The Acolyte
While Disney hasn’t publicly commented on why The Acolyte was canceled, it seems we have inside information anyway. All of this Acolyte information comes from insider Jeff Sneider, who previously reported that Keanu Reeves once almost played Sol, which doesn’t really fit with Leslye Headland’s statement that she wanted Lee Jung-jae from the start.
Now we have more information from him about the cancellation of the show, although I’m not entirely sure that much of it couldn’t have been deduced from the information available. The main points are:
Due to low viewership, the series was canceled. – This is to disprove the notion that this was done to appease “toxic fans” who have slammed the show in their reviews and made an industry out of complaint videos.
Viewer numbers dropped after the second episode – I can fully believe that too, as a lot of third-party data suggests so, and also the first few episodes of The Acolyte were… not very good. Yes, yes, many will say the whole show is bad, but as someone who really liked it, the key phrase is… at the end. If viewers stopped early, they never made it to the absolute top episode 5, “Night,” with its wild lightsaber battle and shocking deaths. I think that would have won people over, but most left after two episodes, if they came at all.
The Acolyte
Every minute of screen time cost $630,000 – Considering that The Acolyte’s budget was previously estimated at $180 million and eight episodes average about 40 minutes, that would actually bring the total to nearly $200 million. Maybe you have to subtract a little if some of those minutes are opening or closing credits, but yeah, probably around $180 million.
This was primarily the reason the series failed, and it’s unclear how the series, which was completely detached from the Skywalkers and that entire era, was supposed to get audience numbers that would justify such a budget. Andor reportedly cost $250 million to make and wasn’t well-received either, but it got a second season because that was negotiated in advance. The Acolyte wasn’t so lucky, but that’s a Disney spending problem, not a series problem, as we’ve seen time and time again with their theatrical and film projects. After all, the studio reportedly pays Robert Downey Jr. $100 million alone to wear a mask as Doctor Doom.
There are no plans to remove the show from Disney Plus – Fans started freaking out because not only was The Acolyte canceled, but Disney could make the series “Willow” and take it off the air entirely. That’s supposedly not happening. That wouldn’t have been a “tax write-off” like we’ve seen Max do with things like the Batgirl movie. But since the series was already released, a major reason would be to avoid paying royalties indefinitely. But there are “no plans” to do that, so trust that all you want.
Nothing really shocks me here. I said that, while it’s extremely annoying, the Acolyte Haters Club didn’t get the show canceled and that it was always about cost vs. viewership. But with costs that high and a concept that was never going to get anywhere near the viewership needed, the blame is squarely on Disney. And while I said it’s not impossible that Disney will change their mind, I think this information leaking out shows why they won’t.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, And Instagram.
Get my science fiction novels the Herokiller series And The Earthborn Trilogy.
