Ahsoka Release Time Makes Disney+ History

The upcoming Ahsoka series will etch its name into the history books with its premiere time on Disney+. 

After 15 years in the Star Wars canon, Ahsoka Tano will finally get a live-action streaming series of her own in creator Dave Filoni’s new show. 

Ahsoka made waves when it was announced that fans would get the chance to watch not only one episode but two when it hit Disney+ for the first time on August 23. 

However, that August 23 date was then revealed to actually be August 22, as – in an unprecedented move – Disney announced the series would be released at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesdays rather than the usual midnight drops on Wednesday nights. 

When Does Ahsoka Come Out?

Ahsoka will make history on Disney+ with its premiere time on the service. 

With the series set to drop its first two episodes at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT) on Tuesday, August 22, this marks the earliest in the week that any Star Wars show has been released on the streamer. 

The Tuesday release day is also unique with most other Disney+ series premiering on Wednesdays (or in some cases Fridays). 

Not only will Ahsoka‘s premiere fall into this unprecedented timeslot, but the rest of the series will as well, with all eight episodes coming to the service at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesdays.

Previously, Lucasfilm experimented with an earlier slot with the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s two-part premiere, but those episodes debuted only three hours earlier than normal at midnight ET (9 p.m. PT). 

And this practice was only used for the Obi-Wan series premiere, with the show going back to its normal 3 a.m. ET releases starting with Episode 3. 

It remains unclear if this new release timing could be the start of a new trend for Disney+, with no news for series like Marvel’s Loki Season 2 on the matter (aside from a new Friday release day).

While exciting for more fans, this unprecedented move from Disney and Lucasfilm has many questioning why a change to release timing for Ahsoka (and potentially other Disney+ content had to be made). 

For most people, the routine has been waking up on the release day of their favorite new streaming series and just having it there ready to go whenever they need it, as it dropped overnight while they were sleeping. 

This, however, could spell an interesting strategy shift for Disney and its streaming effort (something the studio has been closely reevaluating as of late).

Why Did Disney Change Ahsoka’s Release Time?

Instead of the scattershot model of having viewers watch the latest tentpole streaming shows at their own leisure, having a series like Ahsoka ‘air’ in primetime turns it into event television. 

This is a similar strategy to what Warner Bros. and HBO have been doing for years. Since the debut of the HBO Max streaming service (now named Max), content that dropped during those primetime slots on HBO (a la The Last of Us or Game of Thrones) also hit the streamer at the very same time. 

This harkens back to the days of appointment viewing on TV – a practice that has been dwindling over the years. 

This saw families and friends gather to take in the latest and greatest in the medium and then head to work the next day, gathering around the water cooler to talk about what they saw the night before. 

While some fans were staying up until the wee hours of the morning to do this on their own accord, Disney is seemingly wanting to turn that from a niche thing reserved for devout enthusiasts to something that is much more accessible for everyone to take part in. 

Of course, one of the downsides of the changes is that this is a move very much centered on the Western world. A time change in this vein means that instead of the show airing at 8 a.m. in a territory like the United Kingdom, it is now going to air at 5 a.m. making it less accessible than it once was. 

This will likely mean that by the time international audiences get to see Ahsoka, the latest episode will have already been watched by thousands of fans stateside, therefore increasing the likelihood of seeing spoilers.

It is Americentrism on full display, with North American audiences benefiting the most, but with that being the priority market for Disney, it is one that will likely be welcomed. 

New episodes of Ahsoka drop every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Disney+.