THE MANDALORIAN.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: TV

After Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from LucasFilm in 2012, it promised a revitalization of the franchise. Fans had mixed feelings about the trio of prequels George Lucas released from 1999 to 2005, and there was a sense that the brand, once the emperor of American pop culture, had fallen into disrepair.

A sequel trilogy, book-ended by films directed by J.J. Abrams, debuted to big box office numbers. But the revenues declined as the sequels went on, and the series was plagued by production problems. Fans became increasingly disillusioned. Abrams and Disney, it seemed, had squandered the Star Wars universe. Worse, they had narrowed its scope, focusing on characters and events that sprang from the original series rather than building out the world they inherited.

Yet even as Disney's mega-budget features frustrated fans, two animated television shows--The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels--had been quietly thrilling the franchise faithful. Executive produced by Dave Filoni, the shows filled in the gaps of the Lucas...