How The Marvel Studios Shows On Disney+ Were Influenced By 'The Mandalorian'

Releasing a television series weekly isn't a new concept, since that's basically how programs on the small screen have been distributed since the advent of the little flickering box. However, in the streaming era of television, it's much more common for a series to drop an entire season for audiences to binge at their leisure. But when The Mandalorian came along on Disney+ at the end of 2019, episodes were released weekly, and that continued with with the second season last year. When it comes to Marvel's upcoming Disney+ shows, Kevin Feige has confirmed they're following suit in order to make the series feel like an event every single week.

WandaVision has already been confirmed to be released weekly, starting with a two-episode premiere on January 15 followed by a new episode released weekly after that until the series run has concluded. It sounds like this is something Marvel Studios will continue doing with all their shows, and we can thank The Mandalorian for that.

In addition to confirming that future Marvel Studios shows will utilize the innovative Stagecraft technology employed by The Mandalorian to create immersive, in-camera, 360-degree digital environments on the set, Feige also discussed Marvel's release strategy for upcoming shows. Feige said during a press conference for WandaVision:

"It was wonderful to see the amazing job that Disney did and Disney marketing did in "event-izing" that— that was one of the things I was always concerned about, we wanted to 'event-ize,' we want to make people understand these projects at Disney+ are as important as the projects going into theaters, and we want to feel that same excitement. The Disney marketing team is best in the world, the best of all time frankly right now, they can do that. They certainly showed that they can do that, spectacularly on Disney+ with Mandalorian. And also the fun, week-to-week discussion, which I guess happens on all week-to-week television, but sometimes the series drop all at once on the streaming services. And Disney, I think, was very smart to do the week-by-week [release], because that conversation that happens every week between episodes, I think it's very important and frankly, is just fun."

After having years of shows that get binged by audiences, spark conversations that last for a week or two, and then disappear almost completely, it was nice to have The Mandalorian giving us something to look forward to each week for a couple of months. It created more anticipation, and allowed for mysteries and theories to simmer, not to mention making it a little easier to avoid massive spoilers.

Considering how WandaVision ties directly into future Marvel movies like Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, keeping the excitement going for several weeks is a smart move. The same can be said for the rest of the shows that tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There's a chance that shows like Marvel's What If...? could still  get released all at once since there's not necessarily as compelling overarching narrative running through that series, but otherwise, I think Disney+ will be drawing out their library of Marvel shows as much as they can in order to keep people subscribed to Disney+ for as long as possible.

WandaVision kicks off the forthcoming roster of Marvel Studios shows on January 15, 2021, only on Disney+. Stay tuned for more from the press conference with Kevin Feige later today.