The Acolyte was not perfect, but it entered new narrative territory in star Warsa franchise often haunted by Force ghosts and endlessly recurring characters. Led by Leslye Headland, the Disney+ series dared to reevaluate decades-old tropes, expose the flaws of the Jedi Order, and play with the space sandbox setting in new, interesting ways. But The Acolytein which Amandla Stenberg plays twin sisters fighting for their balance in the Force, and Manny Jacinto plays a super-sexy villain. has just been officially cancelled.
There will be no second season on Disney+, and right now the worst behaved members of the star Wars Fandom celebrates its demise. But while The AcolyteNot only does the cancellation of the series stoke the fires of the ongoing culture war, it is also indicative of a much larger problem plaguing modern television – and streaming services and rising production costs are to blame.
The shortcomings of modern television
The rise of a disparate (and expensive) collection of streaming services replacing the basic subscription for millions of paying customers has drastically changed the landscape of modern television. In the heyday of cable, there was much less time between seasons of a typical show than there is today. Check out breaking Badis generally regarded as one of the most prestigious television series: the last episode of the first season was broadcast in March 2008, while the first episode of the second season began almost exactly a year later. Today, there are regularly several years between seasons – two years passed before House of the Dragon Season 2 followed its predecessor, almost three years passed between seasons 2 and 3 of The Mandalorianand the series finale of Stranger Things There is still no release window (the last season aired two years ago and production on the next one just started this year).
That’s a huge wait for an interested audience and can really dampen enthusiasm for a series – it can also cause them to literally lose the plot, as it’s hard to remember what happened in the previous season if you haven’t seen it in several years. Plus, it’s hard to justify a second season when you know it’s going to be in production for years – there’s no real reason to give a series time to breathe so it can iron out the mistakes of the first season. If Parks and Recreation had been cancelled after the first season, we would never have one of the funniest scenes in modern television.
Added to this are the costs of producing high-quality television programs, which have risen dramatically in recent years. Amazon Prime Stand out The series reportedly cost $153 million for a single season. At the end of the term game of Thrones The production of each episode required about $15 million, after production had started at about $6 million per episode – and just a few years later, the spin-off House of the Dragon costs “less than $20 million” per episodeGiven the high production costs, companies want a return on their investment and will not accept the answer “it’s only the first season, let it run”.
Accordingly ForbesEstimates Location The AcolyteProduction costs were nearly $180 million for just eight episodes, and viewership was about half of what it was Ahsoka and 75% less than The Mandalorian‘s. As companies become more and more concerned with increasing ratings, it’s impossible to justify another season of such an expensive series if its viewership can’t keep up with other series within the franchise – and therein lies our final problem: the franchise.
The star Wars problem
In recent years, the only “successful” deviation from the traditional star Wars Media were Andorthe spy thriller-like series with Diego Luna, which is a spin-off of the 2016 Villain One. Although it reportedly did not have as many viewers as The Mandalorian or Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andorsecond season is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025. Andor technically speaking, it is rehashing old ground, like so many other star Wars series, it feels incredibly fresh when you compare it to the other shows that rely so heavily on nostalgia to appease older fans, so it’s a welcome surprise that Disney has decided to fund another season – especially since there are no plans for a second season of either. The Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan Kenobi.
But Andor is an exception, not the rule. A certain sect of fans is notoriously resistant to perceived changes in lore or the centering of marginalized people in star Wars Media and The Acolyte has annoyed them from the start: led by a woman, with a black nonbinary protagonist, lesbian witches and a biting portrayal of the Jedi’s weaknesses, it became the focus of a culture war before it even aired. Both Stenberg And Jacinto spoke about the racist reactions The Acolyte with the former even releasing a song alluding to the hate they received. At the time of writing, Stenberg’s latest Instagram post is full of comments denigrating her: “Take the L, never do star Wars again,” reads one comment, while another asks, “How does it feel that your awful show got cancelled, princess?”
Unfortunately, in a time when modern television series are defined by their high prices and (hopefully) higher viewership, a show like The Acolyte had an almost insurmountable task ahead of it to ensure its survival. If its very existence had not served as a catalyst for conversations about “wokeism” in star Warsmaybe it would have had a chance. But when a modern TV series plays in a long-running franchise and dares to offer a different kind of fan servicethe sad reality is that it will likely serve as a reminder of how far a fandom still has to go.
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