The Mandalorian may have been getting a lot of attention online since its return to Disney+, but new figures suggest that viewership of the Star Wars series has drastically dipped from the premiere of season 2. The third season of the popular show has just put out Episode 3, but according to figures released by Samba TV, the first episode of the season got off to a very weak start when compared to the record-breaking season 2 performance.
The Mandalorian has become a banker for Lucasfilm, delivering something that many of the franchise’s recent movies has failed to capture. However, despite the first two seasons recording some of the highest audiences on Disney+, the latest season’s return has fallen behind not only the previous season, but also the premieres of Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett. On the up side, the debut did score a 50% higher debut than the most recent Star Wars series of Andor, although its reviews have been hugely outpaced by that show.
While Disney+ does not reveal specific viewer numbers at the moment, Samba TV’s data has shown that The Mandalorian’s third season debut was watched by just under 1.5 million households in the U.S. This is comparable to 2.08 million who tuned into the season 2 premiere, or the 2.14 million that watched Ewan McGregor’s return as Obi-Wan Kenobi. What makes this all the more disappointing is that the trailer for season 3 became the most-viewed trailer for any Star Wars Disney+ series ever.
What Has Caused a Slump In Viewership for The Mandalorian?
There are always complaints about various franchise fatigues starting to creep in to some Disney properties. Most frequently it is the MCU that comes under fire for releasing too many TV shows and movies in a short space of time, but that is also often applied to Star Wars. When The Mandalorian made its Disney+ debut, it was new, it was fresh and it was the only Star Wars TV series out there. In the years since, Lucasfilm has released a number of animated shows along with live-action series The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and the promise of more to come in the form of Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew.
However, there is another factor to be considered that may explain the low viewership of The Mandalorian’s third season. There is choice of release date for a start. Both of The Mandalorian’s previous seasons arrived towards the end of the year, and made their debut on a Friday rather than a Wednesday. This means that the capture of four-day date included a weekend when many more people were likely to be watching TV. When it comes to a comparison between Season 2 and Season 3, the greatest difference is that Season 2 premiered in October 2020,when much of the world was in Covid lockdowns, which saw huge increases in all viewership volumes. This is a big reason why the latest figures are not really anything to worry about, as more long-term numbers will likely show that The Mandalorian is still as popular as ever.