The future of Star Wars will be streamed, and when you compare the state of this forever franchise in its various media it’s clear that’s a good thing.

In a world post-“Rise of Skywalker” and post-“The Mandalorian” Season 1, it’s important to note the difference in reception to these entities in the “Star Wars” universe. “ROS” has incredibly mixed reviews and is dividing the fan base (as “The Last Jedi” did before it) over the choices made. (The most important one being that after some subversive, maybe even heretical changes in “Last Jedi,” “ROTS” doubles down on the series’ dynasties in a manner that greatly diminishes the space epic.)

Meanwhile, “The Mandalorian” is an admittedly much smaller story, a western best described as “Lone Wolf & Cub” in space. By creating its own characters — and then often gleefully killing new favourites — while being almost universally hailed as a success, “Mandalorian” didn’t create a new template for “Star Wars” stories, but it showed what really works. Its lesson is simple: while we think we know this universe there is plenty left to explore — just populate it with characters we care about.

It’s also fun. The “real” Star Wars, the movie franchise, has been suffocating and self-serious for too long, whereas “The Mandalorian” had some great laughs, featuring scene-stealing comedians like Bill Burr. In fact, the finale had the funniest scene in this cinematic universe in years, with two Storm Troopers — played by Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally — chit-chatting about their murderous boss and engaging in some terrible target practice.

We can’t neglect the biggest alien in the room — or the smallest, actually: the runaway affection for Baby Yoda has likely played an outsized role in the show’s sudden pop-culture domination. But beyond that, the debut season of “The Mandalorian” was simply a good story, well told. It was fresh and intriguing and not at all weighed down by history and expectations.

Stories are stories, for all that has changed; it’s the method of distribution that is the big novelty now and, just as Marshall McLuhan noted, that also changes how we feel and react to it.

Episode IX of the “Star Wars” film series had to be big. We’ve been told for 40 years that this was the end to this particular grand saga. The movie needed to justify getting us to theatre, and it’s hard not to think some of the reaction to the last film coloured and changed this one. “Rise of Skywalker” seems like it was made by committee, undoing things from “The Last Jedi” and avoiding any real creative risks, and yet it is still dealing with backlash.

In its simplest terms, the main job of “The Mandalorian” was to serve as a calling card for Disney Plus — to get us all to sign on for the first few months of subscription dollars.

With no great help from some of the other dreck Disney Plus launched with, it has succeeded; amid all the high-profile launches on streaming services, “The Mandalorian” was that rare show that broke through the clutter.

That’s a great place to start with whatever expansion plans are next and you know Disney executives are plotting that out right now. It’s already been announced that “Star Wars” films are going on hiatus for the near future, likely with the hope that an absence may whet the appetite for a bigger story down the line.

Meanwhile, back at Disney Plus, there is an upcoming slate of Marvel shows, but the future of “Star Wars” is a bit more cloudy. Showrunner Jon Favreau has said only that “The Mandalorian” will return in fall 2020 and will feature more crossover with characters from the films.

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While there is danger in bogging new “Star Wars” down with old “Star Wars,” there is one interaction I can’t wait to see: “Mando, meet Lando. Lando, this is Mando.” End scene. Beyond that, there are reportedly series in the works built around Obi-Wan Kenobi and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna in “Rogue One”).

They may be needed. Despite all the praise that I genuinely offer for “The Mandalorian,” I still cancelled my Disney Plus subscription shortly after I watched the finale last week.

Disney’s back catalogue is impressive — my daughter is obsessed with “The Descendants” — but there isn’t enough to justify the monthly subscription. I’ve plowed through the old stuff I wanted to rewatch and it’s the new stuff that I want. Despite Disney’s and Apple’s big launches, there is a reason Netflix has a constant flood of content. People like me can’t quit because my queue of old stuff is sitting there and the queue of new stuff just keeps getting longer.

I really want to see Disney Plus’s slate of new shows, particularly high-profile Marvel series like “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” — although just like “The Mandalorian,” they have something to prove. For all the love of Marvel movies, its small-screen fare needs to up its game to justify its claim on people’s subscription dollars.

Disney, which owns Marvel and “Star Wars,” knows that and yet it still didn’t have enough new content to get another month’s subscription out of me.

But let’s go back to two things the original Yoda said: “Difficult to see, always in motion is the future” and “Pass on what you have learned.” “The Mandalorian” is the tent-pole and a template for the future success of “Star Wars.” As our new favourite bounty hunter puts it: “This is the way.”

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