Disney has been bafflingly quiet about the success of its latest Star Wars series. The second season of Andor is actually performing quite well with viewers, at least according to streaming data presented by Luminate.
While I consider this to be the very best Star Wars content since the original trilogy, Andor has failed to hit the same kind of numbers that previous shows like The Mandalorian have achieved. This is in part due to the show’s lesser-known protagonist. Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) is simply not as well-known as Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi, and there are no Jedi or baby Yodas to help boost interest.
It’s also partly due to the fact that Andor is a much darker, more adult series with a slower-paced spy story replacing tales of bounty hunters and Sith lords. Of course, I suspect the biggest reason that Andor hasn’t taken off is that many fans have simply burnt out on Disney’s version of Star Wars, and younger audiences have not latched onto the franchise in great enough numbers to boost its popularity. Critical success simply doesn’t translate into commercial success when so much of the fanbase has checked out.
And yet, despite all this, I sense a disturbance in the Force. According to the numbers, the second season of Andor is actually doing better than expected, especially as the second season heats up. Luminate reports (via Variety) that the show’s viewing numbers for the week of May 1-8 were up 48% for the week of May 1-8 at 714.6 million minutes viewed.
This puts the Star Wars series at the #2 spot for the week, just above the final season of You, though quite a ways below Netflix’s hit new dramedy, The Four Seasons. The show is even outpacing Paramount’s popular new crime drama, MobLand, which clocked in at 691.3 million minutes viewed. It’s sitting above other big shows like Ransom Canyon and The Eternaut on Netflix, and Your Friends & Neighbors on Apple TV+. It’s absolutely dwarfing Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
Of course, Andor has one big advantage over other weekly (i.e. non-Netflix) shows. Disney chose to release three episode chunks each week, meaning fans have three times as much content to consume in a week. That definitely means a boost in viewing minutes over shows that only release one episode at a time. Naturally, Netflix shows have an even bigger boost on the week they release, since (typically) the entire season drops at once.
I’m curious to see what next week’s numbers look like after the final three episodes land on Disney+. The buzz around the third batch of episodes was pretty huge, as even staunch critics of Disney’s Star Wars shows have come around and admitted that this is top-tier television. One such naysayer is The Critical Drinker, a popular YouTuber who has lambasted most recent Star Wars content. His latest video is effectively a mea culpa, admitting that this is basically the best Star War since the OT – something I’ve been saying since Season 1.
As a side-note, I’m very curious to see what Nielsen reports when its next streaming tracking data is released. That’s generally the “golden standard” but as of this writing, we’re still a few weeks away from solid numbers.
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