Last August, we got word that Lucasfilm/Disney had decided not to move forward with a second season of The Acolyte despite several major storylines and character arcs being left unresolved by the end of the season 1 finale.
The series proved to be highly divisive, and was met with quite a lot of online backlash. Some of the criticism was valid, but it soon became clear that the show was also being targeted for more sinister reasons.
Lucasfilm claimed that The Acolyte was canned because of low viewership numbers, plain and simple, but a lot of people - including showrunner Leslye Headland - believe that the negative reactions and vitriol did factor into the decision.
During a new interview with The Wrap, Headland says that she wasn't necessarily surprised by the cancellation, but was by how the whole thing was handled.
"I think I was surprised at the swiftness of it and the publicness of it. I was surprised by how it was handled. But once I was getting particular phone calls about the reaction and the criticism and the viewership, I felt like 'OK, the writing’s on the wall for sure.' The viewership was a little muddled for me, because — and this is my understanding — with “Star Wars,” you’re not just measured within the marketplace that you happen to be in at that time, you’re measured against every other “Star Wars” show. We hit the Nielsens a couple times, not every week or anything like that, but a couple times it poked through. I feel like for a launch of a first season show that was trying different things, I think it could have been worth it to allow the audience it was meant for to find it. But that wasn’t up to me. So I fully respect the decision, even if I’m sad about it."
Headland was also asked how she felt about the negativity that was directed at the show, not just by people online, but by some media outlets.
"I have thoughts about this, and I don’t want to go on a tangent, so I’ll stick to the personal rather than the professional. I was not online. However, I am a Star Wars fan, which means I have always been, since the launch of YouTube, part of the Star Wars recap/criticism/lionization fandom community. These guys I’ve known for years and years. So when I got the information from others about what the weather report was, there was this real concern from friends of mine or co-workers of mine that saddened me. I also was like, 'I know who these guys are.' You don’t have to tell me who’s talking about it or how bad it is online, I know exactly who they are. I supported them on Patreon. There are some of them that I respect, and there are some of them that I think are absolutely snake oil salesmen, just opportunists. Then, of course, there are the fascists and racists. So it runs a gamut.
But it revealed to me that there is a misunderstanding between the studios and that engagement. They think of it as fandom, and in ways it is, but studios use it almost like a focus group. It made me start to think, rather than these fans are toxic, or this thing is being mean to me, it made me think more that the content being made about Star Wars will ultimately be more culturally impactful than actual Star Wars. I believe we’re headed into that space."
Headland previously revealed that Manny Jacinto's character, Qimir, would have become the first Knight of Ren, the Sith cult that Kylo Ren led (and ultimately destroyed) in the sequel trilogy.
“It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice. Following the Rule of Two - a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice - one way to keep it going it is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives."
This was actually one of the many fan-theories that did the rounds during the series, and would certainly have been an interesting way to connect the High Republic Era to the sequel trilogy while also giving fans some more backstory on the Knights of Ren, who we learned so little about in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
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.
Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers.
Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.