With big swings come big risks, and Leslye Headland’s Star Wars series, The Acolyte, took a lot of big swings: All new characters; a new part of the Star Wars timeline; a twist cleverly hidden in the marketing and revealed in the first episode; and, well, a lot of character deaths. It didn’t always work—the finale was particularly disappointing—but it had promise. It had so much promise, and an incredible cast, and a whole lot of story left to uncover.
And now it’s over: Deadline has the exclusive report that Lucasfilm has canceled the show after its single season. That cliffhanger ending? It’ll just keep hanging. (Unless they decide to continue it in a book? Please give me an Acolyte novel. Please?)
Deadline notes that, “Like fellow global streamers Netflix and Prime Video, Disney+ has a high viewership threshold for renewing high-end, big-budget series that cost well above $100M per season to make.” The Acolyte started strong on the viewership charts, but fell off the top ten after the second episode, only returning (to the bottom spot) for the finale.
The Acolyte was the first on-screen Star Wars project to be set out of the main, Skywalker-centric timeline. It connected, lightly, with the High Republic novels, but knowledge of that timeline wasn’t necessary in order to understand the show, which centered on a former Jedi Padawan who wound up working with her former master after a series of terrible Jedi murders. Amandla Stenberg starred as both said Padawan, Osha, and her twin sister, Mei; Lee Jung-jae was her former Master, Sol. The rest of the extremely good cast included Dafne Keen, Carrie-Anne Moss, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, and Dean-Charles Chapman.
Well, at least we still have Andor. There’s also Skeleton Crew and a second season of Ahsoka to look forward to—and the eventual Star Wars movies, the first of which is The Mandalorian and Grogu, in 2026.
