Osha Aniseya, and their respective struggles finding how they fit within the Force. The show had an interesting concept and a good cast, including Amandla Stenberg, who played both Mae and Osha, along with The Good Place alum Manny Jacinto.

The Acolyte was unique because it tackled a time period that had never been seen before onscreen: the Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, and even had cameos by other Jedi like Yoda and Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Despite this, the show constantly faced backlash, with some individuals even going after actors from the show and criticizing them. However, it was clear that the cast and crew of The Acolyte were extremely proud of the product, which makes its cancelation even more devastating.

The Acolyte's "Woke Backlash" Wasn't The Reason It Was Canceled

There Was A Real Financial Issue With The Acolyte

One of the biggest criticisms by audiences was that The Acolyte was too “woke” because it included a diverse cast and had a coven of gay witches. On the surface, it’s easy to say that Disney chose to cancel The Acolyte because the negative voices became too loud, and they didn’t want to deal with it, but that isn’t the whole picture.

While The Acolyte did favor well with audience who didn’t review-bomb it, the initial viewership was low. Low viewership paired with the high price tag for creating each episode likely led to the hasty decision by Disney.

However, recent data suggests that The Acolyte’s cancelation was likely a hasty and poor decision. The Acolyte has been retaining a strong sense of demand, and the viewership has been consistent since The Acolyte aired its season 1 finale.

With this data in mind, it seems that The Acolyte has a strong fan foundation that would likely lead to success in the future if the show’s cancelation was reversed. So, despite all the backlash, there is actually a clear path forward for The Acolyte to return and be better than ever.

The Acolyte Had The Potential To Be Great, But It DID Have Problems

But It Shouldn’t Have Been Canceled Over These Problems

Like most other Star Wars television shows, The Acolyte featured 8 episodes of varying length, though the average episode length was about 41 minutes. While this format has worked well for other live-action Star Wars shows, most notably The Mandalorian, it’s clear that it didn’t work for The Acolyte. The pacing of the show was truly all over the place, which made for choppy storytelling and episodes that seemed unnecessary. The Acolyte didn’t function within the standard 8-episode order and probably would’ve been best as a 6-episode run.

With two episodes that largely reused the same sets, and even scenes at some points, it doesn’t make sense that The Acolyte was so wildly over-budget.

One of the bigger issues was pacing, with the two flashback episodes showcasing that. Though actors like Jodie Turner-Smith shined as Mother Aniseya, they couldn’t salvage the repetitiveness and pacing problems these episodes caused. While the reveal of Master Sol killing Mae and Osha’s mother was a great turn, this reveal could’ve come in flashbacks within another episode instead of within its own.

With two episodes that largely reused the same sets, and even scenes at some points, it doesn’t make sense that The Acolyte was so wildly over-budget. The Acolyte had good bones, but was executed poorly.

Fans Are Right: The Show Deserves To Be Saved, But Only With Changes

It CANNOT Have The Same Issues

There’s no denying that The Acolyte’s showrunner and creator, Leslye Headland, had an amazing concept with knowledge of the Star Wars galaxy to back it up. However, ion can only get you so far. If Disney does the right thing and saves The Acolyte, it will have to be with major changes. One of those would have to be a reduced role for Leslye Headland. While Headland can still be the brains of the operation, she can’t have her hands on too many aspects of the show’s development.

Headland was praised for including a writer in the writer’s room who had no prior knowledge of Star Wars, but if The Acolyte gets renewed, the writer’s room needs a Star Wars alum. In particular, Lucasfilm executives should look at writers who had a lot of success on their respective shows and see who they can get into a writer’s room for The Acolyte. Having someone on the team who had success with the 8-episode format would be a great asset, as they would likely help with the pacing issues the show faced in season 1.

The Acolyte Can Still Be A Successful Show, It Just Needs Help

The Foundation Is There

One of the issues with the current streaming models is that shows are not given the chance to improve and change after their first seasons, which leaves many frustrated. The Acolyte is one of those shows where season 2 would have allowed Headland the time and space to change what didn’t work and include more of the aspects that did work. Having other Star Wars alumni step in and help take Leslye Headland’s fantastic ideas and put them into a script that works with the format Lucasfilm is looking for would make the difference.

The Acolyte was canceled in August 2024, just months after the show was released.

The foundation for good storytelling is all over The Acolyte season 1, and there’s no doubt that refining those aspects would make for a show that is even more beloved by the Star Wars fanbase. The story and main plotlines weren’t the problems in The Acolyte, and that should be the show’s guiding light if it’s ever greenlit for another season.

It’s unclear if cast like Stenberg or Jacinto would want to return, but if they do, there’s little reason for Disney to not consider saving The Acolyte. With characters like Darth Plagueis being teased in The Acolyte’s finale, it’s clear that there are the makings of a fantastic story that can recanonize aspects of Legends fans desperately want. Backlash aside, The Acolyte can and should be saved by Disney, because there’s just too much potential there not to pursue.