The first 2 episodes of Star Wars: Andor will air on ABC, FX, Freeform, and Hulu at numerous points throughout the holiday weekend. This is a surprise, to be sure. But it’s also a welcome one, as those who don’t subscribe to Disney Plus will now have a chance to check out the new series that many are calling the best show on TV right now. It won’t air at the same time on each platform, which is also helpful in case anybody misses it due to a particularly ambitious turkey coma.
RELATED: Star Wars: Andor Features The Series’ Best Female Antagonist
Disney announced that the episodes “Kassa” and “That Would Be Me” will make their way to ABC first on Wednesday, November 23rd. This will be followed by FX on Thursday, November 24th, and Freeform on Friday, November 25th. The episodes will be shown all 3 days from 9 pm - 10:30 pm. Meanwhile, for those more interested in the on-demand route, Hulu subscribers will be able to watch both episodes from Wednesday, November 23rd, through Wednesday, December 7th.
Star Wars: Andor uses the backstory of Diego Luna’s character Cassian Andor from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as a jumping-off point to tell some surprisingly poignant tales of oppression and radicalization. As viewers watch Cassian’s journey from a local troublemaker just trying to survive to the Rebel leader he’s destined to be, they quickly realize that this show belongs to many characters. For one, there’s Denise Gough’s Imperial Officer Dedra Meero dealing with gender politics in the Empire, leaving audiences conflicted on supporting her when she also performs some truly vile actions. That’s just a taste of the sorts of nuances Andor excels at depicting.
This move by Disney could help Andor boost up its reputation, because as good as virtually every viewer will agree it is, it’s still mostly relying on word of mouth to stay relevant to the regular streaming discourse. Whereas other Star Wars shows such as The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi draw in viewers thanks to plenty of cameos and callbacks, Andor specifically avoids fan service thanks to showrunner Tony Gilroy choosing to let the story and characters speak for themselves.
Star Wars: Andor does admittedly feature a pretty slow burn, so the first 2 episodes alone might not be enough to bring in a tsunami of eyeballs. But for those whose interest it does pique, they’re about to dive into a world of political intrigue and heart-pounding drama in numbers that hopefully tell Disney that people do want this from a Star Wars show.
Star Wars: Andor drops its regular episodes every Wednesday on Disney Plus.
MORE: 9 Best Frankenstein Movies, Ranked
Source: Disney
