The news that Lucasfilm cancelled The Acolyte sparked well-justified anger from many in the Star Wars fandom. And sadly, there’s a certain group of people who are gloating at this unfortunate news because they never wanted the show to succeed in the first place. All of this makes the optics bad for Lucasfilm, simply because it looks like the company is appeasing a very negative and annoyingly loud group of people. Even if that’s not the actual truth, that is the story that this group is probably painting in their minds right now. However, The Acolyte was indeed special for several reasons and deserved a second chance.
The Acolyte Expanded Out of the Skywalker Saga At Last
Star Wars is a vast universe of story potential. To paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, the events of the galaxy far, far away cover “a thousand generations.” Yet, in both live-action and animation, which are the “official” parts of the canon, the franchise has confined stories to the roughly 70-year time period of the Skywalker Saga. From a business point, this makes sense to a degree. The iconography of that saga is known around the globe, largely due to the massively popular films from George Lucas. Even the most “out of the box” parts of modern Star Wars offerings like Andor have story ties to events in A New Hope.
So when Lucasfilm announced The Acolyte, which chronicles events set a hundred years before The Phantom Menace, fans rejoiced. Finally, no Stormtrooper helmets, Imperials, or Rebels/Resistance! Cheers to getting the Jedi at their peak and an alternate exploration of the Sith! We waited years for this.
Naturally, it was a risky move for Lucasfilm and Disney+. Casual Star Wars fans, the people who make up the vast majority of the viewing audience, like what’s familiar to them. They know characters like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan from their roles in the movies. Even The Mandalorian, which introduced lots of new characters to the fandom at large, crossed into the mainstream because of a “baby Yoda.” So once again, that familiar iconography was advantageous. The Acolyte didn’t have those crutches besides the concept of Jedi.
Star Wars Needs to Grow With New Material Like The Acolyte, or It Could Ultimately Wither Away
However, its existence is a reminder that Star Wars as a franchise cannot grow if it keeps repeating its greatest hits. There’s nothing wrong with nostalgia plays. Nostalgic content has its place. But if that’s all this franchise leans on, it’ll die a slow death. For that reason alone, The Acolyte should have a chance to thrive, even if it didn’t initially become the ratings phenomenon that Lucasfilm and Disney desired. Shows often need time to develop and gain an audience. This is fact that’s seemingly lost in the streaming age, where everything must become an instant hit or die.
That mentality would have deprived us of classics like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Breaking Bad, none of which were big hits out of the gate. Giving The Acolyte more time to explore previously uncharted live-action territory could have led to a major shift for the franchise.
The Acolyte Created Fans Outside Star Wars‘ Usual Demographic
It’s true that The Acolyte did not have a huge cultural moment that crossed over into the mainstream like The Mandalorian. However, the expectation that every Star Wars project must hit that level of success remains short-sighted and ultimately unattainable in a world with so many offerings. What The Acolyte did do was draw in new fans who loved the diverse cast and the on-screen chemistry of Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and the mysterious and sexy Stranger (Manny Jacinto).
Instead of cultivating this new fandom, which could create a group of Star Wars disciples for a new generation, Lucasfilm possibly alienated them from wanting to dive deeper into this world and explore future Star Wars content. This alienation sentiment also goes for existing fans who have witnessed some very unsavory behavior in the fandom for years. There’s a strong disappointment that comes from feeling like the negative voices are winning. In fact, saying it is a disappointment doesn’t quite scratch the surface considering what’s happened in very recent memory.
The Acolyte Was a Target Before and Throughout Its Run
Lucasfilm announced The Acolyte in 2020, revealing that Star Wars superfan Leslye Headland would write and produce the series. Headland made women and POC the center of its story, and she herself is a gay woman. That alone caused the many terrible people to attack the show before ever seeing a single frame of it.
Unfortunately, this is not new for the franchise. When Asian-American actress Kelly Marie Tran joined The Last Jedi, bigoted fans reacted by creating a mountain of content against her online. They even harassed the actress to the point where she had to leave social media. When it came time to film The Rise of Skywalker, Tran’s role went from a major supporting player to having less than two minutes of screen time. It was a letdown for Rose Tico fans. This behavior reared its ugly head again when Obi-Wan Kenobi hit Disney+ in 2022. Many of these “fans” bullied actress Moses Ingram, who played Inquisitor Reva on the show.
In the weeks leading up to The Acolyte’s premiere, many review bombed the show. Meanwhile, certain fans were very angry the show “broke canon.” The logic behind this notion was that if any Jedi had seen a Sith before The Phantom Menace, it would make the Jedi’s statements in that film a contradiction. (Of course, all those Jedi who saw a Sith died before the end of the season.) In reality, all of that canon- breaking talk was a smokescreen to say they were angry a Star Wars project didn’t center any straight white men for the first time. All of this was meant to create a rotten air around the series before it ever dropped to discourage casual fans from watching the show. And, from many fans’ perspectives, it seems their scheme largely worked considering this cancellation news.
We all know this is not the first Star Wars project to not get a second season. Obi-Wan Kenobi nor Book of Boba Fett got a second round but those shows were not designed to go past one season. The door was open for more certainly, but both shows were essentially conceived as miniseries. The Acolyte was designed with three seasons in mind, so it’s really the first live-action Star Wars show to get outright canceled mid-story. Sadly, the bigots among us will feel like they have been validated again, even if that’s not actually the case.
In many ways, The Acolyte is the straw that broke the bantha’s back for many fans. It’s going to be difficult to trust any new Star Wars series on Disney+ coming from Lucasfilm from now on to get a proper conclusion. Why invest in the upcoming Skeleton Crew if it might end with a cliffhanger that never receives a resolution? Sure, the dangling plot threads from The Acolyte will probably find resolution in some novel or comic book down the line. But can you imagine if The Empire Strikes Back decided to resolve its cliffhanger ending in a book?!
Star Wars isn’t just any other franchise—it’s the biggest of all sci-fi/fantasy franchises. So yes, fans expect a certain amount of storyline follow-through from the proverbial King of the Hill. Now everyone will have to see if, and how, certain threads are addressed for The Acolyte.
Does The Acolyte Still Have a Future?
Hopefully, Lucasfilm hears the fan outcry and rethinks its decision and gives The Acolyte one more season to wrap up its story. Andor was originally meant to go five seasons, but was truncated to two, allowing Tony Gilroy to tell his story. Leslye Headland deserves the same grace. Even if the show has bigger budget restraints this time. If Lucasfilm essentially continued the new story in a sequel series with a new name, fans of The Acolyte certainly wouldn’t be against it. It’s not the name they’re attached to, it’s the characters.
Thus far, Lucasfilm has not put out any official statement regarding The Acolyte. This is Lucasfilm’s opportunity to show that the future of the franchise lies in growing new fans and expansion versus making moves that, while not made specifically for anyone, still make many in the fanbase who want Star Wars to remain a stagnant franchise happy. The franchise cannot keep remixing its best parts over and over. Was The Acolyte perfect? Absolutely not. But it did stretch the universe of Star Wars in bold new directions. That’s something this franchise desperately needs as it approaches its 50th anniversary.