Star Wars: The Mandalorian a Big Hit for Disney Plus in Europe Despite Slow Rollout

Somewhere in amongst the crowd of people yelling “completed it mate” or “two episodes? FFS!” there still existed a huge audience who patiently waited for Jon Favreau’s expensive live-action Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, to stream on Disney+ when it launched in most of Europe earlier this month.

Deadline has exclusively revealed – via an insight report from TV research company Parrot Analytics – that The Mandalorian managed to accrue 33 million demand expressions “across social media, video streaming, photo sharing, blogging and research platforms” in Europe on March 24, becoming “the most in-demand streaming original in each market.”

Germany were the keenest for Mando at more than 12m expressions noted, with the UK trailing behind at 7.9m. Italy followed close behind with 6.5m, Spain were next with 5m, Switzerland chalked up 723,629 expressions, and Austria had 535,771. Meanwhile, Ireland’s demand was 396,099.

These aren’t official figures, of course, but they do give a fairly solid indication of the level of interest in The Mandalorian in Europe, and the report makes for interesting reading following launch plans for the series that weren’t exactly well received by new and potential Disney+ subscribers in Europe – the service got underway here in late March with just two episodes of the breakout Star Wars show streaming, along with promises of weekly instalments dropping thereafter.

Regardless, The Mandalorian has been a smash hit, which must surely be a relief for everyone working on it. The series, which stars Game of Thrones‘ Pedro Pascal (sometimes) as a bounty hunter in a post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars era, certainly wasn’t cheap to produce; rumors persist that it cost Disney upwards of $15 million per episode.

The story revolves around Pascal’s Mandalorian as he’s forced to choose between doing his job without asking questions, or to keep some new precious cargo from falling into the wrong hands. That cargo, as you may be aware, is the now-iconic Baby Yoda (not Yoda) who is already mega powerful despite being both a baby, and a real cutie pie. Mando, still torn between being a badass and a Yoda daddy, then goes on the run and has a few Littlest Hobo-esque adventures along the way. It’s all very pleasant and not-too-demanding afternoon TV stuff that just so happens to boast creative input from the likes of Taika Waititi and Star Wars animated series maestro Dave Filoni.

Work is already well underway on season 2 of The Mandalorian, which is scheduled to hit Disney+ in October. Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Alita: Battle Angel) is reportedly one of the directors who’s been hired for the second block of episodes, and both Rosario Dawson and Michael Biehn have been confirmed as new cast members.

More on The Mandalorian as we get it.