Last week, the news broke that The Acolyte had a bigger debut than 2023's Ahsoka with a whopping 4.8 million views on Disney+ during its first day on the streamer.
That was the official word from Disney, anyway, though no first-day viewership numbers were ever shared for Ahsoka. Instead, we were told that it took the Star Wars Rebels follow-up five days to reach 14 million views, giving it a per-day average of 2.8 million.
Whether or not The Acolyte really did beat Ahsoka during its first day of streaming is hard to say; either way, we've now learned that it failed to top its fellow Star Wars series in its first five days on the platform.
According to Variety, the show drew an impressive 11.1 million viewers, almost 3 million less than Ahsoka during the same period of time.
There may be lots of reasons for this, including the fact Ahsoka featured a well-known character and setting. The Acolyte still managed to score Disney+'s biggest debut for a TV series, and these numbers put it in the same ballpark as last year's hit Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
We also can't help but wonder whether the review bombing put casual viewers off.
In our review of The Acolyte's first four episodes, we concluded by saying, "Star Wars like you’ve never seen it before, The Acolyte soars thanks to its impressive cast, compelling setting, and a mystery which will keep you coming back for more. Now, we just need to hope the series sticks the landing."
Did you watch the first two episodes of The Acolyte on Disney+ last week?
In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems...
The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
The next Star Wars TV series comes from creator and showrunner Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), who also serves as executive producer alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers, and Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are producing.
The first two episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+.