The Acolyte: Cancelled - Our Reactions

The Star Wars Disney+ series, The Acolyte, was cancelled and will not return for a second season per reports published on August 19, 2024. The series, a mystery/thriller set during the High Republic Era, received mixed reviews from fans and critics. However, the series seemed to stick the season one finale  and left Star Wars fans eager for season two - especially given the (spoiler alert!) Yoda tease at the end of the final episode. Unfortunately, that tease will not be paid off with a second season leaving fans of The Acolyte frustrated over its cancellation.

We had mixed feelings about The Acolyte but were interested enough in the story to see what a second season would bring. The show had its moments. It also had some issues that may have made it difficult to connect with a large enough audience to warrant a second season. With that in mind, here are our reasons why The Acolyte should have been renewed and why it deserved to be cancelled.

Why The Acolyte Should Have Been Renewed

There was much to like about The Acolyte. Here are OUR reasons why it should have been renewed.

1. A New Era

The Acolyte was set during the High Republic Era of Star Wars lore. This period, while explored in writing, has not shown up in movies or television. For fans, this was a reason to celebrate as it expanded the visual story in a way that complimented the period up to the beginning of Episode One: The Phantom Menace.

2. Is that Darth Plagueis?

A brief scene in the season (series) finale included a shadowy figure peering out from the darkness. For many, this was the first appearance of Darth Plagueis. However, without a second season, fans will not see how that character fits into the larger story of The Acolyte.

3. The Duels and Stunt Choreography

The Acolyte has some of the best lightsaber dueling a fight choreography in any live action Star Wars film or show. It seemed to borrow heavily from The Matrix and other sci-fi based martial arts stunt work. For some, these scenes were the best parts of The Acolyte. Hopefully, this style is picked up by future Star Wars productions.

4. An Interesting Antagonist

By the end of the season, the most interesting character on the show (in our opinion) was Qimir/The Stranger. While the character's look and sound instantly gave off obvious Kylo Ren vibes, what appeared to be a relatively shallow (but very overpowered) antagonist evolved into a more complex character with a definite history with the Jedi than was revealed. Season two would have (hopefully) dived deeper into his backstory and fall from the Jedi - a story that may have actually been more Acloyte-ish than the story revolving around the intended main characters: Osha and Mae.

5. Yoda?!

As mentioned earlier, the reveal of Yoda (from behind) at the end of the season implied that a more concrete connection to the events of The Phantom Menace was in the works. This connection, one involving a much-loved and familiar character who fans would have loved to see more of, could have accomplished two important things: 1.) excite the die hard Star Wars fans to want more and 2.) draw the attention of the casual Star Wars fan into the story (Yoda is familiar enough to the casual fan to make the story worth watching). Dare we say that seeing Yoda in battle again would have been epic!

Why The Acolyte Deserved To Be Cancelled

The Acolyte also had a number of problems which may have contributed to it not finding a large enough audience to be renewed.

1. Neither a Mystery Nor a Thriller

With the exception of the death of a "main" character in the first episode,  we cannot recall a single moment in the series that was not very predictable or left for the viewer to watch revel itself until the end. There were few cliffhanger endings and the thrillers aspect was mostly reserved to glimpses of potential thrills rather than fully formed jaw dropping moments. Very little was left to the imagination. More on this issue below. 

2. Who Are the Heroes?

One of the things that makes Star Wars so good is the simplicity of the stories and characters. We know who the heroes and the villains are. Even though some heroes are flawed and even could be considered anti-heroes, they still possessed qualities that we couldn't help but root for. We like the heroes and like seeing the villains get what they are due.

The Acolyte took our heroes (the Jedi) and removed all their heroic qualities.

3. Bland Characters

Bottom line: by the end of the season, none of the Jedi and none of the surrounding cast of characters (except Qimir/The Stranger) were very interesting to us. We literally couldn't have cared less about the fate of the Jedi characters or Mae/Osha. None of them seemed to project much of the qualities Star Wars fans related to their better known counterparts. The Jedi displayed middle school like dramatics and we were given no real reason to care much about Mae/Osha.

4. Too Far of a Reach

In some ways, The Acolyte was a leap of faith. The story was not exactly clear from the pre-launch advertising, the era was new to the screen, and none of the characters had any direct connection to the known Star Wars universe. In that sense, the show should be commended for its daring and attempt to create a new "world" for Star Wars fans to explore. Unfortunately, this brave approach to do something unfamiliar and different just didn't click. While we are not in favor of only offering fan service at the expense of intelligently expanding the lore (see The Book of Boba Fett), some kind of familiar fan service may have helped viewers feel more connected to what was happening.

5. Bad Storytelling Decisions

Of all the ways The Acolyte created its own problems which led to the cancellation, we think bad storytelling is probably the most damaging. There were so many opportunities to draw in viewers and keep them glued to their Disney+ service. Unfortunately, almost all of those opportunities were lost by teh awkward and head-scratching pacing and timing of the story. Here are but a few elements we feel missed the target and could have been much more impactful.

The revelation of Osha and Mae: The mystery of who the Jedi assassin was and how she related to the larger story should have been a big emotional reveal. Instead, it was revealed without any setup, thus missing a chance to double down on the mystery of Jedi assassin.

Sol and the rest of the band: In the previews, the group of Jedi "led" by Sol was one of the elements fans were expecting to be interesting - especially the introduction of Carrie-Ann Moss' Indara (Matrix fans were hyped for this). Instead, one of the characters we expected to have a dominant role on the show was killed in the first episode and only seen in flashbacks. We cannot even remember the names of most of the others, though we do recall one is a Wookie - which, again, more Wookie Jedi action please! These characters were never really portrayed heroically and, other than being there for the body count, didn't seem important at all (see Daphne Keen's Jecki Lon).

Conflict: What exactly was the conflict on The Acolyte and why should the viewer care? We struggle to identify the driving conflict that the story was working to resolve, even if season one was supposed to setup additional seasons, the viewer was drawn into too many directions. Is it about Mae and Osha? Sol and Mae? Sol and Qimir? Qimir and his Sith Lord? The Jedi and the government?

Good stories have interesting characters the viewer (or reader) cares about, a conflict that is engaging and relevant, an antagonist that has depth, and some resolution that either affirms our understanding of the world or challenges us to reflect on our notions in a way that transforms the viewer's way of seeing their world. It is also just plain fun. During most of The Acolyte, we struggled to apply those qualities to what we were seeing. 

There you have it. Our reasons for why The Acolyte should have been renewed and why it was cancelled. What are your thoughts on The Acolyte?

Comment here, send us an email at disneyassembled@gmail.com or send us a message on the socials @disneyassembled (Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok).

See you real soon!

Troy and Mimi

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