Is Star Wars: The Acolyte Cancelled?

Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte has been plagued by cancellation rumors since before Season 1 even aired. So, is The Acolyte really cancelled, or are the reports it was axed just online gossip?

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Is Star Wars: The Acolyte Cancelled?

Yes, The Acolyte is cancelled. Deadline confirmed that Lucasfilm wouldn’t be moving forward with a second season of the mystery-thriller Star Wars show on Aug. 19, 2024. The outlet’s sources didn’t supply a reason why Lucasfilm axed The Acolyte, however, the series’ faltering viewership figures likely played a part.

While The Acolyte‘s first three installments performed well, audience interest declined from Episode 4 onward. Indeed, Deadline notes that The Acolyte dipped out of Nielsen’s Top 10 originals charts for most of its remaining run, only clawing its way back in with its eighth and final episode. And even then, The Acolyte Season 1, Episode 8’s 335 million minutes viewed is allegedly the lowest of any Star Wars streaming series finale.

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Lucasfilm seemingly cancelling The Acolyte over its ratings tracks with a March 2024 That Park Place report that predicted such a scenario. At the time, the outlet cited an unnamed source who claimed that only stellar viewer numbers would save The Acolyte Season 2 from already-skeptical Lucasfilm execs. “[Showrunner] Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte is DOA,” the source said. “Unless there’s a miracle of ratings, this is a one-and-done proposition.” That Park Place’s source further alleged that ILM’s chief creative officer John Knoll and Headland were no longer meeting to discuss plans for additional episodes of The Acolyte.

That said, earlier rumblings about The Acolyte‘s fate weren’t true. In early 2023, multiple news outlets reported that Lucasfilm had fired Headland and shuttered The Acolyte. This wasn’t the case, and filming wrapped in June 2023, with Headland still at the helm.

Wasn’t The Acolyte Season 2 Already in Production?

Nope. In an April 2024 Empire cover story, Headland confirmed that Lucasfilm hasn’t yet green-lighted any additional Acolyte seasons. Even so, the showrunner revealed she’d already consulted Lucasfilm’s in-house lore advisor, Pablo Hidalgo, about incorporating more pre-existing Star Wars characters in The Acolyte if a second season happened.

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Further adding to the confusion around Season 2’s status, Headland emphasized The Acolyte‘s multiple season narrative in an earlier Collider interview. “I would say that when I pitched [The Acolyte], I definitely pitched it as a multi-season show,” she said. “There are a lot of things at the end of this season that I think are narrative threads that are not tied up, for sure.” Bottom line? Headland had ideas for The Acolyte Season 2, but was never “officially” working on the project.

The Acolyte Season 1 is currently streaming on Disney+.

The above article was updated on 8/20/2024 by the original author to include information about The Acolyte’s cancellation.