Star Wars was conspicuously quiet on Disney+ Day, which makes no sense

Disney+ Day has come and gone, a day celebrating the two-year anniversary of the streaming service that promised new arrivals, reveals, and plenty more. And for the most part, it lived up to the hype.

This was the biggest day of the year for Disney’s streaming service, and it included plenty of significant premieres, announcements, details, and special looks from some of their biggest platforms, including Marvel, Pixar, Disney Animation, Disney Studios, and National Geographic. Conspicuously quiet, however, was Star Wars – which seemed to receive the least attention of any of the platform’s major brands. While these other brands dropped some exciting news and content, and even while StarWars.com’s front page said, “It will be a Disney+ Day long remembered,” we got very little from the galaxy far, far away.

What we did get was a behind-the-scenes documentary special about Boba Fett (“Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett”) and a Disney+ teaser for Obi-Wan Kenobi that showed no new footage but a few interviews and concept art – and that was seemingly the same thing shown exclusively to Disney Investors almost a year ago. So it was new to the general public, but not exactly “new” overall. And, to give Lucasfilm a bit more attention, there was a special look at the Willow series as well.

And that was it.

That by itself might not garner too much attention, since it’s hard to know what to expect with this brand-new Disney+ Day thing. But both Marvel and Pixar released special looks that highlighted some recent content and some upcoming content as well. Both studios were highlighted and lived up to the hype that Disney had created entering the day. But what these studios did also highlighted the noticeable absence of Star Wars, however.

It’s not like there hasn’t been any Star Wars content recently, as The Bad Batch and Visions both came out this year, in addition to LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales. More significantly, 2022 is shaping up to be the biggest year in history for Star Wars content, with The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, The Bad Batch season two, possibly The Mandalorian season three, and likely even more all dropping. The first of those shows, The Book of Boba Fett, is just over a month away. And yet despite all of this, we didn’t get much at all on Disney+ Day.

That’s all made even more curious by the fact that the recap video released by Disney+ at the end of the day features the logos for a ton of upcoming content, most of which was highlighted during the day. But also included are logos for these Star Wars series, and they stand out as some of the very few shows that didn’t actually get promoted earlier. That has me half-wondering if there were originally plans for more of a Star Wars focus that was changed, or if this was always planned this way.

Look, Star Wars hasn’t exactly been the best-marketed in recent years, but for the most part, I’m ok with it (though I am still frustrated by the marketing for Solo). And part of the reason I’m ok with it is because Star Wars for the most part doesn’t need marketing, and it’s why I’m good with trailers giving very little away (like the recent The Book of Boba Fett trailer). And in a strange way, the fact that disappointment over not getting a trailer for Obi-Wan Kenobi could in some ways overshadow the other announcements on social media is an example of why Star Wars doesn’t need to market like some others do.

So this post isn’t to say that Star Wars has to re-think its entire marketing strategy. But, I mean, they could actually do a little. And Disney+ Day, which by all indications was a major focus for Disney, would have been a time to do that. Even something as simple as what Marvel did would have gone a long way. But instead, Star Wars is continuing to operate mostly in secrecy, giving very little away and trusting that people will watch no matter how much (or little) they actually promote it. So far, it’s mostly worked. But it’s hard to not be disappointed with Disney+ Day for Star Wars fans, and I’m not talking about the various rumors leading up to it (for most of the time expectations based on rumors leads to disappointment).

I’m talking about the fact that, as Star Wars gears up for maybe its biggest year of content ever, all of which will be dropping on Disney+, mostly stood by and watched as every other brand capitalized on promoting Disney+ Day. A day long remembered, Lucasfilm? Well, maybe they just forgot about it.