Prequels or Sequels — Why Do Most Star Wars Fans Only Like One?
To celebrate May the Fourth, we rounded up some of the most surprising facts about fans of all things Star Wars, from A New Hope to The Mandalorian.
Photo: Disney+
As the Star Wars universe and fandom has expanded over the last four decades, May the Fourth has grown from a niche tradition among hardcore fans into an international sensation. Star Wars is a bigger part of American culture than ever before — the franchise added a brand-new sequel trilogy, several standalone movies, a hit TV series on Disney+, and its own area in Disneyland during the past few years.
To celebrate this unofficial holiday, we took a look at Ranker Insights and gathered up all the wonderful, weird, and surprising facts we could find about Star Wars and the people who love it. Here’s what we know about the world’s favorite epic space opera franchise.
The Mandalorian Is On Its Way To Sci-Fi TV History
Photo: Disney+
The Mandalorian, the 2019 Disney+ series set in the Star Wars universe, cracked the Top 100 on our incredibly competitive list of the Best Sci-Fi Television Series of All Time less than five months after it premiered. Moving up a list with a million votes from 55,000 voters is hard and often takes years to do — The Mandalorian is the only show in the Top 100 made in 2019 or later. There’s good reason to believe the show could make it into the Top 20 by the time its second season premieres in October 2020.
UPDATE: We may have been a little too aggressive with this prediction. As of May the Fourth, 2021, The Mandalorian is #45, though earlier this year it reached a peak of #37. The higher up a list a show travels, the more difficult it becomes to advance further, so the fact that this show’s momentum has slowed shouldn’t make us doubt its Top 20 potential.
...But A New Obi-Wan Kenobi Show Could Be Competition
Photo: Disney+
Despite The Mandalorian’s popularity, the show is neck-and-neck with an upcoming, as-of-yet-untitled series about Obi-Wan Kenobi on our list of The Most Anticipated New Shows On Disney+. Could this series be an even bigger hit than The Mandalorian?
UPDATE: Disney+ announced a huge slate of new Star Wars programming in 2021, but the Obi-Wan series, now titled Pilgrim, still leads the pack at #1.
There Are Two Kinds Of Star Wars Fans
Photo: Disney+
Fans everywhere are united in their love for the original trilogy, of course, but there’s a serious divide between fans of the prequels and fans of the new movies. Ranker Insights data shows that most people who like Episodes I-III don’t care for the newer movies, while fans of Episodes VII-IX are just as unlikely to enjoy the prequels. For example, our data says that if you’ve seen both The Phantom Menace and The Last Jedi, there’s only a 16% chance that you liked both of them.
An Interstellar Rivalry
Photo: Disney+
Another trend we noticed among Star Wars fans is that there seems to be a rivalry of some kind between the sequel trilogy and the Avengers franchise: specifically, the Infinity Saga. The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker all have fan bases that are significantly less likely to like Infinity War or Endgame. If you were to put all the fans of Rise of Skywalker and all the fans of Avengers: Endgame together, for instance, Ranker Insights says that only 12% of everyone gathered would belong to both groups.
Kylo Ren: International Antihero
Photo: Disney+
Voters outside the US want a spinoff about Kylo Ren more than any other character, according to our list of Star Wars characters that most deserve spinoff movies, but American voters aren’t so interested in hearing more about the son of Han and Leia. Another spinoff that’s desired by a very narrow slice of the fanbase is Lumpy, Chewbacca’s son. He’s #8 on the list for voters who are 50 years of age or older, but isn’t even on the radar for younger fans.
Not Everyone’s Hearts Are Bleeding For Han
Photo: Disney+
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE FORCE AWAKENS!
People living in red states think Han Solo’s death is the saddest to take place in the franchise. But in blue states, Han Solo is all the way down at #15 on our list of Saddest Deaths In The Star Wars Movies (they’re far more likely to shed tears for Yoda).
Soul Food, Sweet Tea, And Star Wars
Photo: Disney+
The most dedicated Star Wars fans in the country are in the South. The Southeast United States is the only region that has a favorable view of every single Star Wars movie - including the prequels! The least popular Star Wars movie in the franchise among Southerners is Revenge of the Sith, which has a 66% approval rating there.
Rogue One Is #1 Across The US
Photo: Disney+
A lot of Star Wars movies are viewed positively throughout the US, but none is as widely popular as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. This stand-alone movie is the only Star Wars film beloved by 70% or more voters in every single region of the country.
So Far, So Good, Solo
Photo: Disney+
The other major stand-alone Star Wars film is Solo: A Star Wars Story, and despite the fact that it exists outside the trilogies, it’s also pretty beloved. Solo is #7 on the list of all 11 major Star Wars movies, above Episodes I, II, VIII, and IX. It’s got a relatively high total approval rating of 62% (for comparison, the original Star Wars movie is viewed positively by 63% of voters). The fact that Solo fans have a generally positive view of Avengers: Endgame, unlike fans of the other Star Wars movies made in the last five years, suggests that its audience is a little different (and slightly more forgiving) from that of the sequel trilogy.
Boys Don’t Cry (About Star Wars Sequels)
Photo: Disney+
Internet trolls angry about the prominent role played by female characters like Rey and Rose Tico in the sequel trilogy have made plenty of headlines over the last five years, but our data says these people are a minuscule minority of the franchise’s fanbase. In fact, we found that men were more likely than women to vote up Episodes VII-IX on our list of best Star Wars movies.
A New Generation Of Star Wars Icons
Photo: Disney+
Our list of best Star Wars characters gives us state-by-state data on fans of every character from Jar-Jar to Darth Vader. In many places, new characters introduced in Episodes VII-IX are even more popular than the heroes and villains of the classic original trilogy. For example, Finn is the most popular character in Texas, Rae is #1 in Colorado, and Poe Dameron is the favorite of voters in Maine. South Dakota threw us for a loop by voting Imperial Royal Guards to the top of their list.