A Disney exec has revealed why “The Acolyte” was canceled after just one season.
In an interview with Vulture, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman said while the House of Mouse was pleased with how “The Acolyte” performed in its single season Disney+ debut, it wasn’t enough to justify a follow-up considering the price tag.
“We were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two,” Bergman said. “So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
Upon the series’ cancellation, “Acolyte” lead Amandla Stenberg posted an 8-and-a-half-minute video to her Instagram Stories saying she was unsurprised Disney didn’t renew following the aggressive online backlash surrounding the show’s female-driven story and queer undertones.
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“It’s not a huge shock for me,” Stenberg said. Ever since the series was unveiled in 2020, she added, “we started experiencing a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language towards us.”
Dinsey’s latest series from a galaxy far, far away, “Skeleton Crew,” has already “seen growth” according to Bergman, who is hopeful the Jude Law vehicle will fare better having received “excellent” reviews since its Dec. 2 premiere.
Although light on specifics, Bergman went on to tease second seasons for “Andor,” “Ahsoka” and a “number of other” Star Wars shows that are still under consideration.
“In terms of what’s coming up, we have ‘Andor’ season two, which we’re really excited about. It is excellent. I’ve watched all the episodes, and it is a fantastic season. And then we have ‘Ahsoka’ season two, which Dave Filoni is leading,” Bergman said. “And then we’re looking at a number of additional series that are in development. We’ll see what we decide to do. As I said earlier, they have to be great.”