An alleged insider at Lucasfilm claims that Leslye Headland’s upcoming Star Wars series, The Acolyte, will not get a second season.
(L-R): Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
This insider informed That Park Place, “Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte is DoA. Unless there’s a miracle of ratings, this is a one-and-done proposition.”
He explained, “It looks to me like John Knoll is no longer going to be actively meeting with Headland to collaborate on S2.”
For those unfamiliar with Knoll, he is the Executive Creative Director and Senior VFX Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. He won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and has been nominated for numerous films including The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Not only did the insider claim the series was done after a single season, but he also claimed that Disney is viewing those reacting negatively to the trailer are “aggressive trolls.
The insider shared, “For now the negative reaction for the trailer is being labeled as aggressive trolls irrelevant to the market.”
The series’ first trailer has currently over half a million dislikes on YouTube alone.
(Clockwise from center): Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Jedi Master Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) and (second from right) Master Torbin (Dean Charles Chapman) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
He also affirmed that live-action Star Wars shows have not done as well recently compared to earlier shows. He said, “Live action Disney+ Star Wars is very quiet matching to what it was just 2 yrs ago.”
Nielsen data shared in January revealed that The Mandalorian saw a decline in watch time of around 2 billion minutes in 2023 compared to when The Mandalorian Season 2 released in 2020. The series racked up only 12.3 billion minutes in 2023.
Nielsen Top 10 Original Streaming Programs for 2023
READ: The Acolyte Passes Half-a-Million Dislikes on YouTube: Displeased Star Wars Fans Ratio Lucasfilm
As noted by X user NowItsKnown, the series brought in 14.519 billion minutes in 2020 when the second season was released.
As many speculated #TheMandalorian (S3) underperformed (S2).#DisneyPlus #StarWars #GinaCarano@Nerdrotics @GeeksGamersCom @jftrent @doomcock pic.twitter.com/rX9rIgTwp6
— MAC (@NowItsKnown) January 29, 2024
Disney+ has added tens of millions of subscribers between 2020 and 2023. In fact, the company’s annual report noted Disney+ only had 73.7 million subscribers in 2020. In their 2023 annual report the company revealed it had 150.2 million subscribers.
So while their subscriber count doubled, viewership for the show declined by around 2 billion minutes.
(Center): Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Finally, the insider speculated that Lucasfilm’s head of Film Development will exit the company within the next year. Lucasfilm has two Film Development Vice Presidents. They are Rayne Roberts and Max Taylor. Roberts’ leadership page on Lucasfilm’s website reveals she is “co-developing the upcoming Leslye Headland-created Star Wars series, The Acolyte for Disney+.
While Taylor’s page notes he’s “primarily focused on developing scripted content for Disney platforms and providing creative support in storytelling.”
Amandla Stenberg in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of this information from this alleged Lucasfilm insider? Do you think The Acolyte will be done after a single season?
I think one of the major problems here is the loss of focus on Star Wars I keep hearing people saying things like Frozen meets Kill Bill in the Matrix but why not Star Wars meets Star Wars in Star Wars this focus on identity politics and inclusion by exclusion and the force is female instead of the force is for everyone is killing the franchise.