Everybody’s Watching The Acolyte Again
The unjustly canceled Star Wars series returns to the top of the charts.
In the wise words of Luke Skywalker, no one’s ever really gone — and that’s as true for the characters in Star Wars’ galaxy far away as it is for the shows they populate. It’s been almost two years since The Acolyte premiered on Disney+, introducing new ideas and challenging the franchise as we knew it before its abrupt cancellation in 2024. Despite the polarizing reception it received, the show faced the axe for more tangible reasons, namely, low viewership and the cost required to produce its first season. That might have been hard to believe at the time, but the further we get from The Acolyte’s cancellation, the less it starts to feel like the pariah that some so desperately wanted it to be.
Chances of another season of The Acolyte are slim to none, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from watching (or rewatching) the series. After two years, the series is back on the Disney+ charts, trending once again within the streamer’s Top 10 for TV shows. There’s a logical explanation for this, too: Disney+ programmed the series in tandem with its latest Star Wars adventure, Maul – Shadow Lord. It suggests The Acolyte as the next show to watch after Maul, so there’s a high chance viewers are taking that advice and getting into some High Republic-era drama.
The Acolyte couldn’t finish its story onscreen, but its reappraisal could give it a second life.
It makes sense that Disney+ would pair The Acolyte with Maul – Shadow Lord. Both are about as dark as the saga is willing to get, and both focus on the burgeoning bond between a shadowy, charismatic Sith and the former Jedi padawan they’re intent on bringing to the dark side. Maul’s efforts to recruit Devon Izara in Shadow Lord are similar enough to the dynamic between the mysterious Qimir (Manny Jacinto) and Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) — but the latter has a bit more meat on the bone. Not for nothing, it also embraces the steamy, romantic tension that other Star Wars projects have bungled so badly over the years. All that and more make The Acolyte feel utterly singular: it’s got flaws like any other Star Wars story, but unlike Maul, it has the guts to disrupt the same tired plot that every other Star Wars story (especially those set in this animated, post-prequels era) follows.
That The Acolyte only has one season, ironically, makes it ideal for a quick binge. It wasn’t designed to be a one-and-done story, but it does function well enough as one. Sure, it sucks that we might never find out how Qimir and Osha work as master and acolyte, or dive into the intrigue that sparked the downfall of the Jedi Order. But it’s still nice to know that The Acolyte is enjoying something of a reappraisal, removed from the bad-faith backlash that made it impossible to even talk about the show as it was airing. The Acolyte’s return to the Top 10 probably won’t help Lucasfilm reevaluate the mistake it made in cancelling it, but maybe it signals that this isn’t the end for this world. This renewed curiosity could allow some stories to continue in other media; there certainly seems to be a demand for it.
