Disney will show the first episode of The Mandalorian on normal TV
By Dan Selcke
Ahead of the third season, Disney is airing the first episode of The Mandalorian on ABC, Freeform or FX later this month!
The third season of The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars show, premieres on March 1. It will air, as always, on the Disney+ streaming service, and will continue the story of Mandalorian warrior Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu, aka Baby Yoda (a cute ‘lil puppet).
The Mandalorian has been a success on Disney+, but there’s always room to bring in more people. To that end, Disney will be airing the first-ever episode of the show, “Chapter 1: The Mandalorian,” on linear TV. Specifically, “Chapter 1” will air on ABC, Freeform and FX on February 24 at 8:00 p.m. EST/7 CST. The premiere was excellent when it premiered on Disney+ back in 2019 and it’ll be excellent when it airs on TV.
Disney previously did something like this when it aired the first two episodes of Andor on the same channels. In that case, it was because Andor wasn’t doing so well on Disney+, and Disney wanted to expose the show to more potential fans. The Mandalorian is more popular, but Disney’s streaming efforts have hit some roadblocks, as the company continues to lose money as it pumps resources into services like Disney+ and Hulu. It wants more subscribers, and giving linear viewers a taste of what they’re missing could help.
You have to wonder if there’s a bigger reckoning for streaming coming. Over at HBO Max, new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO has also been deemphasizing streaming a bit in favor or releasing content via more traditional means. Change may be in the air…
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h/t Engadget