Official Star Wars YouTube/Lucasfilm The new character named "Omega" is seen in the trailer for "Star Wars: The Bad Batch."
It’s almost time for the next big Disney Plus show to begin, and we’ve got all the details and how and when to watch “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.” The streaming service is fresh off the success of multiple shows, and it has continued a weekly release model in recent months.
Netflix shifted the streaming landscape by choosing to release most of their shows in bulk so viewers could binge the entire show the moment it’s available. According to a transcript by Inverse, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos stated that “customers have spoken loud and clear that they really like the all-in-one model, so I don’t see us moving away from that meaningfully.”
Sarandos’ comments came during the Netflix Q1 2020 Earnings Interview on April 21, 2020. However, Disney Plus has stuck to a weekly model with shows like “The Mandalorian,” “Wandavision,” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” that they’ll be continuing with “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.”
When Does ‘The Bad Batch’ Come Out?
‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ was originally ordered and announced on July 13, 2020, according to Deadline. At the time, the show was only given a vague premiere window of 2021. On February 24, 2021, StarWars.com announced that the series would debut on May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day.
As such, fans will be able to celebrate Star Wars Day this year by watching “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” on Disney Plus. If you just can’t wait for the show to release, recent toy leaks did reveal a potential spoiler for the series.
How Many Episodes of ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Will There Be?
Official Star Wars YouTube/LucasfilmMultiple characters are seen in this image from the official trailer for “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.”
“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” will be the fourth canon animated series for the franchise, following “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “Star Wars Rebels,” and “Star Wars Resistance.” According to IMDB, “Star Wars Resistance” had two seasons with 18 and 22 episodes for each. “Star Wars Rebels” had 14 episodes for the first season, 22 during the second and third seasons, and just 15 episodes in the fourth and final season, also according to IMDB.
Things were a bit more complicated for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” which spent five seasons airing on Cartoon Network with 22 episodes in each of the first four seasons, but just 20 in the fifth, according to IMDB. The sixth season was released on Netflix with just 13 episodes, and the seventh and final was on Disney Plus with just 12 episodes.
It was initially unclear how many episodes there would be of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” with an early count of at least 14 episodes based on composer Kevin Kiner stating he’d recently worked on “episode 14” of the series when he spoke to the Full of Sith podcast for an interview. However, supervising director Brad Rau recently did an interview with CNET and definitively confirmed there will be 16 episodes in season one of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch.”
‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Release Time, Date, Schedule, and Episode Length
We know that the first episode of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” will debut on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, but the series won’t follow a Tuesday release schedule after that premiere. In the StarWars.com article confirming the release date of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” they also confirmed that the second episode will premiere on Friday, May 7, 2021, with episodes being released weekly on Fridays from that point forward.
According to ScreenRant, Disney announced when their service launched in 2019 that most new episodes of exclusive shows would be made available on Disney Plus at 12:01 a.m. PT (3:01 a.m. ET). This has continued to ring true for recent shows, as that was the episode release time for “The Mandalorian,” “Wandavision,” and “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
In addition to release dates and times, we also know more details about the first three episodes of “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” including the total runtime of each episode. As these details could potentially spoil some of what might happen in these episodes, you can see what was revealed here.
“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” episodes will be released following this schedule:
- Episode 1: May 4, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 2: May 7, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 3: May 14, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 4: May 21, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 5: May 28, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 6: June 4, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 7: June 11, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 8: June 18, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 9: June 25, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 10: July 2, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 11: July 9, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 12: July 16, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 13: July 23, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 14: July 30, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 15: August 6, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
- Episode 16: August 13, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. PT / 3:01 am ET
“Star Wars: The Bad Batch” can only be watched through the Disney Plus streaming service and is not expected to be available anywhere else.