Months after The Acolyte's cancellation, a major Disney executive addressed fans' hopes for a Season 2 renewal.
The first live-action High Republic series ever debuted on Disney+ in June, taking audiences to a part of the timeline they have never seen before — at least in that form.
Taking place 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, the streaming series looked to be just the beginning of a new era of Star Wars storytelling, following a pair of force-wielding twins as they became intertwined in a Jedi-killing murder plot.
However, that plan was cut short, as The Acolyte was quickly axed following the first season, leaving some fans wondering, what happened, and why Disney ultimately gave the show the boot.
Disney Executive Addresses The Acolyte Season 2
One of the biggest executives at Disney shared his thoughts on The Acolyte Season 2 renewal hopes, following the show's cancellation.
According to Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman, the Hollywood giant was "happy" with the performance of The Acolyte, but it was ultimately the "cost structure" of the series that dictated the decision to not renew (via Vulture):
"...as it relates to 'Acolyte,' 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 2. So that’s the reason why we didn’t [renew it]."
He went on to praise the ongoing Skeleton Crew series, saying, "We’ve seen some growth on that," and will "have to see how that all plays out" before making any sort of decision about a potential follow-up to that as well:
"'Skeleton Crew' is in process now, so we’ll see. We’ve seen some growth on that. We’ll see how that goes. As you said, the reviews have been excellent on 'Skeleton Crew,' so we’ll have to see how that all plays out as it moves forward."
This marks one of the first times one of the Disney top brass has directly addressed the cancellation of The Acolyte. Some had speculated that the show had been axed after only one season (despite setting up storylines for a potential Season 2) because of the backlash to it.
Why Was The Acolyte Cancelled?
From the jump, The Acolyte was under the microscope by certain corners of the internet, with some calling the project "woke" for its prominent spotlighting of women of color and diverse cast.
This resulted in a directed campaign by some of these detractors to discredit the series upon release, knocking its Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes to a dismal 18%. However, that does not seem to be the reasoning behind its cancellation (at least according to Alan Bergman).
There have been some legitimate criticisms levied at the series (read more about The Direct's biggest Acolyte critiques here), but the tepid critical reception does not seem to have affected Disney's decision too much.
If the series had gotten these same middling reviews (sitting at 78% on Rotten Tomatoes) but had lit the world on fire viewership-wise, then surely, the studio would have been enticed to pursue a Season 2. That did not happen, though.
Despite coming out of the gate with a bang, doing fairly well on the viewership front during its premiere, it would take a sudden dip after.
Given the series' reported $230 million budget ($49.2 million of which was reportedly just in pre-production), the steep downturn in viewership likely did not provide a big enough return on investment for Disney, thus prompting the studio to cut its losses on the brand and move on.
The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+.
