‘The Mandalorian’ And Other Disney Plus Original Shows Confirmed To Release Weekly

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A while ago, it was confirmed that Disney Plus’s first big Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, will be released on a weekly basis rather than dropping all at once. Word is that this will be the standard for the nascent streaming service.

The Wrap was able to confirm this information at the Disney D23 Expo while speaking to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series creator and co-showrunner Tim Federle. He revealed that all programming developed for the streaming service will drop on a weekly basis instead of arriving all at once. In the case of the very meta High School Musical redux, the show will drop over the course of 10 weeks.

While this might be disappointing to fans who wanted to see all of The Mandalorian in one eight-hour session when it comes out on November 12 in the United States and some other regions, from a logistical standpoint, this makes quite a bit of sense; Disney Plus does not have the same kind of library as Netflix at launch (even with a large amount of content from Disney’s existing libraries), and even as the competing streaming service loses content owned by third parties periodically, it’s not likely that it will ever catch up. Releasing episodes out on a weekly basis is the best way to maximize profits for the time being (which is to say that you get more money off of two months of subscriptions instead of just one), and there’s no reason that it couldn’t change down the road. Since Disney Plus will roll out over the course of several months, the effort may also help decrease the dangers that the content is pirated.

The Mandalorian is set after Return of the Jedi will explore the Star Wars timeline between the original and sequel trilogies for the first time in live-action. Pedro Pascal stars as the titular character, along with Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog, and Nick Nolte. Here’s the official synopsis:

After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.

The Mandalorian will debut exclusively on Disney Plus, which is set to launch November 12 in the United States and some other regions. Disney Plus is $6.99 for a monthly subscription and $12.99 for a monthly subscription bundle that also includes ESPN Plus and Hulu.

Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on Disney Plus, The Mandalorian, and the future of the Star Wars franchise as we learn it!