The Acolyte: The Real Reason The Star Wars Series Was Canceled

When Disney bought the "Star Wars" franchise from George Lucas, the House of Mouse got busy making its own content for a galaxy far, far away. Some of the Disney-produced TV series and films have done well with fans, while others ... not so much. There's an element of the fandom that seemingly dislikes anything Disney produces for the franchise, and that is certainly true of "The Acolyte." When the series premiered, there was no shortage of folks complaining online about the cast, story, and whatever else they disapproved of. 

This is clear from its 79% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes vs. its 19% audience score. Part of why "The Acolyte" ripped the fandom apart was the perception by some that it was too "woke," and it was review-bombed endlessly. While the series took a lot of flack online, that's not the reason it was canceled. It certainly didn't help matters, but for Disney, the reason to cancel "The Acolyte" was simple: It cost too much to produce. Not only was it an incredibly expensive series, but it went well over budget, resulting in the higher-ups at Disney pulling the plug. 

Disney rarely releases its streaming figures to the public, so it's difficult to quantify how much the negativity impacted viewership of "The Acolyte." While Disney typically keeps this information quiet, the company hasn't been as protective of its loss amounts. Since Disney+ launched, the company has lost a staggering $11.4 billion. That money needed to be recovered to satisfy the shareholders, which meant that Disney needed to cut content. "The Acolyte" was one of many that suffered the fate of premature cancellation.

Because "The Acolyte" received so much negative attention from the fandom, it's understandable to assume that it was canceled as a result. It didn't help, but the reason was financial, as the series' budget ballooned up to $230.1 million. That means that each of the series' eight episodes averaged around $28.8 million to produce. That's not an insignificant amount of money, and because it cost as much as it did, Disney was stuck with a poorly-received series that would likely cost more going into a second season.

While it started strong, the series lost its audience pretty quickly after the premiere in June 2024. A little over a month after it ended in July, the possibility of a second season was dashed. The first two episodes had 4.8 million views, and after five days of streaming, the number rose to 11.1 million. That put it below the numbers for "Ahsoka," which drew in 14 million viewers in its first five days on the streaming platform.

Regarding the show's budget, it was initially set at $180 million. While that's still a lot of money, the show went over by a staggering $50 million. Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman explained to Vulture why "The Acolyte" was canceled, saying, "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 do that."