The Acolyte will not return for season two, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Lucasfilm has opted not to continue the Disney+ Star Wars series, which aired its season one finale last month.
The Leslye Headland-created show earned respectable reviews from critics, but was panned by audiences, with only 18 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The show was review-bombed from some quarters who perceived it as “woke,” with certain corners of the internet going after Headland, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the series’ diverse group of actors.
“Honestly, I feel sad that people would think that if something were gay, that that would be bad,” Headland told THR in June. “It makes me feel sad that a bunch of people on the internet would somehow dismantle what I consider to be the most important piece of art that I’ve ever made.”
Also in June, star Amandla Stenberg fired back at racist backlash with an original song on social media.
“It was an easy target,” said one source of the back-and-forth’s connection to the show’s cancellation. “And it hurt the public perception of the show.”
The Acolyte was set about 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace. Stenberg played twin sisters Osha and Mae, separated in childhood; Osha was a former Padawan of a respected Jedi Master, whereas Mae held allegiances with the Dark Side.
Alongside Stenberg, the series featured Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie-Turner Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Manny Jacinto, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo and more.
The series ended with some tantalizing story points and even hinted at bringing back the popular character Yoda. Elsewhere, Jacinto’s evil The Stranger proved to be a breakout, with the character to have his own life-size helmet from Hasbro. But viewership data was not strong enough to prompt a season two, according to sources.
Another factor may have been the evolving nature of streaming viewing habits and the erosion of goodwill of the Star Wars brand when it comes to its series.
