Marvel fans have faced a long and arduous content drought, with Spider-Man: Far From Home's July 2019 release serving as the most recent theatrical MCU offering, and with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s final episode having aired in August 2020. We need more superheroes! Few are more aware of that than the higher-ups at Disney+, and they're apparently doing something a little different with WandaVision's big debut that I'm sure audiences are going to love. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany's mind-bending new drama is doubling up the fun on premiere day by giving viewers two full episodes to kick off its limited season run.
Can I get a Wanda-lujah? Marvel and Disney+ announced this excellent news in an email to press, and you can read the statement below.
The first 2 episodes will premiere on Disney+ on Friday, January 15.
That news is interesting for a few reasons. First and foremost, fans will get to see even more from WandaVision than expected right out of the gate. Considering how bonkers and different-looking the show is compared to just about everything else that Marvel has produced, that first episode might be enough of a doozy that viewers will actually need a second serving in order to make sense of it all. I personally can't wait to see how WandaVision handles its many sitcom homages, and getting double the classic TV fun in one go sounds Bewitch-ing indeed.
Another point of interest with WandaVision's two-episode premiere is that Disney+ is apparently cool with trying out new tactics when it comes to marquee shows beyond The Mandalorian. Of course, it's understandable why the Star Wars series adhered to releasing one episode for each of its season premieres, since both episodes featured huge reveals in the forms of Baby Yoda and Boba Fett. (Not to ignore the magnificence of Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth.) So this all likely means that WandaVision won't deliver any similarly game-changing shockers with its first episode, though it's still possible.
The third thing to consider here is that WandaVision only recently confirmed that its initial season will last for nine episodes, which at first lined up perfectly on the schedule to last from its January 15 debut until March 12, which is the week before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere. However, now that we know the first two episodes are coming at once, that presumably leaves a one-week gap between its season finale and Falcon's opener. Does that mean Disney+ and Marvel have something special planned to come out that week? The Disney Gallery behind-the-scenes installments for The Mandalorian were excellent and insightful in many ways, so one can only hope that WandaVision will get the same kind of bonus entry.
Now, I'm sure there are fans out there who would love it if Disney+ just released all nine episodes of WandaVision at once, but the streaming service is well aware of the value in weekly releases. It keeps fans talking and theorizing, and it also keeps them subscribed to the service. That latter aspect is probably more important in the long run, since subscriber money is what's fueling Disney+'s massive upcoming slate of original series and movies.
Are you pumped that Disney+ is giving WandaVision a two-episode premiere? Let us know in the poll below, and don't forget to succumb to the classic sitcom madness when the show premieres on Friday, January 15, at 3:01 a.m. ET. To see what other new and returning shows are on the way in the near future, head to our Winter and Spring 2021 premiere schedule.
