A Surprising “Most Anticipated” Star Wars Product for Disney+

Disney’s new streaming service, Disney+, arrives in just under two months now. For Star Wars fans the service will usher in a whole new era for the franchise. The Mandalorian, the first-ever, live-action Star Wars series, debuts with the service on November 12. Likewise, the much-desired final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars follows in February of 2020. According to a recent study, however, neither (as explained below) is the most anticipated Star Wars product to hit Disney+.  

Ahead of the streaming service’s launch, Parrot Analytics measured the “demand for content by capturing billions of data points from a variety of sources,” Variety tells us. They compile data “from the likes of social media, video streaming, photo sharing, blogging, fan and critic ratings and file sharing.” Surprisingly, Parrot focused only on existing content. It did not include new, original programming in its analysis. Consequently, they did not consider The Mandalorian, which would assuredly have been the most anticipated Star Wars product for Disney+ overall. For this study, that honor instead belongs to Star Wars Rebels.

Star Wars Rebels: most anticipated existing Star Wars product for Disney +

This comes as a bit of a surprise. Not only is it the most anticipated, existing Star Wars product for the streaming service, it’s the second-most desired, existing product for the entirety of Disney+ (only The Simpsons beat it out). With The Mandalorian out of contention, most would have guessed that left The Clone Wars as a likely runner-up to Jon Favreau’s gunslinger saga. Plus, the original trilogy is included, as well. Instead, the crew of the Ghost nabbed the number one spot.

Star Wars Rebels aired from 2014-2018 and followed a fledgling Rebel cell in its fight against the Empire. Core to the show were Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his apprentice, Ezra Bridger. Though the series got off to a slow start, fans embraced the show nearly as much as they did The Clone Wars. The addition of Timothy Zahn’s fan-favorite character Thrawn in later seasons may be a likely reason for the show being the most desired, existing Star Wars product now.

Rebels highlights Disney streaming service

Further, rumors have swirled about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and even The Mandalorian, centered on whether we’ll see Thrawn, Ezra, or other Rebels characters in live-action in either feature. Remember: Hera Syndulla has already “appeared” in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. She had her name called over a loudspeaker at the Rebel base. Both the Ghost and Chopper physically appeared in the film, as well. Perhaps fans want to refresh their memories just in case more characters appear in live-action.

Or maybe it’s simply because Dave Filoni’s Star Wars Rebels was such a great show. Whatever the cause, it’s the most anticipated, existing Star Wars product to come to Disney+.

You’ll get to watch it again beginning in November.

Source: Variety