“Star Wars” fans can mark their calendars: The hit Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” will return for its second season Oct. 30.
The announcement was made Wednesday on Twitter, though no other details — such as number of episodes or a trailer — accompanied it. But it appears certain that episodes will be released on a weekly basis, rather than an all-at-once binge.
The “Star Wars” spinoff, about a bounty hunter (played by Pedro Pascal) and a mysterious creature fans immediately dubbed “Baby Yoda,” debuted when Walt Disney Co.’s DIS, +1.37% streaming service first launched last November. The series was an immediate hit, but Disney+ has struggled to find comparable success and pop-culture buzz with its other originals, with the possible exceptions of the “Hamilton” movie in July and the upcoming live-action “Mulan” remake that will cost subscribers $30 to watch.
Read: Is ‘Mulan’ worth $30? The answer, and other streaming picks for September 2020
“The Mandalorian” should eventually have company on Disney+. The Marvel superhero spinoff series “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” saw its release pushed back from August due to pandemic-related production shutdowns, and appears likely to debut in 2021, while another “Star Wars” spinoff starring Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi was reportedly put on hold earlier this year to rewrite scripts. Two other Marvel series, “WandaVision” and “Loki,” will reportedly debut in late 2020 and spring 2021, respectively. Another “Star Wars” series, starring Diego Luna as assassin Cassian Andor in a “Rogue One” prequel, may also launch in 2021.
Still, the streaming service had more than 60 million subscribers as of early August, Disney said, thanks largely to its kid-friendly library of Disney classics, as well as “Star Wars” and Marvel movies.
While little is known about Season 2 of “The Mandalorian,” it appears the villainous Moff Gideon, played by Giancarlo Esposito, will take a larger role as Mando’s nemesis.
