As far as Star Wars quotes go, Yoda’s “Do or do not, there is no try” is certainly up there. As first reported by Deadline, Lucasfilm has opted to “do not” regarding the possible second season of The Acolyte, with the Star Wars offshoot being canceled just over a month after the conclusion of its first season.
The Acolyte is a prequel series, set around 100 years before Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace, following a respected Jedi Master as he investigates a crime spree, encountering a former Padawan and sinister forces.
A mystery-thriller in the Star Wars universe with a Jedi detective? That might be the coolest premise I’ve ever heard – yet I couldn’t get into it and, as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one.
The Acolyte drew almost 5 million views on its first day – making it the biggest Disney Plus launch of the year – and, four days later, it was sitting at a very healthy 11.1 million views globally. Ranking at six and seven over its first two weeks in the Nielsen Top 10 Originals chart, it fell off the grid and didn’t reappear until the final episode pushed it into 10th spot according to Deadline – with the lowest viewership for a Star Wars series finale.
It wasn’t all bad, though. While Star Wars: The Acolyte‘s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes currently sits at a rotten 18%, the ‘All Critics’ score is at a much healthier 78%.Â
While controversy enshrouded this project – mostly mind-numbing complaints aimed at its female lead (Amanda Stenberg) and diverse cast – which may account for some of that rotten score, the fall-off in numbers shows the on-screen performance didn’t do much either. Even my Star Wars-obsessed colleague didn’t finish it. That said, the first season had some interesting plotlines to indicate a second season, plus it ended in a cliffhanger. So its cancellation is a bit of a shock.
Or is it?Â
I have a bad feeling about this
While it would be easy to write it off as just a bad show with subpar acting and writing that had us complaining about the Sith Lord’s reveal, I think that’s unfair and only half the story.
Those things are true, at least from what I’ve heard, read and seen, but two specific nails hammered into The Acolyte‘s coffin marked its demise.
An eight-episode season with an average episode length of fewer than 35 minutes, its reported budget was an astronomical $180 million. That’s $22.5 million per episode and almost $650,000 every minute. For reference, House of the Dragon‘s second season has a reported budget of $20 million per episode ( a total of $160 million) – with episodes twice as long as The Acolyte‘s.
The Acolyte’s trailer was enough for me to forgo the show – so I can’t comment on how well that massive budget was used – but with a budget like that, a series needs every bit of help it can get.
Which leads me to my second reason that The Acolyte failed – there’s no tether.
Every Star Wars series has a massive budget, but they have something that connects fans to it and provides a crumb of interest. The Mandalorian had the armor and Bobba Fett’s appearance in the OG series, a baby that looked like Yoda and a well-known creator and star actor in Jon Favreau and Pedro Pascal.Â
The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka all have direct ties to the original trilogy or prequels that immediately perk fans’ ears, even if they eventually roll their eyes and ignore it. Similarly to The Acolyte, Andor has a premise that doesn’t scream Star Wars, while still remaining in that universe – which was a big point of interest for me. It had viewership problems too, but its supreme quality and direct link to Star Wars: Rogue One and Star Wars: A New Hope got enough people to watch it to see the confirmation of a second season.Â
The Acolyte is nowhere near as good as Andor but being set during the untouched High Republic, it was never going to blow viewership numbers out of the water. Add that to its massive budget and even the Force couldn’t lift it out of the Dagobah swamp – let alone a few seconds of (spoilers!) Yoda and Darth Plagueis in the finale.
I find your lack of faith disturbing
The irony of me not having watched it and having mixed emotions over its cancellation isn’t lost on me, but I love Star Wars. I loved the first season of The Mandalorian (and enjoyed the others), I love to hate the prequel trilogy and I absolutely fell in love with Andor. And, I loved the fact that Lucasfilm was doing something different with The Acolyte. I can’t help but think its failure could see creators learn the wrong lesson.
I think the right reaction would be to release fewer shows, but increase the quality of what is produced. Continue to make unique series like Andor and The Acolyte, but maybe give audiences a point of reference they can associate with. The wrong lesson, and what I think is more likely, is that they do away with unique stories, resorting to fan service and safe content from now on. As a fan, that’s exactly what I don’t want – but a $180 million failed show is a hard experience to not be scared away by. Here’s hoping Skeleton Crew, which debuts on December 3 on Disney Plus, doesn’t disappoint or we might be watching Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen make spinoffs forever.