Some disappointing news for fans of The Acolyte, as Deadline is reporting that Disney+ has axed the Star Wars series, opting against moving ahead with a second season of the show from creator Leslye Headland.
Set a century before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in a time period known as The High Republic, the series starred Amandla Stenberg as Osha and Mae, twin sisters separated by a mysterious tragedy who find themselves following different pathways in the Force after a childhood encounter with the Jedi.
As reported by Deadline, The Acolyte enjoyed a strong start, with its premiere delivering the biggest Disney+ launch of the year with 4.8 million views in its first 24 hours. However, the series proved divisive (and at times controversial with some fans), and viewership quickly began to drop throughout the remaining episodes.
Given the cancellation, it remains to be seen if and how Lucasfilm will pick up any of the open story threads coming out of the finale, which saw Osha succumbing to the Dark Side and agreeing to train under Manny Jacinto’s Stranger, while Mae found herself a guest of the Jedi after having her mind wiped to protect them. The show also featured a very fleeting first appearance from Darth Plagueis, setting up the prospect of discovering more about Darth Sidious’ never-before-seen master.
The Acolyte marked the first live-action project set in The High Republic era, which began as publishing initiative covering books and novels. There is of course plenty of scope to continue the story there, or perhaps as a feature film a la The Mandalorian & Grogu, although a direct continuation as the latter would seem unlikely given the viewing figures and mixed reception.
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