Disney+ is making Andor free to stream on YouTube, and now you have no excuse not to watch the best Star Wars show amelia.schwanke@futurenet.com (Amelia Schwanke) | usagoldmines.com

• The first three episodes of Andor are available on Disney+ YouTube
• Season 1 of the hit Star Wars show is also now streaming on Hulu
• A live Q&A with creator Tony Gilroy and its cast will take place on March 13

If you haven’t seen Andor, one of the best Disney+ Star Wars TV shows, then you no longer have an excuse, as the first three episodes have been made available to stream for free.

The episodes were released on the Disney+ YouTube account yesterday (March 11) and have already amassed thousands of views, with the first episode, titled ‘Kassa’ clocking up 100,000 watches at the time of writing.

Fans have been delighted that more people can finally watch one of the best Disney+ shows, with many praising the move on social media. But it’s not just YouTube where Disney is sharing its hit Star Wars series.

Disney has also added the entire first season of the prequel series to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to Hulu in the US, which means all 12 episodes of Andor season 1 are streamable to anyone who doesn’t have a Disney+ subscription but is signed up to Hulu.

However, Hulu subscribers will only have a brief window to stream the 30-to-60-minute long episodes, as Disney has said that it will remove them from the service on April 22.

That’s the same day as the premiere of Andor season 2, with the first three episodes being released on Disney+, so it makes sense that Disney would want to attract potential new subscribers away from Hulu after hooking them on the show.

Why is Disney+ making Andor available for free?

To get more eyeballs on the show, of course. It’s essentially a solid marketing strategy that has worked for a lot of the other best streaming services too. Apple TV+ is known for making the pilot episodes of some of the best Apple TV+ shows available to stream for free.

Even Netflix, which hardly needs much help attracting new subscribers, has employed this tactic, making more than 30 episodes of its documentary shows free on YouTube, as well as recently making its happiest show Pokémon Concierge more widely accessible.

Fans widely acknowledge Andor as the best Star Wars TV show on Disney+, with some claiming it’s better than popular spin-offs like the animated Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars series or even the Goonies-reminiscent Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.

By allowing more people to watch the first season, Disney is hoping that it’ll draw in more fans by the time Andor season 2 is released next month. That said, taking on multiple subscriptions isn’t cheap – but handily there’s a limited-time Disney+ deal running in the US right now (details below).

It’s one of the best streaming deals currently available, given that it brings down the cost of signing up to both Disney+ and Hulu to a record-low price, so I wouldn’t let this pass you by if you’re considering watching the next season of Andor, as it means you’ll be able to watch each new episode up to and including the finale in May.

To top it all off, Disney is hosting a live Q&A with the creator of Andor Tony Gilroy and some of the cast from the second season tomorrow (March 13). You’ll be able to tune into the chat from 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 7pm GMT / 5am AEST on the YouTube channels of Disney+, Star Wars and Hulu.

With so many different ways to stream Andor before its second season debut, I don’t doubt that Disney will have another huge streaming hit on its hands.

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