Rise of Skywalker.
This isn't exactly a surprise. While the Disney-era films performed well in theaters, The Last Jedi divided fans, while everyone hated The Rise of Skywalker. The latter left such a bad taste in the fandom's collective mouth that it may have retroactively ruined even the solidly enjoyable The Force Awakens.
This might not seem like the biggest problem facing Star Wars. After all, the sequels still crushed at the box office and clearly there's plenty of appetite for the franchise overall. However, the data does seem to confirm a sneaking suspicion we've held for a while now: the sequel trilogy failed to set up the franchise for future success. While the movies leaned heavily on nostalgia and brought back all of the original cast, they also introduced a new generation of heroes who could presumably carry the story forward. But in the seven years since The Rise of Skywalker, that's failed to happen. Rey's spinoff movie is in development hell, Kylo Ren's solo adventure was killed by Disney executives, and both John Boyega and Oscar Isaac seemingly want nothing to do with Star Wars.
The sequel trilogy was supposed to push Star Wars forward. Instead, it turned out to be a dead end. Thankfully, Disney still has Baby Yoda, which is hopefully going to convince the Boomers and their Gen A grandkids to return to theaters when The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters later this month. But after that? The future of Star Wars has never seemed more precarious.
