The Mandalorian season 2 is closer than ever to its release, with the much-anticipated season premiere arriving on Disney+ on October 30, 2020. Fans around the world will get to experience the series at the same time, as even critics are not getting early screeners of the upcoming season.
Disney has been incredibly secretive about what they have shown from the second season, with new trailers not offering too much in the way of new footage. The few details that have been extracted from the trailer could point to an unexpected adversary for Din Djarin this season, though. There are also, of course, plenty of theories relating to returning characters and their roles this season, such as Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon.
A new leak on Reddit has now given fans an idea of how long the second season's premiere will be...
NEWS
A Reddit post shared by u/HouoinKyouma007 has leaked the runtime of the first episode of The Mandalorian season 2, which indicates that 'Chapter 9' will be 52 minutes long.
WHAT THIS MEANS
The season 2 premiere being 52 minutes makes it the longest episode of The Mandalorian yet. Episodes of season 1 would range anywhere from 30 to 46 minutes, the latter being the finale's duration.
Before fans get too excited though, it is safe to assume that this duration will just be for the premiere, rather than a standard for the whole season. The first season of The Mandalorian had a relatively inconsistent runtime throughout its run, so it is likely that the second season will have a similar irregular formula. While this does mean fans will not know what to expect from each episode until the release day, it does mean that the creatives behind the show are not tethered to meet a certain length for their episodes. This ultimately allows for more freedom and, hopefully, a continued stamp of quality for upcoming episodes.
With such a long first episode, The Mandalorian seems to be starting off with a bang and will surely be packed to the brim with new content. Season 2 already has a lot going on, from bringing in new characters to revisiting old ones. So far, Ahsoka, Boba Fett, Cobb Vanth and Captain Rex are just a few of many characters joining the show. Perhaps some of the premiere will be dedicated to set up these initial plot threads. Moff Gideon was a character that was introduced relatively late into the first season as well. This increased length could give the character more screen-time to establish him as more of a villainous force throughout the season.
The increased length of the premiere does indicate that Disney is holding back quite a lot about the upcoming premiere and season. Though it may have been disappointing to see trailers provide few details regarding what to expect, this seems to have been a very calculated and intentional decision to reward fans for waiting patiently with close to an hour of The Mandalorian content.
52 glorious minutes of Star Wars goodness will premiere with The Mandalorian's season 2 return on October 30, 2020.
