It's rare for Disney+ to publicly announce a cancellation, but that's exactly what happened with The Acolyte last year. While some believe the apparent review-bombing and negative online discourse might have factored into Disney's decision, we've heard the series wasn't cheap to produce.
Set during The High Republic Era, The Acolyte featured a diverse cast and was criticised by many Star Wars fans for taking what they considered to be major liberties with the franchise's established set of rules.
It's impossible to figure out how many of The Acolyte's detractors were trolls and which of them were real fans with legitimate grievances. Either way, it's previously been reported that the show was the second-most-watched TV series of 2024 on Disney+ behind only Percy Jackson and the Olympians. That too has led to questions about why it was scrapped.
The divisive series is once again making headlines today, thanks to Parrot Analytics. The company measures interest, engagement, and viewership across social media, streaming sites, and other sources in the U.S. and, in a new report, suggests that the demand for The Acolyte is still high.
It's said that the demand for the show is 20.4x the market average, with only 2.7% of series put in that same "outstanding" category. This places The Acolyte well above Ahsoka, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, though it is behind Skeleton Crew (barely) and The Mandalorian.
There's a lot of speculation online about this potentially leading to Disney+ reversing its decision and giving The Acolyte another chance. That really doesn't seem overly likely at this point, though the streamer might at least consider doing something with these characters.
Discussing the past, present, and future of Star Wars on streaming, Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman said last year that, "As it relates to Acolyte, 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 [renew it]."
That big Darth Plagueis cliffhanger could do with being resolved, though, with a different series not outside the realm of possibility. According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, "There are three live-action Star Wars shows in development."
There's no word on what those might be, but at least one could potentially fill in some of the gaps Lucasfilm has created between The Acolyte and The Phantom Menace.
We'll see, but things are looking good for Ahsoka season 2, at least...