Osha and The Stranger

Will The Acolyte get a second season?

While Deadline confirmed that Lucasfilm had canned the widely panned Leslye Headland show, series actor Manny Jacinto believes that there’s still a chance it could return.

(L-R): Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and the Stranger in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©.

Speaking at a Collider panel at the San Francisco FanExpo, Jacinto, who plays The Stranger/Qimir in the series, was asked about the brief appearance of Darth Plagueis in the show’s final episode. Specifically, he was asked whether there was a connection with his character and The Emperor’s long dead Sith Master.

“Oh man, that’s a tough question,” Jacinto said. “They’re not [connected]. They’re definitely not. Oh man, how do I answer that? What time is it? There are definitely a lot of different theories, like who he is, because we never actually know his true identity. Is Qimir’s name actually Qimir?”
Osha and Qimir in The Acolyte

(L-R): The Stranger and Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Then he goes on to dangle a carrot in front of the show’s minuscule fanbase, who have been extremely vocal since its cancellation but clearly don’t exist in enough volume to justify a return.

“We definitely wanted to explore it,” Jacinto continued. “There was definitely going to be more of Plagueis in the second, or if not, the third seasons of the show. But I just can’t say, because, you know, we could come back. I don’t want to spoil anything, or give anybody any false hope, but I would just say there was a lot more to explore, for sure.”

Before the show’s dozens of fans start to dance in treetop villages with the Ewoks (not to the yub nub song, though…), it seems from this quote as though Jacinto is merely speaking in a “what if” or “anything can happen” scenario. No one else involved with production, which came from the mind of Harvey Weinstein’s former personal assistant Leslye Headland, offered any hope of the show’s return.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 23: (L-R) Leslye Headland and Dave Filoni, Chief Creative Officer, Lucasfilm attend the launch event for Lucasfilm’s new Star Wars series The Acolyte at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on May 23, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

The Acolyte cost upwards of $230 million to make, and those costs likely ballooned to over a quarter billion dollars with marketing added in. The show’s viewership numbers failed to justify the high price tag. Simply put, they were abysmal, with season finale numbers coming in 41% below that of Ahsoka and 50% lower than Andor, both of which were considered commercial disappointments.

But despite this very realistic and rational explanation for the show’s cancellation after just one season, the actors associated with Headland’s vision have a whole different explanation.

Racism. 

Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

Jodie Turner-Smith, who played Mother Aniseya in the show, slammed Disney for failing to rise up against what she described as a swell of racist backlash.

“[Disney’s] got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f****** dog-piled on the internet with racism and b*******,” she said. “It would just be nice if the people that have all the money were showing their support and putting their feet down. Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’ Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves. I bet you it won’t, because people of color, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power. They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”

Amandla Stenberg, the show’s “star,” also railed against Star Wars fans, blaming them and their “vitriol” for the show’s cancellation.

Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

“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,” said Stenberg, who played two characters in the series that shared a single facial expression. “That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us.”

What do you think? Will The Acolyte get a second season? Are you curious about what Leslye Headland had in store for Darth Plagueis? Sound off and let us know your thoughts!