The show wasn’t perfect, but it had so much potential
Recently, Disney cancelled The Acolyte, which has caused a bit of a stir. The show divided viewers, but here's my honest opinion:
The Acolyte was a fine show.
There, I said it. A totally fine show. At times, it was terrible, at times it was the coolest Star Wars thing I had ever seen. When taken as a whole, it balanced out to being a totally serviceable story, made more interesting for the fact that it was testing new ground for Star Wars. A murder mystery with all-new characters and nary a hint of a Skywalker?
On paper, the show sounds great. Star Wars is at its most interesting when it’s trying something new and not eating its own tail, and The Acolyte was the most original Star Wars tale since Disney’s acquisition of the franchise. It doesn’t require prior knowledge of any other specific movie or series to be enjoyed, and it the mood and tone of the series is a drastic change from classic Star Wars.
As I mentioned in my season review, I was looking forward to a second season. The Acolyte suffered some narrative and pacing issues that, if resolved, could’ve made future seasons truly great, because Disney had a great story set-up here. Playing in the sandbox of Jedi and Sith hundreds of years before anything specific has to happen opens up a world of fun, Star Wars-y conflict that the writers only just began to tap into before their story was cut short.
While some of the hate towards the show has been extremely toxic and not worth engaging with, it’s easy to see Disney buckling under the pressure of this overblown backlash and cancelling the show in a warped attempt to appease ‘fans’. After all, these are the guys who fired James Gunn from Guardians 3…
I hope that wasn’t the case, but the alternative isn’t much better, either. If it wasn’t to save face, then it was because they have no interest in giving Star Wars creators room to grow. It’s either a mega hit out the gate, or it’s cancelled. This is depressing for a whole host of reasons. I’m sure you can think of many television shows that didn’t hit their stride for a few seasons, and while I understand that no show is entitled to a second season, The Acolyte felt ripe for one.
Now, if a second season didn’t do much to improve on the first, I can understand a little better why people with the money might pull the plug, but this is Disney for God’s sake. There’s plenty of money. Cancelling a major show like this after one season feels cowardly, like they no confidence in their talent to adapt or improve.
I’m sad that The Acolyte has been cancelled. The finale had some teases that had me excited to see more, even if I didn’t like a significant portion of the season. Maybe we’ll get a comic book continuation, but it won’t be the same. Oh well. At least people aren’t worried they’re going to delete the show from Disney+ and pretend like it never happened! (Just kidding—that’s a genuine possibility 😊)
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