Until Star Wars In quotes, Yoda's “Do or do not, there is no try” is certainly up there with the best. As Deadline first reported, Lucasfilm has opted to “not do it” regarding a potential second season of The Acolyteand the Star Wars spin-off series was cancelled just over a month after the conclusion of its first season.
The Acolyte It is a prequel series, set about 100 years earlier. Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menacefollows a respected Jedi Master as he investigates a crime wave and encounters a former Padawan and sinister forces.
A mystery thriller set in the Star Wars universe with a Jedi detective? That may be the coolest premise I've ever heard, but I didn't like it, and as it turns out, I wasn't the only one.
The Acolyte On day one, the series drew nearly 5 million views, making it Disney Plus’ biggest launch of the year, and four days later, it had 11.1 million views worldwide. After ranking sixth and seventh in its first two weeks on Nielsen’s Top 10 Originals list, it fell off the list and didn’t reappear until the final episode pushed it to tenth place according to Deadline, with the lowest viewership for a Star Wars End of the series.
However, not everything was bad. While Star Wars: The AcolyteThe film's audience score on Rotten Tomatoes currently sits at a dismal 18%, its All Critics score sits at a much healthier 78%.
While controversy did surround this project (mostly overwhelming complaints directed at its female lead (Amanda Stenberg) and diverse cast), which may explain some of that poor soundtrack, the drop in numbers shows that on-screen performance didn’t do much either. Even my Star Wars-obsessed colleague didn’t finish it. That said, the first season had some interesting plotlines that hinted at a second season, plus it ended on a cliffhanger. So its cancellation is a bit of a shock.
Or is it?
I have a bad feeling about this.
While it would be easy to dismiss it as a bad show with mediocre acting and writing that made us complain about the Sith Lord reveal, I think that's unfair and only half the story.
These things are true, at least from what I've heard, read and seen, but there are two specific nails driven into… The AcolyteThe coffin marked his death.
An eight-episode season with an average runtime of less than 35 minutes, the budget for which was reportedly an astronomical $180 million. That's $22.5 million per episode and nearly $650,000 per minute. For reference, House of the DragonThe second season of has a reported budget of $20 million per episode (a total of $160 million), with episodes twice as long as The Acolyte's.
The AcolyteThe trailer for 's was enough to make me give up on the show, so I can't comment on how well that massive budget was used, but with a budget like that, a series needs all the help it can get.
Which brings me to my second reason: The Acolyte Failed – no binding.
Every Star Wars series has a huge budget, but there's something about it that connects fans to it and provides a hint of interest. The Mandalorian had the armor and appearance of Bobba Fett in the OG series, a baby Yoda lookalike, and a well-known creator and star actor in Jon Favreau and Pedro Pascal.
The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka They all have direct ties to the original trilogy or the prequels that immediately grab fans' attention, even if they ultimately roll their eyes and ignore it. Similarly to The Acolyte, Andor It has a premise that doesn't scream Star Wars, but at the same time stays within that universe, which was a big point of interest for me. It also had ratings issues, but its supreme quality and direct link to Star Wars: Rogue One and Star Wars: A New Hope We got enough people to watch it to confirm a second season.
The Acolyte It's not as good as Andor But being set in the untouched High Republic, it was never going to break the ratings. Add to that its massive budget, and not even the Force could get it out of the Dagobah swamp, let alone a few seconds of (spoilers!) Yoda and Darth Plagueis at the end.
I find your lack of faith worrying.
The irony of not having seen it and having mixed emotions about its cancellation is not lost on me, but I love it. Star WarsI loved the first season of The Mandalorian (and I enjoyed the others), I love to hate the prequel trilogy and absolutely fell in love with AndorAnd I loved the fact that Lucasfilm was doing something different with The AcolyteI can't help but think that its failure might teach the creators the wrong lesson.
I think the right reaction would be to release fewer shows, but increase the quality of what is produced. Continue making unique series like Andor and The Acolytebut maybe give audiences a point of reference they can relate to. The wrong lesson, and what I think is more likely, is that they will do away with the unique stories, resorting to fan service and safe content from now on. As a fan, that's exactly what I don't want, but a failed $180 million show is a difficult experience not to be scared of. Let's hope that Skeleton crew, which premieres December 3 on Disney Plus, does not disappoint or we could be seeing Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen do spin-offs forever.
