Disney has debuted the first look at The Mandalorian’s second season just days after announcing the show will return on October 30th.
The trailer seems to pick up where the first season of The Mandalorian left off, with the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda (or “the Child”) traveling across the galaxy. A voice over ominously talks about “stories of eons past” describing great battles between the Mandalorian and “an orderer of sorcerers known as Jedi.” Exciting!
Fans of The Star Wars live-action series have been concerned the show wouldn’t hit its previously announced October release date. The coronavirus pandemic shut down production on a plethora of TV shows and films around the world. But Disney CEO Bob Chapek has reiterated multiple times over the last few months that The Mandalorian was still on schedule, thanks to editing and post-production work that could be done remotely.
The Mandalorian is having a big moment. The series helped land most of Disney Plus’ 18 Emmy nominations, including a nomination for Taika Waititi (looking to follow up his recent Oscar win) for his voiceover work as IG-11. Giancarlo Esposito also landed a Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series nomination for his performance as Moff Gideon.
It’s a good time for Disney to remind fans The Mandalorian is coming. Disney has faced criticism for not adding new and exciting titles at a fast enough clip — especially compared to its streaming rival Netflix, which releases new titles every week. Earlier this year, Disney also confirmed that one of its most anticipated Disney Plus live-action titles, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier from Marvel Studios, is delayed.
Part of that is timing: Disney Plus launched only a few months before the pandemic really settled in. Another factor is that Disney doesn’t necessarily want to compete with the quantity of Netflix’s output. If Disney can have one or two big shows and original films from its tentpole franchises every quarter, subscribers could be happy to stick around and keep paying the monthly fee. It’s not like Disney Plus is hurting, either. The service hit 60 million subscribers last month — a milestone Disney predicted it wouldn’t hit until 2024.
Still, having The Mandalorian’s second season should give Star Wars fans something to look forward to, while also energizing people who haven’t touched Disney Plus since the first season premiered in November 2019 to open the app and perhaps resume a lapsed subscription.
