Disney decided not to continue “The Acolyte,” a live-action Star Wars series, after its first season, even though they were happy with its performance. The main reason was its high production costs. The show, which aired in June on Disney+, had eight episodes and was set during the end of the High Republic era. It followed a young Jedi learner who teams up with her former teacher to solve crimes, only to uncover a darker, more dangerous force than they expected.
Critics praised The Acolyte for bringing a new perspective to the Star Wars story. However, some fans didn’t like it and criticized the show for featuring a Black LGBTQ actor as the main character, calling it “woke.” Critics gave it a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience score is much lower at just 18%.
When The Acolyte released its first two episodes, it became one of the top 10 most-watched shows on Nielsen’s streaming chart, with people watching nearly 500 million minutes.
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Two weeks later, it dropped out of the top 10. However, six weeks later, when the final episode came out, it returned to the list, but just barely made it at the very bottom.
As it relates to Acolyte, we were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a Season 2. So that’s the reason why we didn’t [renew it].
Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman, assessing the state of past, present and future Star Wars TV projects for Vulture, said
Bergman said they’ve noticed “some growth” with the new show Skeleton Crew and that “the reviews have been excellent.” He also mentioned that Andor Season 2, which comes out on April 25, is “excellent” because he has watched all the episodes. Plus, Ahsoka Season 2 and “several additional series” are “in development.”
Read More: ‘Skeleton Crew’ Is Now The Best Reviewed Disney Star Wars Project Besides ‘Andor’
As for the story of The Mandalorian and Grogu, it will continue in a movie named after the show, coming to theatres on May 22, 2026.
Not a huge shock for me because of the severe backlash she received from fans online. There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced… a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language towards us.
Stenberg, who starred as twin sisters Osha and Mae, broke her silence in August via Instagram
Maybe there could be changes in the future… I really hope we could get to see further stories [in a] second season.
At the time Disney+ announced the cancellation, Stenberg’s co-star Lee Jung-jae, who played Jedi Master Sol, expressed his hope
Source: TVline