It’s been a few days since this comment, but I think now that the review embargo has lifted and the premiere has happened, it seemed to be more of a strategy to take advantage of the positive press to build some momentum. They got good feedback at a few screenings at various festivals, and the reviews have now been revealed to be largely positive. So maybe they wanted to shorten the time between reviews being published and for people to actually watch it.
And they also got the news that California has approved some tax breaks for filming season 2 in California, so it sounds like they’re probably going to officially greenlight the second season soon.