Leslye Headland’s “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte” ran on Disney+ from June 4 to July 16, 2024, coming to an end after only eight episodes. The series, set a century before the events of “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” told the story of Mae and Osha (both played by Amandla Stenberg), identical twins who were raised by a coven of Force witches on a distant plant, far away from the shenanigans of the Jedi. At this point in “Star Wars” history, the Jedi were a powerful police force throughout the galaxy, and hence, prone to mistakes and coverups. When several Jedi visit Mae and Osha’s home, there is a series of misunderstandings that lead to the deaths of all the witches. The Jedi cover it up and go on their merry way.
Osha, not having witnessed the carnage, is taken to be trained among the Jedi, while Mae is left behind, presumed dead. Years later, Mae has fallen into the service of a mysteriously evil psychic (Manny Jacinto) who has trained her in the way of the Force and encouraged her to get revenge on the Jedi that killed her family. Over the course of the series, as the above truths come to light, Mae drifts away from her evil master while Osha finds the Dark Side to be more and more appealing.
“The Acolyte” was relatively well-received by critics, earning a 78% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but was notoriously review-bombed by bigots who whined about the show’s deliberate racial diversity, the presence of queer characters, and the lack of nobility among the Jedi. Because of this, the Audience Rating on RT was a mere 18% based on a whopping 25,000 reviews.
Many assumed that the lukewarm response, paired with the noisy bigoted whining and presumably less-than-stellar viewership, led to Disney canceling the series after only one season. Indeed, there are likely many reasons “The Acolyte” was canned, although a new report from Forbes reveals the biggest reason of all: “The Acolyte” cost an overwhelming $230 million to make.
The Acolyte went well over budget
It was previously reported by Deadline that “The Acolyte” was meant to cost $180 million to make, itself already a hefty price tag for a TV series. That’s $22.5 million per episode, making it among the most expensive shows of all time. To put that into perspective, most of the Marvel TV shows cost about $25 million to make per episode, whereas shows like “Game of Thrones” and “The Mandalorian” run about $15 million per episode. Budgets for streaming series have been notoriously skyrocketing in recent years, however, with “Secret Invasion” costing $35 million an episode, the spy series “Citadel” costing $50 million per episode, and “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” breaking the back at a reported $58 million per episode.
As such, it seems “The Acolyte” ended up even higher up on that price list than planned. According to the Forbes report, Disney admitted that “The Acolyte” went way over budget, hitting $230 million before post-production was even complete. That’s $28.7 million per episode.
Viewership for “The Acolyte” began high, according to Deadline, with the show claiming the biggest debut in the history of Disney+, coming in seventh overall on the Nielsen top 10. However, those numbers were quick to drop, with “The Acolyte” leaving the top 10 in its third week. Some critics were put off by the show’s hokey dialogue and stiff storytelling (which, to be fair, is a common feature among multiple “Star Wars” films), and the passionately positive cult never manifested. Indeed, an anti-cult seemed to form, with its evil members wailing the word “woke.” For comparison, the 18% Audience Rating on RT is, as Forbes pointed out, even lower than the score for 2008’s “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and 1978’s “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” both far, far worse than “The Acolyte.”
Why is everything so bloody expensive?
It’s likely the budget on “The Acolyte” was so large because of the expensive special effects and the cast involved. Carrie-Anne Moss appeared on the show, as did a huge international ensemble including Lee Jung-jae from “Squid Game.” The show also featured a lot of split-screen effects to put Stenberg in two places, a lot of space and creature effects, and at least one fully CGI character. These types of slick visual flourishes cause budgets to balloon.
Also, “The Acolyte” is a remnant of the now-waning Streaming Wars that began near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Streaming numbers jumped immensely during the global lockdowns and studios began dumping huge amounts of money into streaming content, thinking it would replace film as their main revenue stream. Also, many executives found that having high-profile, expensive shows on their services bolstered their companies’ stock market value. Execs thus began making pricey TV shows with big stars and cash out on stock options, not caring if the viewership was high or if an audience was even present.
Many fans wound up plaintively asking why certain shows were canceled before they could find an audience. The answer is because executives weren’t greenlighting hoping to attract an audience. They would greenlight shows merely because they looked tasty on a ledger. Once the series debuted, it no longer had stock value, and the studio nixed it in favor of the next one. What’s more, streaming services managed to keep their true viewership numbers a secret, allowing them to deny actors and writers any royalties. This was one of the major points of the dual 2023 actors and writers’ strikes.
“The Acolyte” was a leftover from that time. It may have been a “Star Wars” show made by creative people, and it did have its fans, but it was ultimately a pricey product. It was too expensive to recoup any losses, and the series was canned.
