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After being turned into a couch meme at her very first Met Gala the year prior (more on that in a second), Kardashian chose to play it safe for the 2014 theme, “Charles James: Beyond Fashion.” 

Alber Elbaz designed her custom Lanvin gown, which featured a black satin belt and a thigh-high slit. 

The gown was undoubtedly pretty and would’ve looked great for a movie premiere or awards show, but it was nothing special for a night that encourages celebrities to push the envelope.

Kardashian’s ensemble was actually supposed to look completely different. She revealed on her now-inactive website that the gown was originally made of “this amazing leather with metallic detailing.” Her design team only decided to redo it in blue satin at the last minute.  

Kardashian still planned to pair her new gown with a chunky belt and leather cuffs, but she ditched them before walking the red carpet because, according to E!, they were “a bit too rock ‘n’ roll.”

As a Met Gala novice, it was clear Kardashian didn’t want to rock the boat too much on the carpet. Still, we wish we could’ve seen the far edgier look she envisioned in 2014.

Kardashian wore a metallic silver Balmain gown with a thigh-high slit for the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” theme in 2016. 

We loved the fabric of the silver dress, and Kardashian took a bit of a risk with her beauty by bleaching her eyebrows. However, the look didn’t stand out among a sea of similar metallic looks. 

Kardashian was also overshadowed by her date, then-husband Kanye West. The rapper made headlines that year for daring to wear denim to the Met Gala. 

Looking back on her Met Gala looks in 2019, Kardashian revealed she felt insecure ahead of the event because she hadn’t “lost all of my baby weight” after giving birth to her son Saint in December 2015, which is likely why she stuck to her usual silhouette.

The “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” Met Gala will likely go down as one of the boldest in the event’s history. Stars like Rihanna, Ariana Grande, and Blake Lively delivered stunning looks referencing everything from the Pope to the Sistine Chapel. 

Because of all the eye-catching looks, Kardashian didn’t make waves with her custom gold Versace dress, although the number did nab her a few spots on best-dressed lists. 

Kardashian personally designed the chain-mail gown with Donatella Versace, and we loved the dark eye makeup and high pony she paired it with.

While the reality TV star hadn’t yet mastered how to steal the show at the Met Gala, her style was definitely becoming a little bolder.

After years of trying to top herself on the Met steps — taking breathing lessons for a Thierry Mugler corset or losing 16 pounds to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress — Kardashian has become synonymous with form-fitting ensembles.

So the metallic-orange body suit she wore for the 2026 “Costume Art” Met Gala felt almost… predictable.

While the custom look by Allen Jones and Whitaker Malem — who describe themselves as a “body-based designer/artisan duo” — might have been a showstopper on a different star, it just made Kardashian’s fashion feel one-note.

We will give her credit, though, for honoring the “Fashion is Art” dress code. The bodysuit was inspired by Jones’ 1970 artwork “Pour les Lèvres.”

At first glance, Kardashian’s off-the-shoulder white dress for the “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between” theme might seem even simpler than the gowns we’ve already discussed. 

But the chic and beachy outfit, which Kardashian paired with sandals and minimal makeup, felt like a statement from the reality TV star. On a night when everyone would dial it up and go avant-garde, Kardashian decided to do something completely different — and it worked. One headline praised Kardashian’s “seriously toned down” look.

“I figured everyone was going to go really over the top, and I just wanted to be really simple,” Kardashian, who attended the event without West for the first time, told Vogue on the red carpet.

The 2017 Met Gala also happened just a few months after Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris, and $11 million in jewels were stolen from her hotel room. The simple Vivienne Westwood dress and her lack of accessories felt like a statement from Kardashian, who later discussed the trauma she experienced from the robbery.

For the 2025 Met Gala, Kardashian opted for an all-black two-piece set from the Los Angeles-based brand Chrome Hearts.

The bodycon ensemble featured a daring low-rise skirt, a wide-brimmed fedora that felt reminiscent of Carmen Sandiego, and a pearl chain belt.

While it was a visually cool outfit and felt like a fresh vibe for Kardashian, it just didn’t make much of a splash on a night filled with beautiful, bold suits in regal colors.

Kardashian wore a custom John Galliano dress to the “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” gala, which had a “Garden of Time” dress code.

Kardashian’s look leaned into the garden aspect of the dress code, though it clearly had a through-line to her previous Met Gala looks as well.

Like dresses she wore in previous years, the gown was metallic and featured a dramatic, waist-cinching corset. Floral detailing adorned the strapless bodice, while the floor-length skirt was made of interlocking, floral appliqué that showed peeks of Kardashian’s legs. Her blond hair added to the edgy feel of the look.

The gown was well-suited to the theme, but the gray shrug Kardashian wore atop looked disjointed with the rest of the look. The outfit would have been stronger if Kardashian had let the dress speak for itself.

Designed by Peter Dundas, the dress was covered with strategically placed crystals and featured a long train of white feathers. Kardashian revealed on Instagram that her inspiration had been Cher’s iconic 1974 Met Gala outfit.

Other naked dresses were popular on the red carpet that year. Stars like Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez won praise for their sheer numbers, and Rihanna had the most standout look of the night by upstaging everyone with her custom Guo Pei gown — now one of the most iconic Met Gala looks of all time. 

But Kardashian’s gown was bold, stunning, and told a story. It was the first inkling that she could become a force on the Met Gala red carpet.

Kardashian arrived at the “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” Met Gala in a Schiaparelli gown made almost entirely of pearl strands.

The strings of pearls created a halter-style bodice and barely-there skirt, which sat atop taupe shapewear.

Lagerfeld often gravitated toward pearls in his designs, making the ensemble an apt choice for the ball. However, the look also referenced Kardashian’s 2007 Playboy shoot, for which she posed only wearing pearls, so it made even more of a statement.

Kris Jenner said her now meme-ified comment, “You’re doing amazing, sweetie,” to Kardashian during the shoot, as captured on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Kardashian also celebrated her Skims empire with the shapewear she wore under the pearls, using the Met Gala as a platform for her own success. The company was worth $3.2 billion as of 2022.

Kardashian arrived at the 2021 Met Gala in the most jaw-dropping look of the night, with the theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Her Balenciaga bodysuit and oversized T-shirt dress covered her from head to toe, including a face-covering mask and gloves.

She was only visible in silhouette, with her ponytail and a train flowing behind her as she walked the Met Gala carpet.

It was an instant meme because of its avant-garde nature. Still, Balenciaga’s creative director at the time, Demna Gvasalia, later explained that the outfit was designed to highlight how iconic Kardashian’s body had become in pop culture. 

“People would know instantly it was Kim because of her silhouette. They wouldn’t even need to see her face, you know?” Gvasalia told Vogue. “And I think that’s the whole power of her celebrity, that people wouldn’t need to see her face to know it’s her.”

Kardashian arrived at the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” gala in a Thierry Mugler gown that hugged her figure and was adorned with crystals. The dress appeared sheer, as it matched her skin tone.

After the gala, Kardashian revealed she went to extreme lengths to wear the skin-tight dress, including taking corset lessons to breathe in it.

She also couldn’t go to the bathroom in the dress, and in a clip from “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” she said she was willing to urinate on herself in the gown if there was an emergency. 

The dress was pretty, but Kardashian’s drastic measures made it memorable.

Kardashian made her Met Gala debut in 2013 while expecting her first child, North West. 

The gala’s theme was “Punk: Chaos to Couture,” and Kardashian wore a long-sleeve, floral Riccardo Tisci dress. It had a high neckline that contrasted with its daring, thigh-high slit. Matching, open-toe shoes completed the look.

Kardashian told Vogue in 2019 that Tisci wanted the floral pattern to symbolize sending a pregnant woman flowers, which she said was “such a sweet message.” Tisci also told Kardashian that Anna Wintour wanted her to wear the floral dress, so she did.

Social media users immediately took to Twitter to criticize the look after Kardashian walked the red carpet. Many compared the dress to a couch, to the star’s dismay.

“I was crying, like, the whole way home because I just couldn’t believe it,” Kardashian said in the same interview with Vogue.

Looking back at the dress, Kim has a different perspective. “Now I love it,” she told the magazine. “Now it’s, like, sick.”

Although it wasn’t for the reasons she wanted, Kardashian was the talk of the event from her very first Met Gala, which was even more impressive considering she was attending as Kanye West’s date.

Kardashian made headlines when she arrived at the 2022 “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” Met Gala in the dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing “Happy Birthday” to President John F. Kennedy in 1962.

The sheer Jean Louis dress was embellished from head to toe, and Kardashian dyed her hair platinum blond to fully recreate Monroe’s look.

“In a sense, it’s the original naked dress. That’s why it was so shocking,” Kardashian told Vogue of the gown.

She borrowed the dress from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in Orlando, which acquired it for $4.81 million in 2016, according to a Ripley’s press release. Kardashian wore the gown on the red carpet, but she changed into a replica immediately after because it was so fragile. 

Kardashian once again took extreme measures to fit into Monroe’s dress. She said she lost 16 pounds in three weeks so she could wear it. 

The conversation around the dress continued for weeks after the Met Gala, as people accused Kardashian of damaging the gown when she wore it.

In June 2022, Ripley’s and Kardashian sent Business Insider a joint statement saying she “did not, in any way, damage the garment in the short amount of time it was worn at the Met Gala.” 

Kardashian solidified her status as the Met Gala it-girl with her Marilyn Monroe look, a truly once-in-a-lifetime fashion moment.

After attending past Met Galas as guests, the billionaire couple is taking on a new role at this year’s ball. They’re helping fund this year’s exhibit and gala, alongside Saint Laurent and Condè Nast. They’re also honorary co-chairs.

Sánchez Bezos first attended the Met Gala in 2024, walking the red carpet solo in a statement Oscar de la Renta gown. The Amazon founder, on the other hand, has never walked the event’s red carpet, but he’s been photographed inside.

Though the couple has said they’re excited for the Met Gala, protest groups have posted boycott signs and other displays across New York City.

We know that the Met Gala’s host committee members will be in attendance. That includes Anthony Vaccarello, the creative director of YSL, and Zoë Kravitz (no word yet on whether Kravitz will bring Harry Styles as her plus-one), as well as stars like Sabrina Carpenter, Teyana Taylor, and Lisa.

Others have indicated they’ll be there by attending pre-Met Gala celebrations, such as Colman Domingo, who attended Wayman + Micah’s party, and Kris and Kendall Jenner, who were spotted at Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos’ bash.

Of course, we’ll be on the lookout for the stars who always make a splash, like Rihanna. Sometimes, though, it’s first-time attendees who make the biggest impact, as Tyla did in 2024 when she arrived in a gown made of sand.

Though we won’t be able to see what happens inside the famous gala, the red carpet will be filmed from start to finish.

Vogue will livestream Met Gala arrivals on YouTube, TikTok, and its other digital platforms beginning at 6 p.m. ET.

Model Ashley Graham, actor La La Anthony, and model Cara Delevigne will host, and influencer Emma Chamberlain will return as a Vogue red-carpet correspondent.

You can also watch the red carpet on E! starting at 6 p.m. ET.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” begins with Meryl Streep in an opening scene clearly inspired by the Met Gala, but life won’t be imitating art at this year’s event.

A spokesperson for the Oscar-winning actor confirmed that Streep will not be attending fashion’s biggest night on Monday, as per her tradition.

“Meryl has been invited to the Met Gala for many years but has never attended,” the representative told People, adding that the star-studded event “has never quite been her scene.”

The absence still comes as a surprise, given Streep’s recent media blitz for “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which included posing on the cover of Vogue alongside Anna Wintour, who has chaired the Met Gala for three decades. Streep — who plays a fashion magazine editor in chief inspired by Wintour in the film — also sat next to the legendary Vogue editor at a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show during Milan Fashion Week in September.

Anna Wintour, Vogue’s former editor in chief, works with a set of famous Met Gala co-chairs each year to bring the event to life.

For 2026, Wintour tapped Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Beyoncé.

Kidman and Williams have been familiar faces at the Met Gala in recent years, but Beyoncé hasn’t attended the event since 2016 for the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” gala.

Unlike some A-list events, the Met Gala always has a theme. It coordinates with the Costume Institute’s annual exhibit, which attendees can explore once they enter the gala.

For 2026, museum curator Andrew Bolton created a “Costume Art” exhibit, saying he “wanted to focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the museum.”

The Met Gala’s red carpet also has a dress code that dictates the eye-catching looks celebrities wear. This year, stars will dress to the “Fashion is Art” dress code, as Vogue announced in February, advising guests to “consider the many ways that designers use the body as their blank canvas.”

That description leaves plenty of room for guests to interpret the theme as they see fit, particularly compared to stricter Met Gala dress codes of years past, so we’ll likely see a variety of different takes on “Fashion is Art” attire.

It’s time to roll out the fancy carpet because fashion’s biggest night is just hours away.

Held annually at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met Gala raises funds for the museum’s Costume Institute and is the place to be for celebrities on the first Monday in May.

A night of glamour doesn’t come cheap, though.

This year, individual tickets cost $100,000. More often than not, fashion houses and other corporate sponsors buy tables and bring guests to fill them (though Anna Wintour is said to have final say on who gets in). Tables cost $350,000 for 2026.

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Rotten Tomatoes score: 51%

Critics and fans agree that the most recent (for now) “Star Wars” film is also the worst in the decadeslong franchise. In attempting to wrap up a story that’s been going since the ’70s and please fans who hated the previous installment (more on that one later), the powers that be had an unenviable task.

Unfortunately, they did not prove to be up to the challenge. “Rise of Skywalker,” in the seven years since its release, has become shorthand for a disappointing finale — just look at the first responses to the latest “Mission: Impossible” movie.

If you don’t remember, “The Rise of Skywalker” made the questionable decision to make Rey the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, dragging this new trilogy back to an enemy fans thought they’d finally left in the past. It also killed off Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, failed to kill off Chewbacca in an insulting fake-out, and added a bunch of new, useless characters instead of focusing on existing ones that audiences had grown fond of over the last two films.

“J.J. Abrams’s mechanical, nonsensical ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ contains so many resurrections it’s a wonder Disney and Lucasfilm didn’t push back the release date from Christmas to Easter,” wrote Michael Sragow for Film Comment Magazine.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 54%

“The Phantom Menace” came to theaters in 1999, 16 years after we had last spent time in a galaxy far, far away. Needless to say, expectations were extremely high.

This movie, which certainly has its defenders, is, to put it plainly, boring. Even if its plot about a trade war has new significance today, that doesn’t mean we wanted a “Star Wars” movie to focus on the economy of the galaxy.

It was also an unfortunate choice to introduce Anakin Skywalker, the future Darth Vader, as a 10-year-old child, especially when his future wife, Padmé, was played by 18-year-old Natalie Portman.

“Sure, there’s a great NASCAR-like pod race and a cool, horn-studded professional wrestler type… But the only person who gets body-slammed here is the viewer looking for a trace of the magic that carried us away in the original trilogy,” wrote Rick Holter for the Dallas Morning News.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 62%

Ruled a slight improvement upon its predecessor, “Attack of the Clones” continues the story of Anakin Skywalker, now played by a 21-year-old Hayden Christensen. It follows him as he falls in love with Padmé (a big no-no for a Jedi), while the rest of the Jedi try to uncover a conspiracy regarding a secret army and the return of their ancient enemies, the Sith.

“‘Attack of the Clones’ wasn’t as outrightly horrid as ‘Phantom Menace,’ but it offended in a different way: it was boring,” wrote Collider’s Allison Keene.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 66%

Boba Fett, as a character, was one of the coolest and most mysterious people in the Star Wars universe. He was introduced as a faceless assassin with a sick jetpack in “The Empire Strikes Back,” and he captivated fans for decades after.

It’s a tough ask to create a story worthy of someone that cool — and “Book of Boba Fett” proved that we probably should know less about Boba, not more.

It follows the assassin after his escape from the Sarlacc Pit in “Return of the Jedi,” when he became part of the Tusken Raiders, through to his takeover of Tatooine’s underworld. If none of that meant anything to you, it’s best you skip this one.

The most damning thing about “Boba Fett” though, is that the best episode of the season was the one that was more like a bridge between the second and third seasons of “The Mandalorian.”

“‘The Book of Boba Fett’ was a series of compounding mistakes. Its best feature was to deliver a ‘Mandalorian’ sequel that could have been a self-contained film,” wrote Craig Mathieson for The Age.

Rotten Tomatoes: 69%

It was never going to be easy to fill the gargantuan shoes of Harrison Ford as Han Solo, who is perhaps the coolest and most beloved character in movie history? (There’s a case to be made.)

So, we can’t really lay the blame on Alden Ehrenreich for the failure of this movie, an origin story for pre-“A New Hope” Han. It was just never going to work. There’s also the nonsensical plot, unimportant fan service — did we really need to know how Han got his dice or his last name? — and a lackluster villain.

“‘Solo’ is at its best when it’s uncoupled from all that heavy lifting, just crammed in a cockpit with its likeable cast and shooting for the stars,” wrote Time Out’s Philip de Semlyen.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

There’s a lot to love about “The Acolyte,” chief among them Manny Jacinto’s performance as The Stranger, one of the creepiest villains a “Star Wars” property has ever given us.

This show, which took place in a heretofore unexplored era of the “Star Wars” universe (roughly 100 years before “The Phantom Menace”), also had an interesting question at its center: Are the Jedi actually good?

Alas, we’ll never know what happens to twins Osha and Mae, and the Stranger, because Disney canceled the show after one season.

“Set hundreds of years before the events of the Star Wars saga we know best, this show gets to tell its own story — making it better than most of the series Disney+ has pumped out,” wrote Dylan Roth for Observer.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%

Don’t underestimate the power of the prequels, even if, on average, they have the lowest scores of the three film trilogies. When “Revenge of the Sith” returned to theaters for a weeklong stint to celebrate its 20th anniversary last year, it was the No. 2 movie at the box office, only behind “Sinners.“

“Revenge of the Sith” is easily the best prequel film. It has the very real stakes of Anakin slowly descending into evil and becoming the most iconic movie villain of all time, Darth Vader. It also depicts the Jedi finally realizing that they’ve been blind to the hatred and fascism festering right under their noses, and Obi-Wan’s decision to dedicate his life to protecting his best friend-turned-enemy’s son, Luke.

It puts all the pieces into place for anyone who chooses to watch the “Star Wars” films in chronological order without missing a beat.

“The saddest and sincerest of all the ‘Star Wars’ epics, the mad work of a man desperately trying to understand his own creation,” wrote Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

For many years, fans theorized about what, exactly, Obi-Wan was doing in the Tatooine desert during the 20 or so years between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope.”

This miniseries answered that question, for at least a few weeks. It turns out Obi-Wan met a young Princess Leia, saved her from the Empire, battled with Darth Vader multiple times, and reconnected with the Force. It was a productive time!

The high point of this series was Obi-Wan and Vader’s final fight, where Obi-Wan heartbreakingly glimpsed Anakin for a few moments, underneath all the hatred, before giving up on his old friend.

“The latest ‘Star Wars’ spin-off from Disney+ sees the Scot [Ewan McGregor] put in his best performance as the legendary Jedi in a John Wick-esque caper with marvelous action sequences,” wrote Stuart Heritage for The Guardian.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

It’s hard to end a series in a satisfying way, and back in 1983, George Lucas and Co. didn’t know for sure that another six movies would be released. This could’ve been the last people saw of Luke, Han, Leia, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO.

Even though, of course, we know it wasn’t, “Return of the Jedi” does a pretty good job of tying up loose ends. Luke fulfills his destiny to bring balance to the Force, Han and Leia declare their love, Anakin finds the light once again, and Ewoks are there. What else could you want?

“One may carp, gripe, quibble with ‘Jedi,’ but Lucasfilm’s special effects subsidiary, Industrial Light and Magic, is in a class by itself as creator of screen magic. And when it is good, ‘Jedi’ is peerless escapist fantasy,” wrote Joseph Gelmis for Newsday.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

George Lucas has repeatedly reiterated that “Star Wars” is meant for kids. Rogue One, a prequel story that goes right up to the seconds before “A New Hope” starts, puts that statement to the test.

It’s easily the darkest and most morally gray film in the “Star Wars” canon and shows Darth Vader at his most terrifying, finally pushing beyond what was technologically possible during the original trilogy.

Based on a throwaway line in the opening crawl of “A New Hope,” “Rogue One” proved that a “Star Wars” movie about something other than Luke Skywalker and the Force could be successful.

Chris Klimek of NPR called the film a “tense, well-made spacefaring war movie about a desperate and demoralized band of insurgents standing up against a rising authoritarian regime.”

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

It’s time to discuss the animated properties in the “Star Wars” universe. If you skipped out on “The Clone Wars” or “Rebels,” you most likely don’t even know who Ahsoka is.

A quick crash course: Between the events of “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith,” the Clone Wars ravage the galaxy, and Anakin is promoted from padawan (or apprentice) to Jedi master. In turn, he takes a padawan himself: Ahsoka. Don’t worry about why she’s never mentioned in the movies; it’s (somewhat) convincingly retconned in “Clone Wars.”

She’s one of the most beloved characters in the animated “Star Wars” canon, and her live-action debut was highly anticipated.

So, when it was announced that Rosario Dawson would play Ahsoka first in “The Mandalorian,” and then in her own series, people were hyped.

And, for the most part, the series lived up to expectations. The one issue is that this show barely makes any sense if you don’t have, at the very least, basic knowledge of the characters from “Rebels,” including Sabine, Hera, Ezra, and Thrawn.

Season two is set to be released later in 2026.

“No lightsabers can match the fierce glow of Rosario Dawson as the ex-Jedi with the funky headgear who leads her sisterhood — glory to Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Natasha Liu Bordizzo — against the Empire’s fading patriarchy. Now that’s worth celebrating,” wrote Peter Travers of ABC News.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Two words: Baby Yoda.

The first-ever “Star Wars” live-action TV show started on a high note, thanks to the cutest puppet of all time (who would later be named Grogu, but started out as simply “Baby Yoda”).

Besides this unbelievably adorable baby, “The Mandalorian” has another thing going for it: Pedro Pascal’s vocal performance as Din Djarin, a Mandalorian bounty hunter just trying to find his way in the universe. When he meets (and then refuses to kill) Grogu in the first episode, it starts him on a quest that’s still going — get ready for “The Mandalorian & Grogu” coming to theaters in a couple of weeks.

As “The Mandalorian” has progressed, it’s become a bit bogged down in connecting to the larger “Star Wars” canon, but we’ll always have that perfect first season.

“For all its sci-fi stiltedness, ‘The Mandalorian’ founded a compelling myth, a world of paranoia, ethical dilemmas and, aah, tiny space kitten things. Just don’t take it too seriously,” wrote The Times‘ Victoria Segal.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

“The Last Jedi” is the most divisive “Star Wars” movie of the bunch. Those who love it, love it, and those who don’t? Well, just look at the 41% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

We’re of the opinion that it rocks. It has breathtaking cinematography, intense fights, and a genuinely beautiful message: That anyone, even if their last name isn’t Skywalker, can stand up to evil in the universe, whether they’re a small boy with a broom, a former Stormtrooper, or a young woman from a junk planet in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t matter where you came from, just where you intend to go.

“[Director Rian] Johnson is easily the most skilled filmmaker to helm one of these (it’s not even close) and it’s not just that the film has a surface beauty of its own. He’s aware of what we expect narratively from a ‘Star Wars’ movie, and delights in subverting it,” wrote Jason Bailey for Flavorwire.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

“Skeleton Crew” is best described as “The Goonies” in space. It follows a group of ragtag kids who accidentally get trapped on an old spaceship and get lost in space. They must work together, along with a new friend Jod (played by the always-charming Jude Law), to get home to their planet, which is more important and mysterious than these kids ever could have guessed.

It’s fun — something that “Star Wars” has been sorely lacking recently — and definitely worth the watch.

“For anyone who says the House That [George] Lucas Built is out of ideas and has been picked clean, ‘Skeleton Crew’ proves there’s still meat left on those bones,” wrote The San Francisco Chronicle’s Zaki Hasan.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

“The Empire Strikes Back” has one of the most iconic plot twists in movie history. Do the words “No, I am your father” mean anything to you?

It’s also widely considered one of the best sequels of all time, and has been used as a shorthand to describe any sequel that some could call better than the original, and it’s certainly darker than its predecessor.

“The Empire Strikes Back,” for all its fun (and there is fun!), ends on a huge downer. Han has been captured and frozen in carbonite in front of the woman he loves and has been betrayed by an old friend; Luke has found out his nemesis is actually his dad; and the Empire is stronger than ever. Woof.

“The appeal of visiting Oz is that it is a magical place over the rainbow. The appeal of ‘Star Wars’ and, now, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ is that it also takes us to a magical place — the childhood of our mind,” wrote Gene Siskel for the Chicago Tribune.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

It had been 32 years since Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher had graced our screens as Luke, Han, and Leia (and for Hamill, at least, it’d be another couple of years until we saw him again).

Audiences had three decades to become attached to these original characters, but when “The Force Awakens” introduces us to Finn (John Boyega), a disillusioned stormtrooper, Poe (Oscar Isaac), a brash Resistance pilot, Rey (Daisy Ridley), a junk trader desperate for something more, and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), our new terrifying villain, audiences knew they were in good hands.

And then, after all that, we got to see (almost) all of our old friends together again, too.

“As a nostalgia trip that knows exactly what die-hard ‘Star Wars’ fans want and then layers in some memorable new characters, ‘The Force Awakens’ is exactly what it needs to be: an old-school Saturday afternoon sci-fi matinee writ big,” wrote The Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Originally titled “Star Wars,” this is the film that started it all.

There’s a reason we’re still watching “Star Wars” movies and shows five decades later. The world that George Lucas introduced us to in “Star Wars” is filled with lovable characters, a villain that continues to scare audiences, a magical Force that connects all living things, and a brand-new alien to catch your attention whichever way you look. In many ways, it’s the closest thing we have to American mythology.

It also affected Hollywood forever. The special effects company created for this film, Industrial Light and Magic, completely changed the game for special effects and is still working today. It’s the fourth-highest-grossing film ever, adjusted for inflation. It was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, including best picture, and won six, including a special achievement award for its sound designer, Ben Burtt.

Critics knew it then; fans still know it now. To put it simply: “A New Hope” is great.

“George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ is not a film that readily lends itself to comparisons, so it may as well begin with the superlatives. This captivating science fantasy is the finest pure entertainment to reach the screen in ages,” wrote Desmond Ryan for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

“Andor,” according to critics, is the best live-action “Star Wars” property, and it’s hard to argue with them.

The series, which ran for two seasons, follows the beginning seeds of the Rebellion, which, by the time we see it in “A New Hope,” is a high-functioning operation. Of course, it didn’t start out that way.

Even though we know how this story ends, with Cassian Andor and many of his friends sacrificing their lives in “Rogue One” and beyond, the stakes are high, and the series can be unbearably tense.

Another high point: the writing. Many have clowned on George Lucas’ stilted dialogue in the prequels. There’s none of that to be found in creator Tony Gilroy’s prose, which has provided some of the most beautiful lines in “Star Wars” history. It is sorely missed.

“The show deserves to be seen as great TV, in the same league as shows like ‘The Wire’ and ‘The Sopranos,'” wrote David Klion for The New Republic.