Andor may feature a familiar character from a familiar Star Wars story, but Lucasfilm's latest series for Disney+ is unlike any other fans have seen on the streamer thus far.
In addition to its 12-episode seasons with time jumps, Andor stands apart in that it's more for adults than kids in both its content and complexity and is not a continuation of Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau's ongoing Mando-Verse.
Instead, Andor is a product of Rogue One writer Tony Gilroy, and the first production to forgo The Volume and StageCraft for on-set locations.
But even though it differs from the likes of The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, audience response to these differences has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, many already consider Andor one of the best Star Wars series to date.
However, while the Diego Luna-led series appears to be winning with fans and critics, it appears to be struggling in terms of audience demand.
How Andor's Demand Compares to Other Disney+ Star Wars Series
According to Parrot Analytics' Brandon Katz, data suggests that, despite Andor's success with fans and critics, audience demand for the series has been significantly lower than other Star Wars Disney+ series at relative points in their releases, including The Book of Boba Fett:
"The most disappointing trend I've come across recently is how audience demand for Andor is overwhelmingly lower than The Mandalorian S1-2, The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi despite the fact that it is easily the best Star Wars series BY FAR."
Katz's claim of how the demand for Andor is "overwhelmingly lower" than Lucasfilm's other Star Wars series when they were airing can be seen in the graph below:
Comparing the daily demand of each of the series at their respective "START" dates, Andor's demand (blue line) is over ten times lower than The Mandalorian's two seasons (red and purple), The Book of Boba Fett (orange), and Obi-Wan Kenobi (green).
The graph depicts extensive data on Andor, despite the series only being at its halfway mark, because this is where the data is trending now.
However, Katz explained this trend could change and updates will be made, especially now that Amazon's Rings of Power just concluded and HBO's House of the Dragon is nearing its finale.
Andor's Franchise-Heavy Competition
So why is such a well-received Star Wars series appear to be struggling in terms of demand?
Well, there are two possible answers to this anomaly: competition and the nature of the show.
As already noted, Andor has been competing with a number of franchise shows with huge fan bases, such as The Rings of Power, The House of the Dragon, and fellow Disney+ series, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Neither season of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, nor Obi-Wan Kenobi faced such stiff competition for audience demand.
It will be interesting to see if Andor's numbers improve now those shows have either ended or are drawing to a close.
But something else to consider is that Andor has a twelve-episode season. Not only have past Star Wars shows hovered between six to eight, but Andor just reached its halfway point with six more episodes to go.
While the slow start may have worked against the show in one respect, the fact that it's just getting started may work to its benefit.
Another explanation for Andor's numbers is the kind of series that Andor is and how it differs from its predecessors.
Unlike Obi-Wan, Boba Fett, and The Mandalorian, Andor features a masterful slow-burn style of storytelling without a huge action set piece each episode or a headliner cameo. And, while there are Easter eggs, they're far more subtle and even organic.
Also, Andor is seen as a side story within the Star Wars Universe and is not directly tied to a Skywalker. In fact, it's possible that Andor never features a lightsaber or a Jedi.
While many of these factors are why fans are praising the show, at the same time, they don't require fans to rush to watch the episode to avoid spoilers. It's easily one of the few franchise series that fans may wait to watch all at once as opposed to piecemeal.
Also, Andor is one of the few Star Wars stories that's not geared toward kids and young teens. It's dark, serious, and certainly more complex which may be limiting a portion of the Star Wars audience.
In the end, low demand for Andor is disappointing considering that it's such a quality product. But while stats and data offer facts, they don't always reflect the full truth.
That truth is Andor is one of the best, if not the best, Star Wars projects in recent memory; and it's more likely to stand the test of time and even influence the direction of the franchise.
New episodes of Andor premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+.
