The Acolyte is Canceled After One Season

Television

Deadline exclusively reports that Disney+ has quietly made the decision to cancel The Acolyte after one season. Season 1’s finale, “The Acolyte,” which will evidently be the series finale, aired over a month ago on July 16th. The Acolyte has a 78% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences weren’t as warm to it. The show’s two-part premiere made it to #7 on the Nielsen Ratings’ top 10 for streaming, with week two reaching #6. However, it didn’t break the top 10 again until its finale, which scraped in at #10 and is likely the least-viewed Disney+ Star Wars finale to date at 335 million minutes. The Acolyte reportedly cost $180 million to produce, so it would have to do much better than that to be renewed. The Acolyte was billed as a mystery thriller, although we could debate how well it fits that description. It followed twins Mae and Osha as they grappled with their past, the Jedi, and the Dark Side. 

Is anyone shocked? Honestly, I am a little surprised. I thought they would secretly kill this show with no fanfare or announcements. I wonder if Deadline was supposed to get this particular scoop or if The Acolyte was meant to disappear into the night, like Rian Johnson’s trilogy or any of the other forgotten Lucasfilm projects. But I also never thought they would invest in continuing this show; The Acolyte was poorly plotted, filled with ill-defined characters and murky motivations. It was never worth the $180 million they poured into Leslye Headland’s self-identified fan fiction, let alone doing that yet again to keep this crap going. 

Ignoring that I and many other people didn’t enjoy the show’s paper-thin characters and idiotic plot, it also performed poorly according to the Nielsen Ratings. For a series this expensive to be renewed, it would have to reach a much higher viewer threshold like Ahsoka or The Mandalorian or become a critical darling like Andor. There are also the myriad scandals and controversies that surrounded the show before, during, and after it aired. They range from the silly (Headland calling R2-D2 a lesbian) to the bizarre (denying that the witches are gay) to downright harmful (encouraging the shipping of Osha with a toxic literal Sith Lord). I don’t think Leslye Headland is that smart or able to self-moderate, but I’m still surprised at some of the stuff that came out or that was said before the show even came out! If it was halfway decent, I’d feel sorry for The Acolyte. 

The only people I have any sympathy for are the fans who campaigned on Twitter and other platforms to ask for another season of The Acolyte. I hated The Acolyte more as it went on, but I never begrudge fans enjoying a show. I didn’t like this and didn’t want more, so I’m not sorry to see it go. But it genuinely sucks for those of us who wanted to see what became of this story or its characters, and I feel for you. On the business side of things, I wonder if Disney will actually learn anything from this cancellation. I’ve given up hope of Lucasfilm learning or trying to do better, at least under its current leadership. But it feels like Hollywood is waking up a bit, even Disney; they had the good sense to be embarrassed by Snow White. Oh well, at least we have Andor to look forward to. 

But what do you think? Did you guys even watch The Acolyte, and if so, what did you think? Are you glad to see it go? Would you have tuned in for season 2? Let us know in the comments!