‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ is the latest addition to the franchise, but it stirred up controversy even before its debut, and the situation worsened after it premiered.
Despite a decent launch with numbers slightly below ‘Ahsoka,’ the show’s premise was quickly undermined after the release of Episode 2, and it never managed to recover.
Fans have launched several social media campaigns to revive the show, including the trending hashtag #SaveTheAcolyte on X and a Change.org petition that has garnered over 49,000 signatures in an effort to convince Disney to renew it.
While these efforts are admirable, we’ve previously discussed why they’re unlikely to succeed; you can read our detailed report here. For anyone who spent even a few minutes watching ‘The Acolyte,’ the reasons for its cancellation are evident—it suffered from poor quality and questionable narrative choices.
Disney and Lucasfilm never provided an official explanation for the show’s cancellation. However, industry insider Jeff Sneider has recently reported on the reasons behind the decision, based on his sources:
New reported details on the cancellation of ‘THE ACOLYTE’:
• It was cancelled due to low viewership
• It cost $630K per minute of screentime
• Viewership went down after the first two episodes
• There are no plans to remove the series from Disney+
(via… pic.twitter.com/eunY7rQs3a
— Cosmic Marvel (@cosmic_marvel) August 26, 2024
The primary reason for the show’s cancellation was its low viewership. From day one, the numbers steadily declined each week. Although it premiered with decent ratings, the show had completely dropped out of the “top 10 list” within 5 or 6 weeks, according to Luminate’s data.
Some media outlets tried to boost the show’s profile, even calling it the second-most popular Star Wars series based on “interactions.” However, as I’ve explained in another post, these numbers were misleadingly presented to appear more favorable, while the actual “interactions” were largely negative.
Additionally, the show’s production costs were a significant factor. It reportedly cost $630K per minute of screen time. Despite a claimed budget of $180M, this figure seemed unrealistic given the show’s overall quality, with only a few lightsaber scenes reflecting any sense of that budget’s potential.
Ultimately, Sneider confirmed what we already suspected: the show was a significant loss for Disney and Lucasfilm. Despite its high budget and low viewership, there was still a chance for renewal. For comparison, ‘Andor’ had the lowest viewership but the highest budget, yet it received critical acclaim, which makes it a worthwhile investment for the studio.
Fans feared that ‘The Acolyte’ might suffer the same fate as ‘Willow,’ which was removed from Disney+ less than six months after its release. According to Sneider, however, ‘The Acolyte’ will not follow that path.
What are your thoughts? Share them in the comments below!
