Disney Executive On Why ‘Star Wars’ Series ‘The Acolyte’ Was Canceled: “It Wasn’t Where We Needed It To Be Given The Cost Structure Of That Title”
Disney is sharing the reason why the Star Wars universe-set series The Acolyte was canceled after only one season on Disney+.
In a new interview, Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman is revealing why it was decided not to move forward with a second season of the series.
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“We were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two,” Bergman told Vulture. “So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
Since canceling The Acolyte, Disney+ has premiered another series set in the Star Wars universe with Skeleton Crew. Bergman says that they’ve “seen some growth on that” show and noted that the series has had “excellent” reviews, adding, “So we’ll have to see how that all plays out as it moves forward.”
In terms of the Star Wars franchise, Bergman teased the second and final season of Andor, “which we’re really excited about,” adding, “It is excellent. I’ve watched all the episodes, and it is a fantastic season.”
RELATED: ‘The Acolyte’s Lee Jung-jae Says He “Was Quite Surprised” By The Series Cancellation
Bergman also noted that a second season of Ahsoka is coming and has “a number of additional series that are in development.” In addition, the Mandalorian film is dropping in 2026 and more films are also in the development stage.
The Acolyte was canceled after one season following an eight-episode run. The series got a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes but divided the Star Wars fan base, reflecting its overall viewership. Initially, the show got off to a strong start when it launched on June 4 with two episodes generating 4.8M views on its first day on the streamer to rank as the biggest series premiere on Disney+ this year. The tally rose to 11.1 million views globally after five days of streaming. The series debuted on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart in its premiere week at No. 7 (488 million minutes viewed), climbing to No. 6 the following week.
However, the series did not sustain the momentum, dropping out of the Top 10 in Week 3 and staying off before returning at No. 10 after the release of the finale (335M minutes, believed to be the lowest for a Star Wars series finale).
Star Amandla Stenberg said The Acolyte’s cancellation was “not a huge shock” following the “vitriol” on social media.
“There are many folks out there that I want to acknowledge and I want to show appreciation and love and support for, so that’s why I’m hopping on here to talk about this, which is that our Star Wars show has been canceled,” Stenberg said in a post on Instagram Stories.
“And I’m gonna be transparent and say that it’s not a huge shock for me,” Stenberg added. “Of course I live in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it.”
Later on, Stenberg said, “Even though, of course I’m very sad about the show being canceled, and I’m sad about us not being able to give people invested in it more, I still just feel a lot of levity and joy around the fact that I got to experience it and that people loved it and that people were so responsive.”
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