There's no question that The Acolyte stands as one of the Star Wars franchise's most problematic projects to date.
Starring Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae and developed by Leslye Headland, The Acolyte is a Disney+ mystery thriller that follows a Jedi Master who crosses paths with a former padawan while investigating a series of crimes.
While critics initially praised the series, The Acolyte received a historic record-low 14% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes following its June 4 premiere, and its reception has yet to improve.
[ Why The Acolyte Got 'Cancelled' by Star Wars Fans, Explained ]
5 Reasons Why The Acolyte Is Bad
1.) Disney's Star Wars Pressure
The Acolyte's troubled story is likely rooted in Disney's 2019-era decision to focus on a high volume of streaming content for its newly unveiled Disney+.
On the Phase Zero podcast (shared via ComicBook.com), Marvel Studios' Brad Winderbaum referred to Disney's pressure as a "mandate," saying:
"I mean, frankly, in all honesty, there was a mandate to kind of create as much as we could for Disney+ as quickly as we could.
While Star Wars fans haven't heard Lucasfilm creatives discuss Disney's directive with the same frankness, comments like Winderbaum's offer a window into what Disney-owned studios were dealing with.
Not only was Star Wars having to adapt to a live-action television format, but creatives were having to split their focus and priorities, manpower and resources were being exhausted, and ultimately, hurt projects by rushing them into development.
As a result, much of Lucasfilm's Star Wars Disney+ content has partly been victims of circumstance with The Acolyte likely being the latest.
2.) Questionable Flashbacks
While flashback episodes are a common television trope, The Acolyte dedicated two whole episodes of an eight-episode series to a flashback of a single event.
Yes, it's true that the two episodes offered different perspectives, but Episode 7 was the show's penultimate episode and it left audiences more confused than before without pushing the narrative forward or establishing any stakes for the finale.
Why The Acolyte opted to pump the brakes in this way isn't only surprising but it led to new doubts about whether Episode 8 can provide a satisfying conclusion.
3.) Lazy Writing & Plot Holes
Since its debut, The Acolyte has been handicapped by simplistic writing and bafflingly bad decisions that only seem to exist for the sake of the plot.
One of the earliest and most glaring (apart from that fire in space) occurred in Episode 1 "Lost / Found" where the Jedi quickly track down Osha after Master Indara's murder.
Instead of taking her to Coruscant themselves, they placed her on a prisoner transport with a single guard where a prisoner escape occurs, leading the ship to crash, and the Jedi having to find her all over again.
The only purpose behind this illogical chain of events is to allow for an action-filled, prisoner escape sequence and prove Osha's loyalty.
Other issues that hurt the series range from wooden and sometimes cringy dialogue, the introduction of seemingly pivotal events without ever committing to fully explaining them, and a lack of context.
Overall, the script feels rushed, intentionally vague, and doesn't seem to respect its audience.
It definitely feels like a step down compared to Andor's "pockets of fomenting" and Luthen Rael's stunning monologue.
4.) Lack of Complex & Interesting Characters
Another one of the biggest problems that hurt The Acolyte's reception is its lack of compelling characters.
While Amandla Stenberg's Osha and Mae are the series stars, they're actions and personalities oscillate between bland or puzzling, leaving little for audiences to relate to or root for.
In addition, much of the cast is seemingly afterthoughts in terms of character development, defining characteristics, or sufficient time on camera.
Dafne Keen's Jecki Lon was a fan-favorite, but unfortunately, she was killed off for the sake of stakes, and Lee Jung-jae's Master Sol was the show's MVP before his Episode 7 baffling backstory actually made audiences like him less.
Will new Star Wars fans even be fans of the Jedi after watching The Acolyte? Probably not.
At this point, Qimir, The Acolyte's kinda sorta Sith, is the most compelling. But that may be more due to his creepy helmet design and Manny Jacinto's performance than anything else.
5.) Lore Inconsistencies
One of the reasons why fans were excited for The Acolyte was its' High Republic timeline.
This Star Wars era has largely been unexplored on-screen, meaning Star Wars could tell a fresh, new story with new characters and without any canon contradictions.
But that all changed when the show featured the prequel trilogy Jedi, Ki-Adi Mundi, leading to confusion about his age and why, despite his role in The Acolyte, he claimed in The Phantom Menace that "the Sith [had] been extinct for a millennium."
Many fans viewed Ki-Adi Mundi's presence as an example of Leslye Headland and The Acolyte team's lack of understanding and/or respect for Star Wars lore.
While opinions vary in terms of whether it breaks canon at all, his inclusion seems unnecessary since The Acolyte didn't have to rely on canon characters (apart from maybe Master Yoda) to begin with.
Overall, the Ki-Adi Mundi controversy, coupled with the show's other bold swings and dissonance with other Star Wars stories, only added to fan frustration and hurt the show overall.
The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+.
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