A Disney exec has revealed why The Acolyte never made it to a second season.
READ MORE: ‘The Acolyte’ review: Star Wars revenge story feels fresh and original
In August, reports first emerged that the sci-fi show was getting scrapped after just one season, partially due to low viewership numbers. Although it was well-received by critics (including NME), it was divisive to fans and resulted in a dire 18 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It didn’t help matters that the series was also effectively panned by fans before its release, with many slamming its trailer earlier in the year for “looking cheap”.
Now, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman has spoken to Vulture and said that while the company felt positively about how the first season performed, it wasn’t enough to justify a follow-up considering the hefty price tag.
Dafne Keen (right) in ‘The Acolyte’. CREDIT: Disney/Lucasfilm
“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 two,” he said. “So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
Other notable Star Wars series including The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi also never received second seasons. The Acolyte, however, ended on a cliffhanger and had teased big events in a potential second season, with showrunner Leslye Headland going on record to say she was hoping for a renewal.
Following its cancellation, series lead Amandla Stenberg shared her thoughts in a series of Instagram Stories that ran for over eight minutes, in which she remarked that the one series run wasn’t a surprise, given fans’ reactions even before it had premiered.
“It’s not a huge shock for me,” she said at the time. “Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality but for those who aren’t aware there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it.”
‘The Acolyte’ star Amandla Stenberg. Credit: Jesse Grant/Getty Images
She continued: “That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us.
“This really affected me when I first got the job because it’s just not something, even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you, however, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself.”
Stenberg also experienced severe racism for her role in the show, leading to her writing and releasing a song in response to her haters. She had previously mentioned that despite the onset of hate online, working on the show was “an incredible honour”.
“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting fucking dog-piled on the internet with racism and bullshit,” she told Glamour. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”
In a four-star review of The Acolyte, Paul Bradshaw wrote for NME: “As with everything in Star Wars, balance is everything – but it feels like Headland has managed to walk a finer line than most with The Acolyte. It’s new, without feeling unconnected. Pristine, but not too shiny. Fun, but still substantial. It feels like a place to grow from, as well as a worthy stand-alone story in its own right.”
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