The Acolyte cancellation reflects a deeper Star Wars problem
The Acolyte has been cancelled by Disney+, and it reflects a deeper issue for the franchise and its shows. The Force is sad.
I have seen every Star Wars film in the cinema—when it was released—and have watched most of the shows, read the books and comics, and even had a few of the toys. (Well, okay, I still have some of them.) I’m a fan.
I make no bones about enjoying The Acolyte. It wasn’t the best Star Wars TV show, but it wasn’t bad. More Star Wars is better than less Star Wars. It also offered a look at something that wasn’t ultimately related to the Skywalkers. Oh well.
The cancellation also hints at something a little deeper, which I will get into.
There are two primary reasons why The Acolyte was cancelled.
1/ Money and rankings – it just didn’t make enough cash
The Acolyte started off well. When it was released, it got 4.8M views on its first day, making it the biggest Disney+ premier of the year at the time. Not bad.
It even made it into Nielsen’s top 10 shows for the first two weeks. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, and it soon dropped out. It returned to the 10th spot for the finale, which sounds impressive but wasn’t great in terms of viewership for a Star Wars finale.
So, some will argue that this is purely a business decision, and I think that it is a huge part of it. Disney is a business, it can be ruthless, and you often get the impression it doesn’t actually care all that much about Star Wars beyond money – which annoys the fans. Bigly. And rightly.
This leads me to the second point.
2/ Some of the fans are utter dickheads
People can dislike the show for its writing and pacing. It certainly had its flaws and odd plot holes. But some ‘fans’ rage quit the moment they weren’t spoon-fed the answer to a mystery in episode 3. For example, why were the witches dead from the fire but didn’t have scorch marks? This was answered in a later episode, but they had apparently already harrumphed off. They still posted incessantly though.
Other issues were more valid. How did the fire spread so quickly? When the two girls were on the bridge, and Sol couldn’t hold both up, why didn’t he pull both girls toward him? Maybe the wiring was flammable, and maybe Sol was dumb. As I said, it wasn’t flawless. The pacing was a bit off, motivations didn’t quite hit. I get it.
I would normally wait till the show is done to be furious about it. Or just quietly stop watching and switch to something else. I certainly wouldn’t prowl the internet chastising those who liked it.
But no. A subsection of the fans were livid. They immediately review-bombed the show. This is different from watching something, considering it, then explaining why it didn’t work for you—then moving on with your life. This is purposefully joining a movement to make something do poorly because you don’t like it. It is jumping on every social media thread of people saying they enjoy a show and trying to explain why they are wrong and why it is actually bad. It’s pathetic.
Let me be clear – if you review bomb, you’re a dick. I like the idea of calling them Pakleds. It is immensely satisfying.
The review bombing began in earnest around episode 3 -which coincidentally featured lesbian witches. But some of the review bombing began even before the show started.
This is where things get darker. I agree that there was some awkward dialogue, and apparently, the lore was broken, as well as other issues. Some criticisms are valid. Not all who hated the show are incel Pakled types and it certainly doesn’t help labelling everyone who disliked it a racist or misogynist.
But the lead actor, Amandla Stenberg, got so much racist backlash she wrote a song to shoot back at her detractors. Lots of review-bombers said the show was ‘woke’ and went after the showrunner Headland, who happened to be gay. This is not cool.
What does this all mean for the Star Wars franchise generally?
Financially…
For quite a while, things hadn’t really seem to be going well for Disney and the streaming world in general. The bigger companies were ploughing a ton of cash into new shows to see what stuck. Finally, some of them – such as Disney+ and Netflix – are starting to do well. Disney recently made a profit, and Netflix’s shares are on the up.
These Star Wars shows cost way too much money for them to be allowed to fail. This means they are cancelling or have already cancelled a few of them already. You’d think they would spend more time writing decent stuff and then running past a select group of fans, but that’s another issue.
I think the primary reason The Acolyte wasn’t renewed was because it didn’t make enough money. It looked nice, but $180 million? How? Godzilla Minus One was made for $15 million. Each of the prequel movies was made for less and a lot of the Acolyte was set in a jungle. Someone is having a laugh. What they should have done is decreased whatever cost so much. Ahsoka cost around half that and is being renewed.
Apart from Yoda and Carrie Anne Moss, The Acolyte didn’t even have any famous stars.
Will this result in more series that focus on more individual tales and don’t have so many scenes in CGI heavy places like Coruscant? Maybe. I’d be cool with that.
The influence of the Pakleds…
The constant online harrasment by The Fandom Menace does have a negative effect. If the fans don’t like something or someone, they go all out hate on them. If it is a person of colour, like Stenberg, Boyega, or Kelly Marie Tran, some of those fans get racist. A minority. But these toxic twats aren’t just against POC or gay people.
This level of hatred has an effect. Tran was famously sidelined in The Rise of Skywalker. The writers tried to claim it was because she was in scenes with a digital Princess Leia, and Carrie Fisher (RIP) didn’t look realistic – due to her having passed long before filming. Which seems iffy. Rian Johnson no longer seems to be directing any more Star Wars either.
Another effect of review bombing also results in those with only a vague interest in Star Wars from staying away. The hatred makes news and non-fans might just hear that ‘The Acolyte wasn’t all that good’, see the low scores, and not bother. So there are fewer views.
Some claim it is because they think Disney has ‘ruined Star Wars’. This means they are ok with The Christmas Special, The Caravan of Courage, Jar Jar Binks, Anakin talking about sand, and so on. But they clearly aren’t ok with all that. Hayden Christensen seems to be somewhat forgiven in their beady eyes, but he received ridiculous levels of hate. Jake Lloyd, who played a younger Anakin, destroyed all his Star Wars memorabilia, and Ahmed Best, aka Jar Jar, contemplated suicide. These were all part of George Lucas’s ‘vision’, and the fans were simply horrendous then as now.
As for Lucas himself – he sold the whole Star Wars franchise because of these idiots. In an interview with the New York Times he said:
“”Why would I make any more [Star Wars movies]…when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”
He has a point.
Disney execs clearly listen to the fans and when some series receive more vocal outbursts than others, there is an effect on decision making. The fans approved of Andor and Ahsoka, so that is a relief, and they are being renewed. But I suspect they will be cutting back on future series and as a fan, I find that sad.
I try to be balanced but Star Wars is dear to my heart. I saw A New Hope when I was 5 in 1977, in the cinema, and it changed my life. I hate what is happening now. On one side – a group who expects everyone to follow the lore, minimise diversity, and follow the ideals of a founder. On the other – a group who want more freedom, don’t mind variety and experimentation, and dislikes strict rules. It is the Empire vs the Rebellion.
Be strong Rebels.
Oh well. Time to catch up on Star Trek I guess.
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