Disney+ Series Finally Beats House of the Dragon To Become Most In-Demand New Show
Disney+ can now boast that it has slayed HBO Max's biggest beast: the Game of Thornes prequel series, House of the Dragon. According to new reports and analysis, Star Wars series Andor finally managed to topple House of the Dragon from its Iron Throne in terms of average audience demand. Demand rose considerably as Andor headed into its Season 1 finale over the Thanksgiving Holiday: that surge of a reported 7% bumped the series to 37.7 times the average levels of demand (HotD came in at 33.9K), based on factors that include streaming, downloads, social media, general buzz, and consumer data.
While it's a good headline for Disney and Star Wars that Andor has had a spike in demand, there are some contextual factors that should be noted. Obviously, House of the Dragon ended Season 1 on October 23rd, so it holding the top spot for audience demand since then is pretty great for HBO. Also, the data clearly shows that Andor is still lagging behind previous Star Wars TV releases Obi-Wan and The Book of Boba Fett, and far behind The Mandalorian. That all said, with the exception of House of the Dragon, demand for Andor well outpaced the next highest entry, which was AMC's Interview with the Vampire (27.7K) followed by Amazon's The Peripheral (25.4K) and hot new anime series, Chainsaw Man (24.5K).
Andor has been a very slow burn, yes, but it is a burn that has continued to steadily spread. The series is getting the kind of acclaim reserved for top prestige TV shows, and Disney seems to be recognizing that. During the Thanksgiving Holiday, Andor got aired on major Disney TV platforms, including FreeForm, FX, and Hulu. That, along with the highly-anticipated finale for viewers already invested in the series has probably just given Andor a nice spike in interest.
In breaking down just how much impact Andor has had on the larger Star Wars saga, ComicBook.com's Jamie Jirak had the following to say:
It's hard not to compare Andor to the other Star Wars shows that hit Disney+ this year, but The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi expanded on some of the franchise's most popular characters while Andor has done something unique by changing the way we view the original films. Since the series began, I have seen many tweets commenting on the fact that the Rebellion had so many heroes before Luke Skywalker came along at the very end and took all the glory. Of course, these are mostly good-natured jabs, but it was still a wise decision to use Andor as a way of showcasing the Rebellion's victory as a massive group effort. Star Wars may be fiction, but taking down any empire is not something that can realistically be done by a few people alone... Andor clearly isn't trying to undercut the triumphs of Luke and the rest of the franchise's original heroes, but exploring characters who fought on different levels adds a rich realism that you never expected....
Andor Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+. Andor Season 2 has begun production.