‘Andor’ Is an Absolute Blockbuster
Lately, Disney+ has struggled mightily. While the subscriber totals and revenue gains don’t show it, the streaming service hasn’t done the expected.
When a new service arrives, the expectation is that it’ll create several iconic hits to tantalize potential customers into subscribing.
photo: The Verge
While Disney+ has undoubtedly had its fair share of those programs, it hasn’t had enough. And there haven’t been any of note lately. Until now.
Folks, I’m happy to tell you that Andor is an unqualified blockbuster. Here’s what’s happening.
About ‘Andor’
Photo: Lucasfilm
Nobody should be surprised to learn that Andor is a hit. While the Star Wars universe has had its struggles on Disney+ — I’m looking at you, The Acolyte – Andor came with a pedigree.
The show functions as a prequel to the wildly popular standalone movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Disney
When the film came out in 2016, it proved instantly popular, earning more than $1 billion at the box office. More importantly for today’s discussion, people loooooved it.
Screenwriter Tony Gilroy of The Bourne Identity franchise and Michael Clayton ( a masterpiece) crafted a gripping narrative about a people who had lost hope.
Disney
At some point, Gilroy revealed to the right folks at Lucasfilm that he had more meat on the bone of this tale.
He wanted to make a prequel to the prequel. Isn’t Hollywood amazing? I’m being snide, but the idea worked better than Disney could have possibly expected.
Disney
The first season of Andor excelled upon its release in 2022. According to some streaming service metrics, Andor was THE most popular original series while it aired its first season.
Critics adored the project as well. Andor earned eight Emmy Award nominations, including one in the prestigious category of Outstanding Drama Series.
Disney
That’s an accurate description of Andor. It’s an OUTstanding drama, one I highly recommend even to those of you who are like me and couldn’t care less about Star Wars.
Andor delivers a gripping narrative about a society in need of change and the brave individuals who start a rebellion.
Disney
Given the success of Andor season one, Disney happily agreed to a second batch of episodes, which gave Gilroy a unique opportunity.
The writer gained the ability to connect the dots directly to some of the stories referenced in the Holy Trilogy.
‘Andor’ Is an Unqualified Blockbuster
Photo: Lucasfilm
Anyone of my generation would happily leap at that chance. Even though I’m not a fan of the franchise, I can assure you it was a ubiquitous part of the lives of children of the ‘80s.
Every kid I knew had a lightsaber, and we would wreck each other with them. We loved doing Darth Vader impersonations, too.
Photo: People
So, not much has changed there. I’m amused that even after his death, the legendary James Earl Jones continues to impact kids with his now Fortnite-approved voice.
Folks, Star Wars is seminal in pop culture, which makes its inconsistent performance on Disney+ all the more maddening.
Photo: Disney
Disney desperately needed the second season of Andor to do what the second season of Percy Jackson & the Olympians couldn’t. It needed to excel from day one.
Sure enough, the Nielsen Streaming Charts have been released for the week of April 21st through April 27th, 2025.
The Percy Jackson film
That’s ideal timing for Andor, whose second season began on April 22nd. So, it had almost the entire week’s data to count for this particular chart week.
Not coincidentally, Andor performed better than any original series on Disney+ in ages, earning a whopping 721 million viewer minutes. That’s Loki territory right there.
Loki at Disneyland
I should mention that there’s an asterisk, though. Andor possessed an odd release pattern for its second season.
Disney+ aired three new episodes a week for four weeks. As such, we’re discussing three times as much content as usual for a streaming series.
Families Streaming Disney+
Even so, the unique strategy shouldn’t impact the results any. Since Andor will have three new episodes per week, we should expect this much viewership for the next three charts, too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Andor does even better since it was building to a grand finale that we got on May 13th.
Disney’s Streaming Hits
Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Other than Andor, this was a fairly typical week for Disney’s streaming hits with one exception.
The Handmaid’s Tale continued its march toward its final episode as well. Viewers are all-in on this one, which nearly matched Andor with 698 million viewer minutes.
Photo: Bluey.tv
On the Acquired chart, Bluey finished second for the week with 862 million viewer minutes. We haven’t talked about the show much lately, yet it just keeps chugging along.
Here are the other strong performers on Hulu for the week in question:
Photo: Ludo Studios
- Grey’s Anatomy – 850 million viewer minutes
- NCIS – 788 million viewer minutes
- The Rookie – 695 million viewer minutes
- Family Guy – 605 million viewer minutes
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – 576 million viewer minutes
- Bob’s Burgers – 563 million view minutes
Photo: Disney
On the Movies chart, Disney’s former reign of dominance has almost totally ended. Netflix typically controls this chart now.
Still, Moana 2 did hang around the bottom of the top ten with another 270 million viewer minutes.
Photo: Disney
I’m not thrilled with its staying power, as it doesn’t appear to have the lasting impact of its predecessor, Moana.
That knowledge could hint that the live-action remake of Moana counts as Disney going to the well once too often in too short a timeframe. That’s a July 2026 problem, though.
Photo: Disney
For now, Disney’s streaming performance is eerily consistent, save for the occasional blockbuster like Andor.
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Feature Photo: Disney/Andor
