Paramount+ has their Taylor Sheridan shows, HBO Max has The Penguin and The White Lotus, Netflix had Stranger Things and has Wednesday…every streamer has their own top-tier, very popular original series. Disney+ is no different. And, considering both Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe are both under the Disney umbrella, it’s not so surprising that their streamer arguably has the buzziest content of them all. Even though the MCU and Star Wars aren’t as solid as they once were, they’re still Marvel and Star Wars. People will tune in. But, as with any network or streamer, the results vary when it comes to Disney+ original series.
What follows are our 10 favorite Disney+ original series thus far. Documentaries didn’t count, though, so apologies to The Beatles: Get Back. The same goes for unscripted docuseries like The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
10) Willow (2022-2023)
Willow was not perfect, but neither was Ron Howard’s movie. That went on to become a cult classic, and it sure seems as though that’s how the one-season show could have ended up. “Could have” because Disney removed it from their streamer in 2023.
It’s sad that this divisive sequel to the 1988 movie isn’t getting the chance to develop an audience the same way the movie did, because it’s charming light fantasy in a sea of darker stuff like The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon. It could have developed a younger fanbase, all of whom could have been introduced to just how amazing Warwick Davis is.
9) Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
Like Willow, Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a perfect show. But even the parts that don’t work are buoyed by the fact that it’s just so nice to have Ewan McGregor back as the title character, just as it was nice to have Davis back as the title character in his show.
The show also has another perfect lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader. And, while one might think that would step on the toes of the impact of their reunion in A New Hope, it really doesn’t. It just fleshes out the complexity of their shattered bond (the line “I am not your failure, Obi-Wan,” for instance).
8) American Born Chinese (2023)
Based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen, American Born Chinese deserves a lot of credit for being a sitcom quite unlike what is typical of the format. It received a little bit of criticism for not getting some Chinese mythological characters quite right, but who’s to say a fantasy action coming-of-age comedy show has to adhere strictly to source material, be in the graphic novel or mythology.
This was also the beginning of Ke Huy Quan’s relationship with Disney, going from this to the second season of Loki (more on that later) the same year followed by voicing Gary De’Snake in 2025’s box office juggernaut Zootopia 2. The series may have been a little too ambitious for its own good from time to time, but it was an admirable attempt to expand upon the format of the pre-existing standard sitcom format. Sadly, even with Michelle Yeoh and Quan on the cast list, it was cancelled after a single season.
7) Hawkeye (2021)
Hawkeye was never the star of a movie, but he did get his own charming, self-contained miniseries that stands as one of the MCU’s most purely entertaining small screen adventures. It also helped flesh out Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova and, more importantly, introduced Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop, who the MCU would be wise to utilize sooner rather than later. She’s a fantastic character who hasn’t had a chance to shine outside of in this miniseries.
Jeremy Renner continues to be excellent as the title character (and if this is the last we see of him in the MCU outside of hearing his voice in What If…? it would make for a perfectly fitting swan songs), but the real highlight is his serving as a mentor to Bishop. And even better than that is Bishop’s back and forth with Belova. A relatively low-stakes MCU show with a usually light tone, it’s the franchise’s best Christmas-set project. Sorry, Iron Man 3.
6) Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023-present)
The two Percy Jackson and the Olympians movies tried, but they felt like what they were, which was an attempt to capitalize on the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchises’ success. It didn’t pan out, ending up more as an Eragon than a Fellowship of the Ring.
But Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Disney+ show, does a much better job of capturing the books’ soul. It also benefits from note-perfect casting, making it all in all the adaptation fans of the Rick Riordan-penned saga wanted from the beginning.
5) X-Men ’97 (2024-present)
A ton of people grew up loving X-Men: The Animated Series, so following in its footsteps nearly 30 years after its conclusion was no small task. But in Beau DeMayo’s hands it ended up sticking the landing perfectly.
Now, DeMayo was fired as head writer in March 2024, the same month it premiered, so it could very well go downhill sharply from here. But the good news is DeMayo also wrote the second season, so if it’s going to be plummet it will likely be in Season 3. Then again, he wasn’t the only aspect about X-Men ’97 that works so well. There’s also beautiful retro animation and well-choreographed action sequences. There are plenty of comics for the show to mine from to cover its central topic of discrimination, so here’s to say the show won’t move up in this ranking later on, as opposed to getting dropped a couple of spots.
4) The Mandalorian (2019-2023)
Yes, Season 3 is pretty forgettable, but overall, Star Wars: The Mandalorian (or just The Mandalorian) deserves a high spot if only for how important it was to Disney+’s original popularity. The end of the premiere, when we learn there’s a baby Yoda, was the exact moment where Disney+ original series became events.
Plenty of things work about The Mandalorian. For one, Jon Favreau clearly has love for the original trilogy and knows how to capture its spirit. Two, excellent directors were brought in to helm episodes, including Bryce Dallas Howard. Three, the supporting cast were perfect in their roles, especially Carl Weathers, Amy Sedaris, and Bill Burr. But the real heart of the show is the combination of Pedro Pascal’s soothing but serious voice and the elaborate puppetry to bring Grogu to life is both cute and believable. Here’s hoping The Mandalorian & Grogu recaptures the magic of seasons one and two.
3) Loki (2021-2023)
Even more so than Thanos, Loki was the ultimate MCU villain. He was layered, complicated, and earned the audience’s empathy even when he was acting like a tyrant.
Then Loki came along and turned him into an almost entirely different individual, and not in a way that felt jarring but rather in a way that felt earned. This is one of the MCU’s most heartfelt entries, big screen or small, and it’s carried effortlessly by the chemistry shared between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson.
2) WandaVision (2021)
It’s hard to imagine Disney+’s MCU shows ever beating their first time out the gate. WandaVision is a unique, ambitious masterpiece from beginning to end.
Its replication of sitcom tropes and styles seen throughout decades of the format’s history in consistently ingenious, its emotional core (grief) reaches through and grabs the viewer’s heart, and the mystery of how this whole town came to be made for one of the most intriguing concepts of any Marvel project to date. And, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness only did a so-so job of following up on this show’s narrative, it didn’t diminish just how well Wanda Maximoff’s arc worked here, in Westview. Lastly, Kathryn Hahn’s work as Agatha Harkness belongs on the Mount Rushmore of MCU performances.
1) Andor (2022-2025)
On the big screen, Disney’s Star Wars movies have been a mixed bag. And that’s putting it kindly. Of the five, people tend to agree that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the best of the bunch. And even if that’s true, Star Wars: Andor is five times better.
This is the magnum opus of Disney+ original programming. There is no filler throughout the two seasons. It ran exactly as long as it was intended to and ended exactly when it was supposed to. Even knowing where most of its characters will end up the writing is so genuinely great that we find ourselves captivated from moment one. This is the gold standard of Disney’s time with Star Wars, and honestly, it’s doubtful it will ever be beaten.
