Just like Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar, Disney is very quickly losing the high ground with how it’s handling The Acolyte‘s cancellation. On top of the streamer’s decision to kill off the cult favorite Star Wars series after just eight episodes having the distinct whiff of giving into the trolls, the Mouse House has now decided to add salt to the wound by jabbing a second lightsaber into the show’s still-warm corpse.
Although some are taking The Acolyte‘s swift death, after concluding its first and only season just last month, as a sign Disney took the wrong message from all the review-bombing and misogynistic hate, the official reason for its cancellation is simply that it did not perform well enough in the Nielsen ratings — with only its opening and final episodes making it into the weekly top 10. Sure enough, it seems The Acolyte has been losing Disney money across the board.
As pointed out by @DiscussingFilm, among others, all Acolyte merch appears to have been pulled from Disney’s online store in the wake of the show’s demise.
There is no Acolyte in Ba Sing Se.
Amandla Stenberg did not produce a whole song to roast her haters just to have her show treated like this.
On the plus side, anyone who did get to buy some Acolyte merch has some very limited editions in their collection.
As much as this might sting for Acolyte lovers still freshly mourning its murder, it has to be said that others have noticed there’s no Andor merch on the site as well — and Andor is set to release a second (and final) season in 2025.
Maybe it’s not as personal as we feared, then, but even so, it almost wouldn’t be a surprise if Disney ultimately elected to wipe The Acolyte from streaming altogether. Sadly, Lucasfilm already has precedent with this, as fellow one-season wonder Willow was yanked from Disney Plus last year after its own cancellation.
Hopefully, the fact that Disney promotes itself as a hub for the entire Star Wars universe would deter them from taking such drastic action, but at this point who knows? The platform even loves Jar Jar Binks more than the cast of The Acolyte, as demonstrated by “Darth Jar Jar” getting a starring role in LEGO Star Wars special Rebuild the Galaxy this September.
The Acolyte could’ve been the grand launch of the High Republic era as a multi-media mainstay of the franchise, but by the looks of it Disney isn’t going to be venturing back to this period in live-action anytime soon. Expect a bunch more “safer” Skywalker Saga-adjacent Star Wars projects to come from the streamer from now on. Good luck, Skeleton Crew… You’re going to need it.