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Credit: LucasfilmIt’s been some time since The Acolyte was canceled, but there are still plenty of questions about the circumstances around the move.
Debuting on Disney+ in 2024, The Acolyte was the latest in a long line of Star Wars projects for Disney’s streaming service. The show was set roughly 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), during the final years of the High Republic era. Created by Leslye Headland, it explored a darker side of the galaxy, focusing on Sith influence emerging at a time when the Jedi were at their peak.
Backlash Against ‘The Acolyte’
Even before the show’s premiere, however, it proved controversial. Some Star Wars fans criticized its casting and marketing, arguing that Lucasfilm was prioritizing diversity and modern messaging over storytelling depth. With the show led by a queer woman and multiple people of color in its cast list, a portion of the fandom complained that the franchise had become too “woke,” with the show review-bombed from the outset.
Once it aired, some viewers had more legitimate critiques about its writing, pacing, and character development. Some fans took issue with creative choices that reinterpreted Jedi philosophy, while others felt the show’s themes clashed with existing Star Wars canon.
These debates fueled online discourse, ultimately making The Acolyte one of the most divisive entries in the franchise’s history. Case in point: The Acolyte boasts a 79% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes but an audience score of just 19%.
While The Acolyte left major questions unanswered after its first season – such as the roles of Darth Plagueis and Jedi Master Yoda – Lucasfilm ultimately canceled the series due to low viewership. Officially, it claimed that the show was axed due to poor ratings, but some believe its cancellation had more to do with the online backlash.
One star, Jodie Turner-Smith, even called out Disney for not doing enough to defend the show’s lead, Amandla Stenberg (who played twins Osha and Mae), and pleaded with studios to do more for its casts. Leslye Headland also shared her controversial take on the decision to cancel The Acolyte.
Headland told The Wrap in 2025, “You don’t have to tell me who’s talking about it or how bad it is online, I know exactly who they are. I supported them on Patreon. There are some of them that I respect, and there are some of them that I think are absolutely snake oil salesmen, just opportunists. Then, of course, there are the fascists and racists.”
More Information Comes To Light
With that in mind, viewing statistics raises even more questions about Disney’s decision to cancel the show.
Luminate reports that The Acolyte hit 2.673 billion viewing minutes in 2024, making it the second-most-watched Disney+ original of the year. It trailed Percy Jackson & The Olympians (over 3 billion minutes) but outperformed Agatha All Along and Echo.
These numbers come from a third party and not Disney itself. However, they still raise some valid questions about why The Acolyte was axed for low ratings if said ratings were actually anything but, potentially adding credence to those rumors that Lucasfilm was more interested in how the show was perceived online.
Of course, one thing to consider is the budget. While The Acolyte may have outperformed other projects on Disney+, that doesn’t necessarily mean it warranted its eye-watering budget of $230.1 million.
As Co-Chairman of Disney Entertainment, Alan Bergman, told Vulture, “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 two. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
Fans Question Cancelation
The release of these numbers has still left some fans questioning why Disney axed The Acolyte – or why it didn’t simply greenlight a cheaper second season.
Yet somehow… they still canceled it. I’ll never believe it was just because of the budget 😒
Yet somehow… they still canceled it. I'll never believe it was just because of the budget 😒
— Scotty Holiday Star Wars (@ScottyHolidaySW) January 26, 2025
“I will never understand why they didn’t make a season 2 but just reduce the budget this time and make sure it didn’t go over,” said one X, formerly known as Twitter user. “It was one of their most viewed shows of the year.”
Another user wrote: “Only canceled because of these right-wing Star Wars YouTube channels that called it dei and terrible. Was it Andor levels of writing? No. But was it fun and [gave] us arguably the best lightsaber fight in the entirety of Star Wars? Yes.”
But not everyone was in agreement. While the show may have been the second-best-performing of the year, it was still beaten out by a show that actually started premiering new episodes in 2023, while multiple Disney franchises underperformed on Disney+ in 2024.
As one X user summarized, “Which should tell you how bad they’re doing overall. Their second-most-watched show still didn’t get enough viewers to justify a second season. Lucasfilm needs to get [its] act together and fast.”
Do you think Disney made the right decision in canceling The Acolyte?