Disney reportedly won’t be moving forward with a new season of the Star Wars spinoff, The Acolyte.
The series debuted on Disney+ on June 4, 2024. It centered around a former Padawan who reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, ultimately uncovering a more sinister threat than they had expected.
Although the show concluded a little over a month ago, Deadline has reported that sources have decided against renewing it for a second season.
This decision comes amidst a wave of cancellations from Disney, as the company reshuffles its content lineup for the coming years. The Acolyte received mixed reviews despite this context.
Critics gave the series a 78 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but it didn’t resonate as strongly with the Star Wars fanbase.
Upon its release, The Acolyte garnered 4.8 million views on its first day and made its way into Nielsen’s Top 10 originals charts during its premiere week.
However, after an initially strong performance, the show’s viewership declined by its third week and reportedly had the lowest viewership for a Star Wars series finale.
Disney+ sets a high standard for viewership, especially for shows with production costs exceeding $100 million. Given The Acolyte’s expensive production, it likely didn’t meet the viewership requirements for renewal.
Fans have mixed reactions to the cancellation.
One Twitter user commented: “Show gave us the most exciting villain since Kylo Ren and some of the freshest lightsaber action in ages and they cancel it instead of maybe retooling the stuff that didn’t work? Really bummed about this.”
Another user felt the cancellation was predictable, saying: “Not a shock here…they did this to themselves. The weekly release schedule absolutely killed them.
“It gave everyone and their mother a chance to s**t on each episode individually. Also, the story as a whole was meh at best.”
Another fan added: “Show had so much potential. I really want that era of Star Wars explored more, but the show just suffered from really poor writing for most of the episode. Sorry to the people that wanted a [Season 2] though.”
The Acolyte starred Amandla Stenberg in the lead role, alongside Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, and Jodie Turner-Smith.