The release dates for all 12 episodes of the new Star Wars Disney+ series Andor have been revealed.
A bold graphic posted on the official Star Wars Instagram account broke the news of the 10-week schedule. Starting with the three-episode premiere date of Sept. 21, Andor will air a new episode every Wednesday through October and November, with the final episode dropping Nov. 23 -- the day before Thanksgiving in the United States. This is in keeping with the mid-week release schedule Disney+ has used for many of its other original series.
Andor is a prequel to the 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and begins five years before the events of the film. The series is centered on the titular Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, as he transitions from thief to an important part of the nascent Rebel Alliance. In addition to Luna, Genevieve O'Reilly will return as Senator Mon Mothma, and Forest Whitaker will also reprise his role as veteran leader Saw Gerrera.
One beloved character that will not reappear -- at least for Season 1 -- is the droid K-2SO. Showrunner Tony Gilroy recently explained why the fan favorite won't appear until Season 2. "From a storytelling point of view, there are multiple reasons," Gilroy said at a panel. "I would say, 'Wait and see.' It's a story we are eager to tell. It's difficult to carry an Imperial droid around with you and not draw all kinds of attention. It's a difficult piece of luggage. When we do it, we'll do it in a spectacular fashion as opposed to presenting it and ignoring it, or presenting it or hiding it, or the bad versions we would have been forced to do."
Sept. 21 marks a shift from the initial premiere date previously announced for Andor. Originally slated for Aug. 31, Andor's full trailer quietly revealed the three-week delay. While it was unclear at first why the change was made, it does create some separation between Andor and another new Disney+ show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Perhaps hoping to avoid the issues that arose from Ms. Marvel and Obi-Wan Kenobi airing concurrently, the newer Star Wars and Marvel shows will now each have their time to shine.
Disney is also apparently quite confident in the upcoming Star Wars series' success, as Season 2 of Andor will begin filming before Season 1 has completed airing. Showrunner Gilroy recently shared the concept behind their production schedule. "We are going to do another 12 episodes starting in November," he detailed. "[T]he organizing principle for shooting is that we do blocks of three, so last year we were looking at the difficulty of doing five years, which seemed like it would take us the next 30 years."
Andor's three-episode premiere hits Disney+ on Sept. 21.
Source: Instagram