The Acolyte’s Squandered Potential
The show brought a whole new set of fans to a stagnating franchise. Its cancellation suggests Star Wars is only interested in looking backwards.
For a few weeks this summer, The Acolyte inspired a sense of revitalization in the Star Wars fandom. With its inventive setting, diverse cast, and unashamed focus on romance, the show—which began its 8-episode run in early June—felt like a belated apology for Disney's tacit rejection of The Last Jedi. Star Wars was finally looking forward instead of back. (Metaphorically speaking, anyway. The Acolyte takes place a century before The Phantom Menace.)
Unlike the rest of Disney’s Star Wars television fare, The Acolyte didn’t rely on familiar characters or nostalgic callbacks. Instead, it introduced a fresh ensemble cast with no relation to the Skywalker Saga, exploring an underutilized subtext from the movies: the tempting possibility of a gray area between the light and dark sides of the force.
Centering on a sexually charged conflict between a former Jedi padawan (Amandla Stenberg) and a mysterious darksider (Manny Jacinto), The Acolyte openly capitalized on Reylo’s popular enemies-to-lovers dynamic—the romance between Kylo Ren and Rey in the most recent film trilogy—something the franchise had previously failed to do. And while its ratings were lower than shows in the franchise led by established characters, it inspired feverish enthusiasm from viewers who weren’t otherwise invested in Star Wars. In other words, it successfully injected new blood into a stagnating franchise.
And then, this past Monday, it got summarily cancelled. Coming only a month after the season 1 finale, this news symbolized something bigger than the demise of one TV show. It felt like a targeted message to the Star Wars fandom, signaling that new stories are not welcome here, and neither are new fans. Political in more ways than one, that message is destined to come back and bite Disney on the ass.
