Star Wars: The Acolyte has been cancelled after just one season

The Force was not with The Acolyte, as Deadline reports that the Star Wars series has been cancelled after just one season.

The first season of The Acolyte wrapped up over a month ago and there had been no word on whether it would be brought back for a second season. While the series certainly had its fans, it was one of the least-watched Star Wars shows on Disney+ despite a strong opening. Toss in a hefty $180 million budget, and you can understand why Lucasfilm has elected to cancel The Acolyte.

The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace and follows Jedi Master who investigates a shocking crime spree which pits him against a dangerous warrior from his past. The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Carrie-Anne Moss. You can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.

Showrunner Leslye Headland spoke about a potential second season just last month, confirming that she had heard “nothing” from Lucasfilm but didn’t necessarily see that as a bad thing at the time. “You have to take a break,” Headland said. “Especially after something like this. I don’t even know how many years my brain has been going, Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars, Acolyte, Acolyte, Acolyte — just constantly solving problems, constantly thinking about it. It is very weird to now be in a place where I don’t need to do that. I always say to budding writers, ‘The most important thing that you can do is sit around and do nothing. Because the second you start to manufacture a story, you’re going to get stressed out, and the story can’t start that way.’“

Although The Acolyte did wrap up many of its main plot points over the course of eight episodes, plenty of threads, including some intriguing cameos, were left dangling for another season. While I’m sure there are some who will rejoice with this news, I’ll admit to being a little disappointed. The Acolyte wasn’t a perfect series, but I was looking forward to a second season, if only to learn more about the dark-side characters and their motivations.

How do you feel about The Acolyte getting cancelled?