Earlier this month, it was revealed that Lucasfilm would no longer be continuing the adventures of the Disney+ Original series “Star Wars: The Acolyte” and that it had been cancelled after just one season.

Set during the High Republic Era of the Star Wars saga, “The Acolyte” tells the story of an investigation into a shocking crime spree that pits a respected Jedi master against a dangerous warrior from his past.

The series had an impressive debut with 4.8 million views in one day, and over the first five days, the premiere episode pulled in 11.1 million views globally, making it the biggest series premiere on Disney+ of 2024 so far.

However, the audience didn’t like what it saw, and viewership for “The Acolyte” quickly fell off, as within a few weeks, it had completely fallen off the Nielsen streaming chart.  This resulted in the show being cancelled since it didn’t meet the viewership requirements for a show that’s as expensive as it is.  With this show’s reported budget of $180 million, the series needed much higher viewership to warrant a second season.

There are many reasons why “The Acolyte” failed to connect with audiences, but the series also had to deal with a lot of negative online hate, even prior to the show’s launch, with review bombing.  Much of the online hate started with Star Wars fans who felt the show had gone “woke” and opposed the show featuring actors of colour and LGBTQ characters.   This, without a doubt, didn’t help the show’s chances of success, as the continuous online attacks on the series did reach a large audience and will have influenced some’s views on the show.  

However, it’s important to note that the show has also been criticized for many more legitimate reasons, such as its writing, acting, storylines, special effects, plot, etc.  Many Star Wars fans have been caught up in the online hate for the show, who just didn’t like the series because it wasn’t “as good” as previous instalments in the franchise. 

The show’s main star, Amandla Stenberg, who plays both twins, “Osha” and “Mae” in the series, took to Instagram on Wednesday evening to talk about the cancellation of the show and explained that she found the cancellation of “The Acolyte” “not a huge shock”.

“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me. Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality but for those who aren’t aware there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced … when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us … this really affected me when I first got the job because it’s just not something, even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you.”

Many fans of the show have also taken their views online about how much they enjoyed “The Acolyte” and how upset they are that the show was cancelled. In her video, Amandla thanked the fans, who have been very vocal about their sadness.

“There are many folks out there that I want to acknowledge and I want to show appreciation and love and support for, so that’s why I’m hopping on here to talk about this, which is that our Star Wars show has been canceled,”

Amandla also explained how the online attacks against her began as soon as her involvement in the show was revealed.

“This really affected me when I first got the job. Because it’s just not something — even though I anticipated it happening — it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you.  However, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself. … It just became inarguable for me, at a certain point, that in order to continue to be myself, I would have to honor my value system by being vocal even in the context of working for Disney.”

Stenberg described how she feels about the project overall:

“On that topic, I just have to say it has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Even though, of course I’m very sad about the show being canceled, and I’m sad about us not being able to give people invested in it more, I still just feel a lot of levity and joy around the fact that I got to experience it and that people loved it and that people were so responsive.”

Roger’s Take: There is little doubt that “The Acolyte” has had to deal with some of the worst aspects of the internet, with so much hatred for a project based on aspects unrelated to the show, which is disgusting.   However, we shouldn’t put every criticism of “The Acolyte” in one pile and disregard it.  The show had some significant problems, which reflects on why the audience tuned out.  Had the show pulled in bigger viewing numbers on Disney+ consistently, there would have been a second season.  But the online hate campaign prior to the show’s release, without doubt, made things much worse, and none of the cast/crew should have been subjected to that.   Sadly, it has become a standard problem for Star Wars, as we’ve seen some “fans” treat so many actors horribly following the release of the prequel and sequel trilogies.

You can watch “The Acolyte” on Disney+ now.

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

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