STAR WARS: THE ACOLYTE Was the Second Most Watched Show on Disney+ Last Year
It’s hard to make sense of Lucasfilm’s decision to cancel Star Wars: The Acolyte. While it didn’t click with me, we now know that the show was actually pretty popular.
According to data shared by Deadline from Luminate’s 2024 TV viewership report, The Acolyte was the second most-watched show on Disney+ last year, with a massive 2.7 billion minutes viewed.
That’s a big achievement for a Star Wars series. Yet, despite its popularity, Lucasfilm opted to pull the plug on The Acolyte, leaving a lot of fans scratching their heads and others outright angry.
The series was created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), and whether you liked it or not, she attempted to do somthing unique and fresh with the franchise.
And yet, despite the show being one of the most watched on Disney+ last year, Disney didn’t want to move forward with a second season. Instead of standing by a show that resonated with so many fans, they conceled it.
Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman previously revealed why they decided not to keep the series going, saying: “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. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
There was some speculation that the negative backlash in the Star Wars community contributed to the decision to cancel the show.
It’s just a little weird, especially when you consider the numbers. The Acolyte was one of Disney+’s top performers. The only series to surpass it in viewership was Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which raked in over three billion minutes viewed.
Meanwhile, other big franchise entries, like Marvel’s Echo and Agatha: All Along, failed to deliver comparable success. I’m sure this latest revelation will further frustrate fans that The Acolyte didn’t get the chance to continue its story.
At least we’ve got Andor Season 2 coming and we know that’s going to deliver something great. Bergman recently shared: “It is excellent. I’ve watched all the episodes, and it is a fantastic season.”
What do you think about The Acolyte’s cancellation? Did it deserve more time to shine?
