We found out late last night that The Acolyte will not return, with Lucasfilm making the decision to cancel the latest live-action Disney+ Star Wars series after just a single season.
The news was met with indifference by those who were never particularly invested in the story, but a lot of fans were disappointed, due in no small part to the fact that the finale left so many major plot points unresolved.
The narrative seems to be that Lucasfilm/Disney never intended to renew the show for more episodes due to low viewership numbers (the verbiage doesn't really matter - the show is not returning), but this may not be the case after all.
According to The Hot Mic co-host John Rocha, tentative plans were in place to develop a second season.
Rocha's sources told him that The Acolyte actually had a "soft green light" to continue, and Lucasfilm was "putting together a Season 2 writers room back in February with Leslye Headland, and had been quietly inquiring about the interest level and availability of directors for a Season 2 as recently as last month."
If accurate, we'd be very interested to know what changed. After all, if the studio was still planning season 2 as recently as last month, they would have been well aware of the show's performance and the level of backlash it received. What do you make of this rumor? Let us know in the comments section down below.
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.
Headland also directed the premiere episodes (Eps. 101 & 102). Directors Kogonada (Eps. 103 & 107), Alex Garcia Lopez (Eps. 104 & 105) and Hanelle Culpepper (Eps. 106 & 108) round out the directing duties on the series.
"I really wanted to tell a story about the Sith," Headland told EW in a recent interview. "That was kind of my dream Star Wars idea. But it felt like the time period to do that in would be something pre-Phantom Menace. That seemed to be the most interesting trajectory for the Sith: How did the Sith go from the Rule of Two and being quote-unquote 'extinct' to Palpatine coming into power without the Jedi knowing about it?"
Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.