5 Ways Star Wars: Rebels Is Better Than The Clone Wars (& 5 Ways The Clone Wars Is Superior)

The consistency of the canon Star Wars shows has been nothing short of incredible. For most, though, the conversation always boils down to which is better, Rebels or The Clone Wars. Both offer unique but equally valuable viewing experiences for a variety of Star Wars fans. For many different reasons, fans are usually able to pick a side and stick to it.

There is no doubt The Clone Wars is the more popular show, with Rebels often considered an underappreciated masterpiece by its fans. But, in terms of quality, there are many ways in which both shows could be considered the best the franchise has to offer.

10 The Clone Wars – The Animation

If there is one thing that is not really up for debate when comparing the two shows, it is that The Clone Wars has far superior animation to Rebels throughout its seven seasons.

It is sharper, with more detail, a far greater use of lighting and shadows, and showcases a wider variety of environments and character models. In comparison, Rebels’ animation is fairly basic. While it undoubtedly has its own moments of pure beauty, it fails to live up to The Clone Wars’ style, especially compared to the later seasons.

9 Rebels – More Focused

While The Clone Wars stretches all over the Galaxy, focusing on a long catalog of characters and stories, Rebels is a focused, more in-depth look at its smaller-scale story and of its core group of characters.

Rebels has an overall direction that The Clone Wars does not, so it can better explore the depths of its own storytelling. It is able to drift away from Lothal to showcase the rebellion or on the incredible journey of Ahsoka and Vader while always feeling like there was an endgame in mind. Rebels also has more of a focus on its core group of characters, making it easier to get invested in their journeys more and their role in the story, whereas The Clone Wars can make that same task difficult with its structure.

8 The Clone Wars – Improves The Prequels

Rebels is set in between the prequel and original trilogy, which, in many ways, is a good thing for the show. However, it fails to hugely improve any set of movies in the way The Clone Wars improves the prequels.

Not only does The Clone Wars infinitely improve upon established characters like Anakin and Obi-Wan, and their iconic relationship, as well as various Jedi, and the secondary villains, but it also gives life and individuality to the clones, arguably the best part of the show. It adds a lot of weight to the overall story of the prequels, from the aspects of war to the downfall of Anakin.

7 Rebels – It Was More Consistent

While The Clone Wars undoubtedly has some of the greatest stories in all of Star Wars, it also has some much-maligned episodes and arcs, not helped by its anthology structure.

Rebels, on the other hand, is far more consistent in its quality. It too has some unbelievable pieces of Star Wars and some panned stuff as . However, the ratio of good to bad in Rebels is far better than The Clone Wars, making the show easier to watch in its entirety, with less of an urge to skip episodes.

6 The Clone Wars – It Was More Varied

The Clone Wars’ anthology structure comes with many pros and cons. An undoubted pro is that there is a lot of variety. There are so many different types of stories focusing on different aspects of the Galaxy during a specific time.

Not all of them are brilliantly executed, of course. But it deals with politics, romance, mystery, family, betrayal, magick, the Force, crime, and a slew of incredible battles during wartime. Rebels focuses a lot on its characters and their stories with a decent amount of range. With its arcs, though, The Clone Wars has something for every kind of Star Wars fan to enjoy.

5 Rebels – The Serialized Format Makes ‘Filler’ More Important

Rebels has a much more classic way of telling its story, with a serialized, episodic, linear structure which also comes with its positives and negatives. Both shows have ‘filler’ episodes, but Rebels’ structure makes its ‘filler’ mean something.

The Clone Wars has arcs that add nothing to anything, really. They can be skipped. Like Artoo and Threepio’s adventure or Jar Jar and Mace Windu’s mission in season 6. Since it is always dealing with the same characters, all Rebels’ perceived ‘filler’ content means something. This could be adding backstory or depth or personality to a character, furthering a dynamic, or adding elements to a story meaning not only is the ‘filler’ important, but it is not really filler at all.

4 The Clone Wars – Dark Storytelling

Star Wars was originally intended for kids and has maintained that side of itself for over four decades. Some parts of the franchise are more child-centric than others, though, such as Rebels is compared to The Clone Wars.

The Clone Wars not only does darker storytelling, but it does so brilliantly. The Siege of Mandalore, Maul’s takeover arc, the Umbara arc, and Fives’ conspiracy arc are all examples of darker, more emotionally painful stories given to audiences by The Clone Wars, and they so happen to be some of the best-contained stories ever told in Star Wars.

3 Rebels – More Relatable Character Arcs

Perhaps the best part of Rebels is the characters and their relationships. Unlike The Clone Wars, which focuses on a bunch of different characters throughout its seven seasons, Rebels focuses on a core family for four.

The arcs are so much more personal and relatable for audiences. Ezra’s maturing, Kanan’s journey in the Force, Hera’s strive to lead the rebellion, Sabine dealing with the demons of her family, and Zeb coping believing he is alone in the Galaxy while also forming a bond with his relatively new family. All fighting for good, all helping each other, all fighting the Empire, and all forming small connections with one another to create beautiful relationships. The journeys these characters take as individuals and as a group is outstanding.

2 The Clone Wars – The Highes Are Higher

With episodes like “Twilight Of The Apprentice,” “A World Between Worlds,” “Jedi Night,” “Family Reunion – And Farewell,” and, of course, “Twin Suns,” Rebels has some impressive highs. The Clone Wars just has higher.

As well as having more arguably flawless arcs/episodes than Rebels, The Clone Wars also has the Siege of Mandalore, which surpasses most movies in quality, never-mind episodes of other TV shows. This is another benefit of the arc structure, but that does not take away from the fact The Clone Wars managed to produce stories of such immense quality. The show may have its fair share of flaws, but arcs like Ahsoka’s leaving the Jedi Order, the Siege of Mandalore, and more, are flawless.

1 Rebels – Perfectly Wrapped Up, But Planted Seeds For Character Futures

There is no doubt the Siege of Mandalore is a higher quality series finale than “Family Reunion – And Farewell.” But unlike The Clone Wars, Rebels got to wrap up the show the way it was always intended, doing so brilliantly while also setting up for the future.

Every main character in Rebels got the ending they deserved. The entire story of the show, liberating Lothal, was wrapped up wonderfully. While Ezra’s fate and the journey Sabine and Ahsoka – and perhaps others – are set to embark on gets left open-ended, it fit in the finale. It was not made to feel like an unsatisfying loose end. With its arc structure, initial cancellation, and unaired stories being fleshed out elsewhere, not all of The Clone Wars characters get as fitting of an ending, and many loose ends remained by the end of season 7.