The Mandalorian: Disney Decides Not to Allow Critics to Watch Season 2 Episodes Early

The premiere of The Mandalorian season 2 is in sight. Next week, the Star Wars show will make its highly anticipated return, which is sure to dominate the conversation over the next eight weeks. So far, the season two trailer hasn't given much away about the next season, only that Mando will be embarking on a quest across the galaxy to seek the home-world of his companion, the Child. 

Plenty of rumors have been surrounding the plot of the new season, such as whether Star Wars Rebels characters like Ahsoka Tano and Captain Rex will be making their live-action debut. But Disney is keeping the promotion for The Mandalorian at a minimum, ensuring that there will be plenty of surprises for the audience throughout the season. 

NEWS

It looks like Disney is choosing to remain very secretive with The Mandalorian this season and won't even be sending advance episode screeners to the media. Peter Sciretta of Slash Film revealed that press screeners will not be sent to media outlets ahead of each new The Mandalorian episode, meaning everyone will have to wait to see episodes when they drop on Disney+ each Friday. 

WHAT THIS MEANS

Press did receive advanced screeners during the first season of The Mandalorian, which allowed media sites some extra time to review and research the big moments of each episode so that articles would be ready ahead fo time. No screeners for season two means critics will need to watch the episodes as soon as they drop on Disney+ and then rush out their reviews. 

The risk with press screeners is that information could be leaked or that the files could be pirated before the episodes can air officially. With a show as big as The Mandalorian, it makes sense that Disney wouldn't want to spoil the experience for audiences ahead of time, and sending screeners is therefore a potential risk. The Mandalorian's season one premiere held one of the most closely guarded secrets in Star Wars history, with the reveal of Baby Yoda aka The Child. Disney achieved this by not promoting the new character in any marketing or merchandising plans, hence there was a huge lack of Baby Yoda merchandise until later in the year. But the risk paid off as audiences everywhere were blown away. 

Refusing to send screeners isn't a new tactic and big shows, such as Game of Thrones, have chosen to do this in the past in order to avoid leaked spoilers. It likely means that there are some big reveals in the upcoming season of The Mandalorian, particularly in the early episodes which press screeners would show, that Disney doesn't want spoiled, and therefore the company is giving equal chance for everyone to watch the episodes at the same time.