Star Wars’ new “Ahsoka” series drew surprisingly small audiences domestically in its first five days to its Disney+ premiere, per a Samba TV report.
According to Samba, only 1.2 million households of the 3 million Samba tracked tuned in for the series’ first week.
This puts the release at par with “Andor,” but substantially below “The Mandalorian” and “Obi-Wan Kenobi.” While 1.2 million isn’t nothing, for a well-reviewed show that pushes off from over a decade of animated storytelling (and sees the live action debut of fan-favorite Grand Admiral Thrawn), the number feels somewhat lackluster.
Disney and LucasFilm countered with a report that the series debuted globally to an audience of 14 million, becoming the most-watched show on Disney+ for that week – a more optimistic framing of the premiere.
It’s not the first time this has happened for Disney. This summer’s “Secret Invasion” saw the second-lowest debut viewership of a Marvel series at 994,000 of Samba’s households, despite star power from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Many have speculated, like the widely-quoted “superhero fatigue,” this could be a result of a parallel “Star Wars fatigue.” Since “The Rise of Skywalker” wrapped up the sequel trilogy in 2019, we’ve had three seasons of “The Mandalorian,” a Boba Fett series, an Obi-Wan series, and “Andor,” often with only a few months between a finale and a release. All of these are also set in one of two time periods within Star Wars canon: either just before the original trilogy or just after, seemingly tiptoeing around the mixed reception of the prequels and sequels.
The sequels themselves likewise saw a drop in audience interest across their run, with “The Force Awakens” grossing nearly double domestically compared to “The Rise of Skywalker,” though all three films ultimately cleared $1 billion worldwide.
It remains to be seen whether the series’ momentum can overcome the fatigue for its October finale.
