The Acolyte has been canceled after just one season, despite a cliffhanger ending that appeared to be setting up for more.
Deadline has confirmed that Star Wars The Acolyte will only be getting one season, following a first season plagued by review-bombing by dissatisfied fans. Despite cheering crowds greeting an Acolyte panel at D23, it’s now been confirmed that the show will only ever see one season.
That’s despite at least two stones laid in the first season for future stories, with a glimpse of who can only be Darth Plagueis in Qimir’s cave lair and a faceless shot of none other than Yoda himself. It seems clear that The Acolyte was laying the groundwork for future seasons – but that’s not in the cards anymore.
Disney’s decision seemingly comes down, as it often does, to poor viewership numbers. While Disney doesn’t publish viewing numbers, Deadline reports that the Star Wars show earned 4.8 million views on its first day, making it the biggest series premiere on Disney+ this year.
This rose to 11.1 million views globally after five days of streaming but it couldn’t keep up its momentum, falling out of Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart by the third week. Reviews were also unfavorable, particularly from fans dissatisfied with casting choices. The Acolyte scored just 18% for the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, despite scoring 78% on the Rotten Tomatometer.
This perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise to those following the inner workings of Disney, with CEO Bob Iger stating last year that the entertainment company would be cutting spending on large-scale Marvel and Star Wars titles.
This has seen some major reshuffling of the MCU schedule and could also factor into The Acolyte getting canceled. With a reported budget of around $180 million, Lesyle Headland’s Star Wars show was far from cheap.
Disney+ has been making various pushes to earn more, from enforcing anti-password-sharing measures to teaming up with competitors like Warner Bros.
Featured image: Disney+
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