New information about Disney+’s Star Wars series The Acolyte has reignited debate over why the show was truly canceled. While Lucasfilm cited low viewership, newly released numbers tell a different story—one that suggests backlash may have played a bigger role than Disney is willing to admit.
A Controversial Entry in Star Wars
Set nearly a century before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), The Acolyte explored a rarely seen era of the Star Wars timeline—the final years of the High Republic when the Jedi were still at their peak, and Sith influence was only beginning to emerge.
Created by Leslye Headland, the show aimed to bring a darker, more mysterious lens to the franchise. However, before it even premiered, The Acolyte was at the center of controversy. Some Star Wars fans accused Lucasfilm of prioritizing diversity and modern messaging over storytelling, objecting to a cast led by Amandla Stenberg alongside multiple actors of color.
Review-bombing campaigns began almost immediately, with detractors branding the show as overly “woke.”
Once it aired, the criticisms shifted. Some viewers took issue with how The Acolyte portrayed Jedi philosophy, claiming it contradicted Star Wars canon. Others found its writing and character development lacking, further fueling the backlash. Yet, the show remained divisive—while critics awarded it a 78% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score plummeted to just 19%.
Disney Pulls the Plug
Despite leaving major mysteries unresolved—such as whether the legendary Darth Plagueis would factor into the story—Disney announced that The Acolyte would not return for a second season. Officially, Lucasfilm pointed to poor viewership as the reason.
However, some involved with the show believed the decision was more about perception than performance. Actress Jodie Turner-Smith criticized Disney for failing to defend Stenberg from online hate, calling for studios to do more to protect their casts from toxic backlash.
New Data Raises Questions
Now, fresh numbers from Luminate suggest The Acolyte was far from a failure. The series reportedly amassed 2.673 billion viewing minutes, making it the second-most-watched Disney+ original of the year—trailing only Percy Jackson & The Olympians, which topped 3 billion minutes. It even outperformed major Marvel projects like Agatha All Along and Echo.
For many fans, this revelation casts doubt on Lucasfilm’s official explanation. One X, formerly known as Twitter, user questioned, “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. It was one of their most viewed shows of the year.”
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
Others believe Disney very much caved to external pressure. Another fan 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.”
Budget or Backlash?
Of course, there’s another factor: cost. The Acolyte reportedly carried a staggering budget of $230.1 million, which may have made even solid viewership numbers insufficient to justify renewal.
Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman directly addressed this in an interview with Vulture, stating, “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.”
Yet, not everyone buys this explanation. If Disney+’s second-most-watched show of the year still wasn’t enough, some argue it’s a sign of deeper issues at Lucasfilm. As one user put it, “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.”
With Star Wars fans already split over Disney’s direction for the franchise, The Acolyte’s cancellation only intensifies the debate.
Did Disney make the right decision? Or was this a case of optics outweighing performance?
