The first trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte dropped earlier this week, and according to Lucasfilm, it actually broke a major record, besting every trailer for The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka, but unfortunately, it also racked up quite a few dislikes on YouTube.
“The trailer for The Acolyte garnered 51.3 million views in its first 24 hours,” reads the Lucasfilm announcement. “This is a new digital-only record for any Lucasfilm Disney+ series, surpassing every trailer for The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka. We’re grateful for your support, and can’t wait for you to experience the series.“
As I write this, The Acolyte trailer has 166k likes on YouTube, but it also has over 365k dislikes. Yikes. A portion of these dislikes could be down to review bombing, but the trailer did receive a rather mixed response upon release. Now, this is just our first glimpse at the series, so I’m hoping that the reception will be more positive as we get to see more. I’ll admit that the trailer didn’t exactly wow me, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the series, as I’ve really wanted to see more Star Wars stories set outside the timelines covered in the Skywalker Saga.
Set hundreds of years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, The Acolyte takes place during the High Republic era of the franchise. This era has been explored in books and comics, but showrunner Lesyle Headland has said, “You don’t need to know too much to enter the story [of The Acolyte].” The series stars Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Dafne Keen (Logan), Charlie Barnett (You), Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones), Joonas Suotamon (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix Resurrections).
The Acolyte logline reads: “An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.” The Acolyte will premiere on Disney+ on June 4th