With 2021 behind us, it’s time to take a look forward to 2022 and the team at What’s On Disney Plus has been putting their tinfoil hats on to make some predictions on what they think is going to happen with Disney+ over the next 12 months.
Here are our Disney+ predictions for 2022:
Roger – A Return To Major Announcements At Major Events
2022 will hopefully see the world return to some normalcy, with major events set to return in 2022 including Star Wars Celebration, D23 Expo, and San-Diego Comic-Con. It would be great to see these events being used to showcase the biggest new Disney+ Originals and major announcements to be made in front of a large audience. With those three events spaced out throughout the summer, it would be great to have Marvel return to Hall H in San-Diego Comic-Con to lay out some plans for 2023 and the same for Star Wars fans at Celebration. With Disney+ once again returning to the D23 Expo to showcase some of the other originals heading to our screens in the years to come. While I hope Disney+ Day does continue, spreading out the reveals throughout the year is probably better than the approach Disney took at the Investor Day in 2020. It’s also just much more fun seeing actors turn up to announce things in front of a live audience!
Ethan – Percy Jackson Offical Greenlight
Disney, along with Rick Riordan, will officially confirm the Percy Jackson series is in development for Disney+. The series will use the “Volume” technology used to film “The Mandalorian” series and will have a budget of around $15 million dollars per episode. Season 1 will have between 8 and 12 episodes and will follow the first novel, “The Lightning Thief”.
Corban – Faster Playback Speeds
While Disney+ has not adopted much of the bingeing model with its new TV shows, many viewers still love to sit down and watch multiple episodes of a TV show in one sitting. Both Netflix and Apple TV+ have recently added options to change the playback speed of content on their services to make bingeing even easier, and I can definitely see this coming down the pipe for Disney+ soon.
Jeremy – Hispanic Stories Collection
As it looks to spread more inclusivity, I expect Disney to add a Hispanic stories collection, much in the same vein as its “Celebrate Black Stories” collection and its Asian and Pacific Islanders section. It could feature Coco & Encanto, as well as many more films on the service.
Roger – ABC Is Used To Boost Disney+ Content In The US
There have been many complaints from subscribers and shareholders over the lack of content for teenagers and adults on Disney+ in the US. While I don’t think Star will be added to Disney+ in the US in 2022, nor will Hulu be folded into Disney+ yet. With Disney adding multiple holiday specials to Disney+ from ABC in December, this hopefully could be a way of Disney expanding its general entertainment content, without rocking the boat too much. ABC has many great shows and specials that could significantly increase the amount of content the entire family can watch together. New shows like “The Wonder Years”, “The Goldbergs” and “Black-ish”, along with some additional family-friendly shows like “Modern Family, “Malcolm In The Middle”, or “Futurama”, could drastically increase the value of Disney+ until they sort out their plans with Hulu.
Ethan – Disney Adds A Celebrate Disabled Stories Collection
In 2022 I predict Disney will dive through its catalogue and make a dedicated Disney+ collection for content featuring actors and characters from backgrounds with disabilities. Some of the content featured will include “Loop”, “Hawkeye”, “Turner and Hooch”, and select “Xmen” movies.
Corban – More Series Cancellations and Renewals
Within the first two years of Disney+, we have seen a ton of new TV shows drop onto the service for just one season. I expect in 2022 we’ll see many of these less-popular one season shows get an official cancellation, while others (maybe Forky Asks a Question, The Imagineering Story, or Disney Fairy-tale Weddings) may get greenlit for another run.
Jeremy – A New Muppets Special Or Series
The Muppets is the one franchise Disney owns, but hasn’t made overwhelmingly successful. Many Disney writers have suggested that Bob Chapek wants to focus on the brand. Following the additions of “Muppets Now” and “Muppets Haunted Mansion,” I wouldn’t be surprised if we get more Muppets content in 2022.
Roger – A Star Reshuffle
It’s been almost a year since Disney added Star as the general entertainment brand onto Disney+ in the majority of the world. Star has brought some incredible shows and films onto Disney+ around the world including “Dopesick” and “Only Murders In The Building”. But, Star has become a crowded hub, since it contains shows and films from many of Disney’s studios including FX, Searchlight, 20th Century, ABC, ESPN and also licensed content. I’m hoping that Disney will expand out the Star section, either with more hubs, menus, sections and collections that can sort the vast amount of content available within the Star hub, since there is almost as much content in there as is in the other five hubs combined! So I’m hoping we get hubs added for FX, ABC, 20th and ESPN to spread out the content, to make it easier to find.
Ethan – Eragon Series Picked Up By Disney
Disney looks at the fan push for then to remake Eragon. Eragon author Christopher Paloni will come on board to write the pilot for an official greenlight in 2023. The series will have a similar episodes count to other Disney+ Originals, which is between 8 and 12 episodes per season. The first season will be based on the first book in “The Inheritance Cycle” book series, also known as “Eragon”.
Jeremy – More Netflix Marvel Characters Will Return To The MCU
In late 2021, both Matt Murdock and Kingpin returned to the MCU with appearances in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Hawkeye.” Now, that all of the rights to those characters have reverted back to Disney, they can be reincorporated into the MCU. Jon Bernthal has already expressed an interest in returning as “The Punisher.” Others may have to be recast (Krysten Ritter says she’s done playing Jessica Jones.) I doubt any will get a new series, but I bet the characters, themselves, will return.
Corban – ABC Day-and-Date Releases
We’ve seen more and more ABC specials land onto Disney+ within days of their release on live television, and I’m expecting that 2022 will mark an even greater collaboration between ABC TV shows and the Disney+ service. While these shows often end up on Hulu, I would love to see even more ABC titles make their way over to the Disney+ lineup.
What do you think is going to happen to Disney+ in 2022?
Roger Palmer
Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What’s On Disney Plus & DisKingdom.
Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com
Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK
Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk
