The Mandalorian finally returned to Disney+ earlier this month more than two years after the season 2 finale dropped on the streaming service.
The Book of Boba Fett helped fill the gap, of course, but that spin-off paled in comparison and was at its best when Din Djarin and Grogu showed up. Now, there are concerns about Star Wars fatigue after The Wrap (via SFFGazette.com) recently shared updated viewership trends from Samba TV.
They measure around 3 million U.S. households through more than 25 million TVs, so while this is a small percentage of Disney+ users (and pretty much nothing compared to the number of global subscribers), the figures still offer an idea of the level of interest in shows.
According to the trade, while "The Apostate" outpaced Andor's premiere by nearly 50% in terms of viewership, it fell short of Obi-Wan Kenobi by 28%.
Disaster, right?
Not really. For starters, The Mandalorian is now in its third season and it's typical for any TV show to lose viewers over time. That huge gap between seasons certainly won't have helped matters, but comparing this series to Obi-Wan Kenobi is borderline ridiculous when that series was literally years in the making and featured huge name characters from the Star Wars franchise.
So, while there may be an element of Star Wars fatigue here, we're really not sweating The Mandalorian's future. Showrunner Jon Favreau has already said that he has long-term plans for the series, with the story of Din Djarin and Grogu being one he imagines lasting indefinitely.
"Still the best Star Wars TV show," we said in our review of the first two episodes, "The Mandalorian returns with everything fans love about the franchise and plenty of hints that this will be the most thrilling and revealing season yet. We’re ready for that Bo-Katan Kryze spin-off."
Have you been tuning into The Mandalorian this year?