All 9 live action Star Wars series penultimate episodes ranked

A good season of television should have a great finale, but for that finale to really pack a punch, the episode preceding it needs to put the right pieces in place and set the stage for whatever twists, turns, or resolution is about to transpire. Star Wars series are no exception. Let's dive into how well the penultimate episodes set the table for the ultimate finale feast.

Here are the 9 penultimate episodes of live-action Star Wars television ranked in how they set up their finale.

9. The Mandalorian Season Two: Chapter 15 - The Believer

While the second season of The Mandalorian has one of the greatest finales in all of Star Wars, its penultimate episode has the least impactful set-up for the season finale of all of the series in this list.  While Bill Burr’s character Migs Mayfeld makes another appearance and there are certainly some highlights and pieces put in place for a strong finish, it doesn’t feel as pivotal overall. 

Pedro Pascal gets a chance to remove his helmet as 'Mando' Din Djarin and show his face, although admittedly, he had already done it in the previous season. When he does it for Grogu in the second season finale, it is a far more emotional moment. The ‘Mad Max’-style highway action sequence is electrifying and culminates in the Mandalorian deciding to forsake his creed for a chance to save his new foundling that resembles a ‘Baby Yoda.'

8. Skeleton Crew: Episode 7 - We're Gonna Be in So Much Trouble

For a series that operates in its own untapped corner of the Star Wars galaxy, Skeleton Crew’s penultimate episode sets up the stakes perfectly for its finale. While the central crew of children from At Attin are racing to make it home before their former ally Jod Na Nawood played by Jude Law and his space pirates do, their parents have been working to get a message to their missing children in the hopes that they return safely. Wim, Fern, KB, and Neel manage to convince SM-33 to help them escape in the upgraded Onyx Cinder, though they do not realize they have a stowaway. Jod a.k.a. Captain Silvo kills Brutus to reclaim his captaincy and sneaks aboard the Onyx Cinder to ignite his lightsaber as a threat to the kids that he would kill their parents if they do not do what he says.

7. The Mandalorian Season One: Chapter 7 – The Reckoning

The first season of The Mandalorian is iconic, and the second-last episode sets the scene for an epic season finale. Emotional stakes are raised when one of the series’ integral characters, Kuiil voiced by Nick Nolte, is killed by Stormtroopers as remnants of the Empire capture Grogu. The emergence of Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, over the incredibly cast of Werner Herzog’s The Client as the real villain of the series was a sight to behold. The two times where Grogu was in the most danger after his discovery in "Chapter 1" were in "Chapter 3" and in "Chapter 7," both episodes directed by Deborah Chow, who would go on to run the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.

6. The Mandalorian Season Three: Chapter 23 - The Spies

The overall tapestry across three seasons could not reach higher stakes for The Mandalorian culture than in its Season 3 penultimate episode. The breadth of the Imperial Remnant is revealed as Moff Gideon meets with a Shadow Council of generals to ask for additional support in the war against the Mandalorians. The joined forces of Din Djarin’s covert and Bo Katan’s Night Owls arriving on the surface of Mandalore with designs of taking it back from Moff Gideon and discovering other surviving Mandalorians is a big moment which establishes the liberation army for the finale. The sheer volume of third generation Dark Troopers which serve as prototypes for what Moff Gideon later reveals he intends to be fulfilled by Force-powered clones of himself make it difficult to see light at the end of the tunnel for the heroes. When Paz Vizsla makes a final stand against the scarlet-clad Praetorian Guards, he makes the ultimate sacrifice while his compatriots were able to regroup and get word back to their ship.

5. Andor: Episode 11 - Daughter of Ferrix

Andor reached its boiling point in the 11th hour of the first season, and it sets the stage perfectly for an explosive finale. While it is calm before the storm following Maarva’s death, quite a few pieces must fall into place for the coming revolution on Ferrix. While Dedra of the ISB advises her officers to allow for a small funeral on Rix Road in the hopes of luring out the titular fugitive Cassian Andor played by Diego Luna, Syril Karn is also en route thanks to a hot tip from his former colleague Linus Mosk. One of the crazier exchanges between the most extreme rebels in the form of Stellan Skarsgard’s Luthen Rael and Forest Whitaker reprising his role as Saw Gerrera showcases the darker corners of the Rebellion where the ends appear to justify the means in terms of doing what it takes to take down the Empire.

4. The Acolyte: Episode 7 - Choice

The Acolyte is one of the newest Star Wars series to hit Disney+, and to date is the story that is the most removed from The Skywalker Saga. Its penultimate episode called "Choice" does something very different, in that it mirrors an earlier episode titled "Destiny" by revisiting the same sequence of events in a flashback episode of sorts, except offering a new perspective. The first view of the tragedy on Brendok shows the authoritative Jedi trespassing on the witches’ property and evoking their right to offer training to their Force-sensitive younglings with a dogmatic sense of destiny. In contrast, the expanded look at these events shows the poor choices of a few and the dire consequences that come as a direct result. The main characters Mae and Osha both played by Amandla Stenberg for example, reveal Osha’s point of view to be that of witnessing her aggressive sister Mae attacking her out of anger and starting a devastating fire. Mae’s perspective shows that she is just a scared child who caused an accident that spiraled out of control. In a shocking turn of events, Mae witnesses Sol strike down their mother in fear, which sets up the finale in which Osha finally discovers the truth about her Jedi Master.

3. Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part V

Before Obi-Wan Kenobi starring Ewan McGregor can have a final duel with his former padawan Anakin Skywalker who has committed himself to the dark side as the formidable Darth Vader, he must help his new friends and rebels of The Path escape the clutches of the Empire. In doing so, he manipulates Reva’s hatred towards Vader to convince her to turn on her Master and strike back.  Consider that while 'Ben Kenobi' has reconnected with the Force at this point, he is not really embracing his inner Jedi which we see him do when he gets a final confrontation with Darth Vader in the series finale. Reva's attempted ambush of her Sith Lord results in a powerful lightsaber battle, which also shows Darth Vader attempting to hold an entire ship back with the Force, but it is a pivotal moment for Reva’s character arc which sees her all but defeated and at her lowest. Reva sets out to make her final stand with her hate flowing through her and the knowledge of the location of Anakin Skywalker’s child on Tatooine.

2. Ahsoka: Part VII - Dreams and Madness

The final conflict between Thrawn and Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka in the show’s debut season is masterfully set up by the second-last episode, which sees Sabine Wren and Ahsoka Tano reunited with Ezra Bridger for the first time since Star Wars Rebels. Ahsoka, who trained under Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker, must fly her T6 through a purrgil graveyard to get to Peridea. She's discovered by the Great Mothers when attempting to reach out to Sabine through the Force. Ezra has learned to embrace the Force and defend his friends and the snail-like Noti people without using a lightsaber. At the same time, Thrawn deployed mercenaries Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati along with some Night Troopers to deal with the only people who could pose a threat to his departure from Peridea. If Sabine and Ezra’s long-awaited reunion at the end of the previous episode felt at all confusing, the reunion with Ahsoka does not disappoint, as both sides have taken position for the ultimate battle in the season finale.

1. The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 6 - From the Desert Comes a Stranger

Of all the highlights throughout live-action Star Wars series on Disney+, there is one episode that stands out as not only the best penultimate episode of a series, but one of the best episodes of any Star Wars show – and it comes from The Book of Boba Fett. "From the Desert Comes a Stranger" has it all, including a montage of Grogu being trained in the Force by none other than Luke Skywalker as well as some great character development for Tatooine Marshall Cobb Vanth. Din Djarin is convinced by Ahsoka to let Grogu train with Luke, but gives him a gift of Beskar chainmail. Cobb Vanth played by the great Timothy Olyphant wages war against the Pyke Syndicate, who respond by sending the bounty hunter/assassin Cad Bane in what can only be described as a classic spaghetti-western-like duel. With the odds seeming stacked against Boba Fett and friends in the impending final fight for Tatooine, the episode ends with Luke Skywalker offering a choice to Grogu: accept Yoda’s lightsaber and become a Jedi, or choose Din Djarin’s chainmail and follow the path of the Mandalorian. 

Regardless of where your favorites fall on this list, it is clear that a good Star Wars series must have a compelling second to last episode that sets up for a great finish.