I Watched The Most Ridiculous Star Wars Viewing Order So You Don't Have To

For this year's Star Wars Day (aka. May 4, 2026), Nielsen published a report about people's viewing habits when it comes to a galaxy far, far away. As it turns out, the most-streamed "Star Wars" movies on Disney+ make no sense whatsoever. One might expect the original trilogy's films to dominate this list, seeing as they are largely universally acclaimed. One could even imagine the prequels being all over the top five given the renewed interest in them from millennials and Gen-Zers. Heck, one might even expect "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens" to rank high here thanks to the way that it revitalized the "Star Wars" franchise (and made a whole lot of money along the way).

Instead, Nielsen revealed that the top three most streamed "Star Wars" films on Disney+ right now are "Episode IV — A New Hope," "Episode I — The Phantom Menace," and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," in that order.

This got me thinking: Are folks simply streaming a single "Star Wars" movie, then stopping there? Or are there people out there bold enough to stream only these three films in the franchise? In the spirit of experimentation, let's picture the second option. "Star Wars" viewing orders are often a source of bizarre debate, but what if you decide to follow Nielsen's report and jump around from one trilogy to another in this ridiculous fashion?

Well, since it's still "Star Wars" week at the time of writing, I decided to test out this idea and follow the silliest "Star Wars" viewing order you've never heard of. And now that I've done that, I can tell you plainly: under no circumstances should you ever do this.

Let's say you start your "Star Wars" watch by going back to the very first film: "A New Hope." This is a great idea, because as controversial as it might be to say, "A New Hope" is a better movie than "The Empire Strikes Back." It's more fun, has better pacing, and it's generally a fantastic entry into this universe.

But then you decide not to move on to the direct sequel. Instead, you elect to go purely by vibes alone and go with another fun "Star Wars" movie with moments of pure spectacle. So, after watching the Death Star blow up and the Rebel Alliance get its first real victory against the Empire, you figure that story is complete, so you might as well watch "The Phantom Menace" next.

When it comes to big cinematic spectacle devoid of a downer ending or a generally dark tone, "The Phantom Menace" comes the closest to "A New Hope." You have the epic battle on Naboo that takes up the entire third act, plus the whole podracing sequence (which is itself crucial to understanding "Star Wars" creator George Lucas as an artist).

After "The Phantom Menace," however, you decide you actually do want a bit of a darker "Star Wars" film. But you also want one that has plenty of exciting stretches and moves swiftly from one set piece to another. Enter "Rogue One." From Cassian (Diego Luna) being introduced as a cool but cold-blooded Rebel spy to the terrifying and awe-inspiring attack on Jedha to a horrifying climactic appearance by Darth Vader, this movie is largely non-stop thrills.

The problem with this impromptu trilogy is that there isn't really anything connecting these movies. You don't learn the twist about Vader's identity if you skip "The Empire Strikes Back," so the primary thrust of the prequels is lost.

You do learn two things, however. You discover from "A New Hope" that old Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) is actually a Jedi named Obi-Wan and that Luke's father was a great pilot and Jedi whose last name is Skywalker. That means you can jump from "A New Hope" to "The Phantom Menace" and still recognize that this is the story of Luke's dad and how he came to meet Kenobi before he became a Jedi. There's no tragedy here, just a cool little origin story for both men when they were younger and got involved in a galactic war. Is it a great watch? Not really, but it's serviceable.

The problem, then, becomes "Rogue One."

Since that movie centers on an entirely different set of characters, it shares little connective tissue with the other two. Obi-Wan, the Jedi, and the Republic are all gone, yet there's no explanation why. Vader is here, sure, but even he's a bit of an enigma. The only way to cope is to view this as a trilogy about pilots trying to blow up spherical space stations. You have the Death Star in two of the movies and the Lucrehulk-class battleship the Trade Federation uses in the prequels (which features a giant spherical core ship).

Does this trilogy of movies make sense? Not really. Does it wrap up in a satisfying way? Absolutely not, but it still includes three of the most entertaining "Star Wars" films. That's gotta count for something.