The news that Lucasfilm will not be renewing The Acolyte for a second season broke earlier this week, and while some weren't overly surprised (or bothered), others were very disappointed that this High Republic era-story will not continue.
The series, which was created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), received mostly positive reviews from critics, but was not as warmly embraced by the fandom, earning just an 18% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. A certain amount of the negative feedback can be attributed to review-bombing, but even so, it's clear that The Acolyte was not one of the more popular Disney+ Star Wars shows.
The enigmatic Sith warrior known as The Stranger, aka Qimir, and the flawed Jedi Master Sol were two of the show's most popular characters, and actors Manny Jacinto and Lee Jung-jae have now shared their responses to the cancellation.
Lee admits that he was "personally, quite surprised" by the news.
“As you know, my character had died already in the first season,” the Squid Game star tells EW. “So I wouldn't have appeared in the second season if there was one anyway. But personally speaking, I really loved Leslye’s writing. I thought that she was a great writer and director who was very talented in the storytelling, as well as creating characters and creating meaningful structures within the story. So I was actually personally really looking forward to watching a season 2 with her at the helm.”
Even though Sol probably won't be back (a Force Ghist seems unlikely) one way or the other, Lee is holding out some hope that we will see Headland's story continue in some form.
“Honestly, I am hoping that maybe there could be changes in the future,” he added. “Because you never know what's going to happen. So on a personal level, I really hope we could get to see further stories of Leslye’s second season.”
As for Jacinto, The Good Place alum simply shared the final shot from the series with a heart emoji to Instagram.
How do you feel about The Acolyte's cancellation? Drop us a comment 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.