Lucasfilm delighted fans this week with the release of the first official trailer for Andor Season 2, and while fans are pumped for the series to return for its final season, many are bewildered by the show's updated release structure.
Season 2 of #Andor will release with 3 episodes each week!
— Star Wars TV || 🦋 @swtv.net (@SWTV_Updates) February 24, 2025
🔸 April 22nd: 1,2 & 3
🔸 April 29th: 4, 5 & 6
🔸 May 6th: 7, 8 & 9
🔸 May 13th: 10, 11 & 12 pic.twitter.com/jpTPrqx45K
A lot of fans were looking forward to 12 weeks of Star Wars with the return of Andor on April 22. However, this season has been broken up into four arcs with three episodes each. Each arc covers one year in the life of Cassian Andor and premieres every week for four weeks. This means the show will be over in a month, and fans must make time for three episodes a week if they don't want to fall behind. Andor has been the series with the longest runtime per episode, so three episodes a week means about a movie's worth of content.
This is great if you have plenty of free time on your hands, but for others, who get home late from work, have exams to prepare for, and may need to create content about the season - this is a nightmare! It's going to be an overwhelming challenge to make the time to watch up to three hours of Star Wars every week, especially as social media will overflow with spoilers. You have to watch all three episodes quickly because the next week will be here before you know it, and with it, three more episodes to process!
It's a lot to absorb, and I hope Lucasfilm has taken note of the reactions to this news online. A lot of fans don't know how to feel about this. Moreover, it would be far better for their only live-action show this year to be a topic of discussion over 12 weeks, instead of a month. Fans have been looking forward to Season 2 forever, and now it seems like it will be here and over before we know it. This takes away from the fun of weekly Star Wars, and I hope Lucasfilm re-assesses this decision and tweaks the release schedule.
While I understand the need to create an impact through three-episode arcs that represent one year, another good way to do this is to have a three-episode premiere, followed by six episodes released one by one for six weeks, and ending with a three-episode finale. This would allow the show to run for eight weeks instead of only four.
Although this might have something to do with Andor competing with The Last of Us Season 2. Lucasfilm might be hoping that three episodes a week could help the show crack Nielsen's Top 10 quickly, it's going to be a challenge for some viewers to keep up with the show this time. Writers and content creators must scramble to keep up with the content they have planned for the show, so it would be wise to plan things before the season premieres.
Andor Season 2 premieres April 22 on Disney+.