Why Did Disney Stop Releasing Its Live-Action Star Wars and Marvel Television Content On Physical Media?

As recently as December of 2024, Disney was releasing its live-action Disney+ series from Lucasfilm and Marvel Television on physical media, with two titles from each dropping roughly every six months. And then suddenly the releases stopped-- with nothing put out in 2026 and no future physical releases having been announced. So what happened?

Just as a refresher, here are the six seasons of Lucasfilm's live-action Disney+ television series that have been released on 4K UHD Blu-ray so far:

• The Mandalorian season 1
• The Mandalorian season 2
• The Mandalorian season 3
• Star Wars: Andor season 1
• Star Wars: Ahsoka season 1
• Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi

And below are the six seasons of Marvel Television's live-action Disney+ series that have been released so far:

• WandaVision
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
• Loki season 1
• Loki season 2
• Moon Knight
• Hawkeye

The following four live-action Lucasfilm Disney+ seasons have not been released on physical media:

• Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett
• Star Wars: The Acolyte
• Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
• Andor: A Star Wars Story season 2

Plus, the following seven Marvel Television live-action Disney+ seasons have also not been released:

• Secret Invasion
• Ms. Marvel
• She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
• Echo
• Agatha All Along
• Ironheart
• Daredevil: Born Again season 1

Now, admittedly I am a much bigger Star Wars fan than I am a Marvel fan, so I have only purchased the six Lucasfilm releases, though as a casual Marvel enthusiast I would like to own those as well. The Steelbook sets are really nice and the sound and picture quality are top-notch. But I can only keep buying them if Disney keeps making them. Obviously I'm aware that production of The Walt Disney Company's physical releases was outsourced to Sony at the beginning of 2024, so I have to wonder if that deal had something to do with the unexpected halt to these releases... or were they simply not selling well enough?

Unfortunately we here at Laughing Place don't really have an answer for you-- or for us, for that matter, as we'd love to see this trend continue as much as anyone else who collects physical media. But I hope it's worth it in writing this article to get Disney's attention and hopefully start the releases back up again. As I wrote in an opinion piece last year, as a Star Wars fan the most unfortunate gap caused by this stoppage is the key narrative arc from Din Djarin and Grogu's journey that's feature in the still-unreleased Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett. But now I also really would like to complete the Andor set and have season 2 of that series on my shelf next to season 1. Sure, I can still watch all of this stuff on Disney+, but 4K discs have a higher bitrate than streaming... and, let's face it, as a physical media devotee it just doesn't feel real until I own it permanently.

I know there are Marvel Studios fans out there who feel the same way-- to have the entire MCU lined up on your shelf with these big gaps because of the unreleased Disney+ series must be so frustrating. And I haven't even mentioned the animated stuff from both Lucasfilm and Marvel Television that would be great to have in physical form... so let's do that while we're at it.

Lucasfilm Animation and Other

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7
• Star Wars: The Bad Batch seasons 1-3
• Star Wars: Visions Vols. 1-3
• LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy and Pieces of the Past
• Willow (removed from Disney+ entirely)

Marvel Animation

• What If...? seasons 1-3
• Marvel Zombies
• Eyes of Wakanda
• X-Men '97 season 1
• Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Maybe animation is too much to ask, and I would absolutely settle for the live-action collections to be complete, but everything would be great as well. I know for sure, because I read the internet, that I'm not the only person out there who wants these titles to be released. And there's other Disney+ content that I bet would sell well too, like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and The Muppets Mayhem, to name just a few.

My coworker Alex Reif has pointed out to me that there are a couple recent Disney+ releases, such as Doctor Who and Bluey, that have been issued on physical media thanks to different licensing deals-- these tend to be shows that originated overseas, such as Doctor Who and Bluey.

So how about it, Disney (and Sony)? Can we please get this machine started up again and put some more Disney+ content out on 4K disc and Blu-ray? I hear physical media is all the rage again, and the movies are still getting put out so I know it's possible! I'm confident that there are more than enough tried-and-true Marvel and Star Wars fans like me out there who are willing to shell out some cash to fill in the blanks in their collections.