Sci Fi TV Network Scorecard 2022: Disney+

Network Scorecard: Scoring the networks based on their history of airing and supporting sci fi and fantasy television shows.

Network Overview

Disney+ is the flagship streaming service of The Walt Disney Company and it launched in 2019.  It offers movies and television shows from the expansive Disney catalog as well as originals based on properties owned by the company.  The Star Wars series The Mandalorian was released when the service launched and was followed shortly after by the final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (which had previously been cancelled by the Cartoon Network when Disney bought the rights to Star Wars).  Since then, the streamer has released more Star Wars shows as well as originals based on the MCU and other franchises owned by the company.  Disney+ is very much linked to properties controlled by the Mouse House and will likely continue to focus on related output in the coming years with maybe a few non-franchise entries here and there.

What Type of Sci-Fi Shows Does the Network Air?

As mentioned above, pretty much all of the scripted originals on Disney+ are from franchises owned by the parent company.  The streamer has given us a heavy dose of Star Wars so far with more on the way, as well as multiple MCU shows.  Beyond that, family-friendly is generally the name of the game. The Mysterious Benedict Society is based on a series of children’s books, Just Beyond is based on the younger-skewing graphic novels by R.L. Stine, and both fit well into the Disney mold.  There are also quite a number of non-genre entries on the streaming service designed to appeal to young and older audiences. Upcoming properties headed to the streaming service include a sequel series to the 1988 George Lucas fantasy film Willow and a reboot of the Percy Jackson franchise for the small screen.  But Star Wars and MCU related shows will likely continue to dominate the scripted output for the streamer for the near future.

How Quick is the Network to Cancel Sci Fi Shows?

Disney+ has structured its shows in such a way that it can get away with cancelling without having to announce a cancellation.  Several of its MCU entries have been mini-series or designated as such after the fact.  The Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi was also a mini-series even though there have been talks of continuing that one into a second season.  The one non-mini-series that ended after a single season on Disney+ was Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but it was always intended as a one-shot.  Overall, 18% of the originals on the streaming service have ended after one season, and 10% of the sci fi shows have come to an end after one season (not including mini-series).  But shows like Moon Knight and Hawkeye could have continued for a second season if the streamer chose to keep them going.  Instead, they were classified them as mini-series retroactively.  So the numbers are a little bit skewed for the streamer because of the way it uses the mini-series designation (which I don’t factor into the calculations below) to play it safe.

Disney+ New Scripted Programming

Does the Network Have a Three-to-Four Season Wall?

It is too early to say whether this applies to Disney+ because no original has even made it to three seasons yet. The streaming services base the success of a show on the new subscriptions it brings, and those numbers tend to taper off in later seasons unless it is an event series like Netflix’s Stranger Things or Amazon’s The Boys.  For that reason, we have been seeing streaming originals typically wrap up by their third or fourth season, often with the final season announced in advance.  The Mandalorian is headed to its third season, and I can see shows like What If . . . ? and Star Wars: The Bad Batch sticking around for at least four seasons (animated originals tend to have a longer life), but my guess is that the live-action MCU and Star Wars shows will likely cap out in the three-to-four season range.

Network Score

I am giving Disney+ a score of 3 out of 5 on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being the highest).  It has quite a number of genre shows to choose from (over half of its originals are sci fi/fantasy), though those are heavy on MCU and Star Wars entries at this point.  But it is branching out to other properties and should continue to lean heavily on genre shows for its scripted output.  It does tend to put out a lot of mini-series as try-outs, but that is understandable considering the amount of money the streamer is sinking into these shows.  If Disney+ continues to lean heavily on genre shows and starts to move beyond the mini-series runs, this score will likely go up.

List of Sci Fi/Fantasy Originals

This is a list of the scripted sci fi and fantasy shows that have debuted on Disney+ since the former service launched in 2019. The streamer currently has nine active shows carrying into the upcoming season (or waiting word on their fates).  The list is sorted by number of seasons, and if the show has officially been renewed that is included in the season count.

CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Cancellation Watch posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site  for breaking news and updates.

SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.