What just happened?
In what must be the least surprising news of the year so far, Disney+ has canceled its latest Star Wars series, The Acolyte, after just one season. The show’s critic score on Rotten Tomatoes is a respectable 78%, but viewers tended to hate the series, hence its average audience score of 18%. Viewing figures have fallen since its debut, resulting in what is believed to be the least-viewed Star Wars finale ever.
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Disney+ has had plenty of hits and misses when it comes to original Star Wars content, from the zenith of Andor, which is not only arguably one of the best shows set in the universe, but also one of the greatest television series ever, to the likes of The Book of Boba Fett. Even that derided show had a much higher audience score (49%) than The Acolyte, though its critics rating was lower (66%).
The Acolyte looked as if it could emulate the success of The Mandalorian when its debut episodes drew almost 5 million people on the first day, making it Disney+’s biggest launch of the year. Five days later, the show had attracted a total of 11.1 million viewers globally, and it reached number 6 on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart a week after its launch.
The Acolyte dropped out of the Top 10 in its third week
only returning during the finale, which managed to reach tenth spot with a disappointing 335M minutes watched, writes Deadline. Given that the show cost $180 million for its eight episodes, or $22.5 million per episode, Disney was only going to renew The Acolyte if its viewing figures justified the cost, which they didn’t.Star Wars: The Acolyte has been canceled after one season
There have been plenty of complaints about The Acolyte, and not just those aimed at the quality of the acting, characters, and story: there have been accusations that it breaks Star Wars canon.
As someone who enjoyed even the less well-received Star Wars series on Disney+, I was happy to see what The Acolyte had to offer. But watching each episode increasingly felt like a chore, and I eventually gave up after episode 4. Disney still has a large number of Star Wars projects in development. Hopefully, it will have learned from The Acolyte’s mistakes.
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