Should 'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' Season 2 Be Delayed?
Image Source: StarWars.com
Begun the streaming war has. The next few months are set to be packed with big-name high-budget series from various streaming services. From She-Hulk: Attorney at Law to House of the Dragon to The Rings of Power, the tidal wave of content is far from over. With so many major franchises putting out ambitious large-scale content, the most prominent corporations are in intense competition with one another. Among those corporations are Disney and, more specifically, Lucasfilm. 2022 has been a huge year for Star Wars. Despite the mixed reception towards The Book of Boba Fett, the widely acclaimed Obi-Wan Kenobi managed to maintain Star Wars’ place among the most profitable franchises in the world. But the year isn’t over yet and the galaxy far, far away still has more content to come. Of the upcoming Star Wars projects scheduled for the final months of the year, the three biggest ones are Andor,Tales of the Jedi, and The Bad Batch Season 2.
The second season of The Bad Batch is set to continue the story of Hunter, Echo, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega as they struggle to survive in a galaxy being overtaken by the newly-formed Galactic Empire. As a sequel to The Clone Wars, the series also follows up on many of the unresolved plot and character threads remaining within the canon. As such, thousands of Star Wars animation fans are eager to see The Bad Batch’s next season. However, there seems to be a bit of uncertainty surrounding the release date. After a few months of silence, Lucasfilm officially set the release of the season’s first episode for September 28th. Though this announcement was removed for a time, the date was quickly reiterated by Lucasfilm, leaving little doubt that we’ll be seeing the premiere of Season 2 just one week after the set premiere date for Andor. Reaction to this development has been varied throughout the Star Wars fandom.
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While many fans are glad about finally getting the season, others are worried about The Bad Batch’s new episodes being released on the same schedule as Andor. Aside from just overwhelming fans with multiple shows running simultaneously, this release schedule is sure to affect The Bad Batch’s overall viewership and marketing. Andor is set to be one of the biggest shows of 2022, with a level of writing and production value on par with those of Star Wars’ theatrical releases. Therefore, one would think that Lucasfilm would put similar amounts of marketing into Andor as they did with Obi-Wan Kenobi. After all, Disney even re-released Rogue One into IMAX theaters complete with an exclusive clip from the upcoming series. Clearly, Lucasfilm is putting everything into Andor at the moment. With this in mind, just how much room will be left for Season 2 of The Bad Batch to be marketed?
Even though the most dedicated Star Wars fans will likely watch The Bad Batch as well as Andor, the general public will likely gravitate far more towards the show that is most heavily marketed and most likely to directly influence the Star Wars films. So if a casual viewer goes onto Disney+ and sees a new episode of Andor and a new episode of The Bad Batch, they’re more likely to watch Andor in their off-time. Andor and The Bad Batch being released simultaneously is likely to overshadow The Bad Batch and hinder the show’s performance on the platform. Maybe it would just be better for The Bad Batch and Andor if the former’s upcoming season was delayed to 2023. The wait would be cumbersome for us fans, of course, but allowing the show to air by itself would likely help it in the long term more than releasing it alongside Andor.
At the end of the day, I’m not a streaming service executive or a marketing expert by any means. I’m simply thinking in terms of which scheduling would be better for The Bad Batch and the number of people who will tune in to watch the new season. Star Wars isn’t going to stop releasing shows for at least another decade. So let’s just hope that The Bad Batch doesn’t end up being phased out like the titular clones themselves.
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