A Fan’s Thoughts on Why Disney (Likely) Canceled The Acolyte

“You failed, The Acolyte. I still love the Jedi, and I always will. And despite what the show has done, it’s just a small part of a much larger and cooler story. So instead of complaining about The Acolyte, I’m going to forget about it, hope that it doesn’t get a second season, pray that it’s good if it does, and move on with my life.”

Well, I got what I wanted. In an exclusive published by Deadline, it’s been reported that Lucasfilm will not proceed with a second season of The Acolyte. And, in what seems to be the norm for the franchise, this news has divided the Star Wars fandom. Some are celebrating the news, while others are upset and outraged that it got the axe and are looking for something to blame, namely, those who hated the show. However, according to Deadline, it’s been canceled because it didn’t get enough views to justify its massive budget.

As a longtime fan of Star Wars, though, the answer might be a little of both. And here’s why.

As a Show, The Acolyte isn’t Good

From the get-go, The Acolyte was going to face an uphill battle. In its fifty-year history, Star Wars has proven capable of telling stories that don’t involve the characters from the film or even take place in the same era. The abundance of video games, comics, graphic novels, and more can attest to that. However, to the best of my knowledge, The Acolyte was the first time Star Wars tried to make a show that took place outside the era of films. People had high expectations…and it failed to meet them.

I wasn’t interested in the High Republic era of Star Wars, but week after week, I gave The Acolyte the benefit of the doubt. However, with the notable exception of the fifth episode, I kept getting let down—stilted delivery of lines.

Attack me With All your Strength!-Mae, Episode 1

Poorly conceived characters whose motivations didn’t make sense. Moments that were meant to make us question the overall nobility of the Jedi, only to fall flat. The films already did a good job of showing how the Jedi can be as flawed as everyone else! I didn’t need any further convincing of that!

If you went on social media while The Acolyte was running, then the overall consensus made it seem like most people hated it. However, it should be noted that people online are usually only a portion of those watching something. A very vocal portion, but still a portion. And while some argue that the hate the show got ended up getting it canned, that’s a stretch. The truth is, those who watched the show chose to bail when they lost interest. Numbers speak for themselves, and according to Deadline, the Nielsen ratings weren’t cutting it.

That’s only half the story, though.

Disney Wasted Their Money

Do you know how much the budget The Acolyte got was? Disney spent $180 million on it. For context, here’s how much the films cost:

  • Total Cost of the Original Trilogy: $11 Million (ANH), $18 Million (TESB), $32.5 Million (ROTJ)
  • Cost of each of the Prequel Films: $115 Million (TPM), $115 Million (AOTC), $113 Million (ROTS)
  • Cost of the Anthology Films: $8.5 Million (The Clone Wars), $232 Million (Rogue One), $271 Million (Solo)
  • Cost of the Sequel Films: $447 Million (TFA), $300 Million (TLJ), $416 Million (TROS)

In other words, The Acolyte cost almost three times as much as the OG trilogy, seventy million more than each of the Prequels, and twenty times the pilot movie for The Clone Wars series. That’s not even getting into the live-action series that have come out on Disney+, either. Most of them cost far less than The Acolyte.

Do you see the problem here?

I don’t know what Disney was spending all that money on when making The Acolyte, but they didn’t spend it on the right things. They should’ve put the money towards writing a better story with better dialogue because neither of them was at the level that fans wanted. That “Power of two” song was so cringe that it became a meme! In addition, they also should’ve spent more on the effects, because they could’ve done better than that. The only time I was genuinely blown away by what was happening on-screen was in episode five, which had some of the best lightsaber-on-lightsaber action since the Prequel films.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that Disney invested too much money in The Acolyte and is not getting its full investment back. They know the series isn’t profitable, so they’re cutting their losses now. Normally, I would be a champion of the arts and want them to take another chance, but in this case, I’m siding with Disney.

That doesn’t make this news any less of a shame, though.

May the Force Be With the People Who Worked on the Show

Please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t like The Acolyte at all, and Disney is making the right call. However, even if I don’t like it, there were plenty of people who did, and they’ll be sad that it’s not continuing. And I know that pain all too well. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with Invader Zim on Nickelodeon, and I was devastated to learn it was canceled without getting a proper ending. I’ve hated seeing stories I like getting the axe before they get an ending ever since, so I know what the fans are going through.

Plus, imagine what some of the people who worked on the show must be experiencing. It’s bad enough that they had to watch something they worked on get hated. Now imagine how it must feel not to get the chance to tell the full story they wanted, and it could’ve gotten way better over time! That stinks!

I do feel bad for The Acolyte, but instead of doubling-down and risk wasting more resources, Disney chose to admit defeat and move on. It’s not like there isn’t an abundance of other Star Wars stuff anyway. Fingers crossed, maybe Skeleton Crew (which sounds very similar to a few Star Trek shows) will fare better.