The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland begged viewers of the show to launch a social media campaign in order to convince Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company to greenlight a second season.
Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
In an interview with Collider following the conclusion of the first season’s finale, Headland was asked by Maggie Lovitt, “Shifting gears, one of the most popular questions that I got to ask you from Twitter was: What do fans need to do to ensure that we get a Season 2?”
Headland replied, “Truly, any online support and love you can send the show. It’s a little tricky because of the way that the internet works, but if you enjoyed the show and you want to see more of the story, any support that you can give the show on social media platforms would be super helpful.”
She continued, “Sending love to the cast, too. You’ve seen what Hayden [Christensen] went through. He’s getting the love now, but give the love now if you enjoyed the performances. Even if you were kind of like whatever on the show, if you enjoyed the performances, get on their social media, let them know that you love them, or that you support them or that the performances were great.”
Sol (Lee Jung-jae) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
From there Headland stated, “Encourage your friends to watch the show. A lot of my work has been word of mouth. We were talking about the review bombing, so just telling people don’t pay attention to the IMDb score.”
She then stated, “If you enjoyed it, tell people. It kind of seems that it’s sort of basic, but I think what’s interesting is that, nowadays, if you like a show, you’re very rarely going to go online and be like, ‘I liked this show!’”
(L-R): Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman), Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Koril (Margarita Levieva) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Lovitt then stated, “You just watch it and move on.”
Headland reiterated, “You watch it, you move on, maybe you mention it to somebody over dinner and be like, ‘Oh, I just binged this show. It was fun. Lee Jung-jae is an awesome actor.’ It usually comes up that way, as opposed to going online and saying, ‘I love this show.’ So, if you did love the show, then pivot and be appreciative…”
“By the way, I know this is already happening, even though I’m not online,” she added. “People have been sending me fun tweets and beautiful artwork, and all of the ship comments, and I’m absolutely loving it. I know it’s out there. But if you aren’t doing it, I would encourage you to do it and support the show. So, thank you.”
(L-R): Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) and Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
READ: Leslye Headland Confirms That A Season 2 Of ‘The Acolyte’ Has Not Been Greenlit
Headland previously revealed that a Season 2 had not been greenlit in an interview with the Nerdist. She was asked, “Do you know if you’re definitely getting a season two?”
She said, “No! [big laugh] I have no idea. Well, not that I have no idea. I would say there are conversations. And I don’t know when that will happen. I don’t know when that decision will be made.”
Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Headland informed Entertainment Weekly at the end of June that she did not know if a second season would be greenlit. She said, “I’ll tell you my philosophy on first seasons. Something that I’ve noticed is first seasons will end on what should have been the break into act two. It feels like everyone’s really expecting to get a second season, and I don’t feel that’s a good idea.”
“I think you should put everything you can into the first season and give the audience a nice resolution that feels satisfying, but enough nods to mysteries that you would want to see a second season,” she explained. “So it’s a little bit of both. You don’t want to leave it so wrapped up that, like Obi-Wan or a standalone mini-series, that there’s no reason to watch a second season, but I think there’s enough stuff in the last few episodes that you would want to have answered.”
(L-R): Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) and Mog Adana (Harry Trevaldwyn) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
It’s unsurprising that Headland is begging for a social media campaign in an attempt to get a second season greenlit given the show’s viewership numbers are not good.
According to Nielsen, the two episode premiere only garnered 444 million minutes watched. In its second week the show’s viewership fell to 370 million minutes. In the show’s third week, the show fell off Nielsen’s Top 10 chart. King of Collectibles: The Goldin Touch was the 10th place show with 298 million minutes watches. That means The Acolyte had less minutes watched than the Netflix series.
Nielsen Top 10 Original Streaming Data for the week of June 17-23, 2024
What do you make of Leslye Headland’s plea for a social media campaign to get a second season of the show greenlit?
