{"id":4139,"date":"2025-04-23T14:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T18:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/?p=4139"},"modified":"2025-04-24T22:23:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T02:23:55","slug":"an-acolyte-kills-the-dream-the-acolyte-2024-gunnar-blubaugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/2025\/04\/23\/an-acolyte-kills-the-dream-the-acolyte-2024-gunnar-blubaugh\/","title":{"rendered":"An Acolyte Kills the Dream: The Acolyte (2024) | Gunnar Blubaugh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star Wars\u2019 <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> was an exciting prospect for Disney Plus\u2019 collection of limited television series for the franchise. This 8-episode show took a chance by branching out in the Star Wars universe. Set about 100 years before the first chronological Star Wars Film, <\/span>The Phantom Menace<\/span><\/i>, the show would detail the secret rise of the Sith, the main antagonistic force of Star Wars. It premiered on June 4th, 2024, and concluded 6 weeks later on July 16th, 2024. Then to the surprise of critics and fans, it was announced the following month on August 19th that the show would not be returning for a second season, despite the story implications of the season finale. Speculation circulated online about what could have gone wrong, and how the show must have failed. So what could have gone wrong with a show that promised such an exciting prospect for this franchise for Disney to pull the plug so quickly?<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite its strong two-episode premiere, which has become a trademark for Disney Plus\u2019 Star Wars shows, <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> seemingly struggled with each new episode. Viewership slowly declined, and the show fell out of the Top 10 charts, only to return to the 10th place spot when the finale aired. However, at this point, the viewership for this show was the lowest of any of Disney\u2019s limited television series for Star Wars. Fans of the franchise began to cite a number of grievances they had with the show, including certain details that broke the canon rules already established for the franchise, which was a perfectly justified complaint. However, more right-wing fans of the franchise began citing other issues, review-bombing it and declaring Star Wars \u2018dead\u2019 as a result. So, should that remark be taken seriously?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that adult Star Wars fans have been unhappy with Disney\u2019s acquisition of the Lucasfilm brand in 2012. Disney\u2019s new Star Wars Trilogy that began in 2015 and concluded in 2019 was very controversial amongst fans, and has very much left a poor taste in fans\u2019 mouths when it comes to new projects. However, not every new release has been disputed or performed poorly. Releases like Star Wars\u2019 <\/span>The Mandalorian<\/span><\/i>, which premiered in 2019, were widely celebrated among fans, which was an excellent response for the franchise\u2019s first live action television series. Disney also succeeded with some new animated series, such as <\/span>Star Wars Rebels<\/span><\/i> in 2014, and <\/span>The Bad Batch<\/span><\/i>, which premiered in 2021. So if these series were so successful even after Disney\u2019s new trilogy, why was <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> so quick to be discarded?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The premise of <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> was praised when it was first announced in December of 2020. <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> was teased as a show that would explore the early history of the villainous Sith, which is an exciting premise sure to hook fans in. However, the series finally premiered almost 4 years after it was announced, and with little news or teasers during development. For a show with a high budget and high expectations, many fans weren\u2019t feeling satisfied even before the show premiered. This is an issue Disney has had in the past where they announce projects in advance, but may change plot points or details within the time between that makes the pitch and final product seem drastically different as a result, such as Pixar\u2019s <\/span>Elio<\/span><\/a>, set to release this year in June after being due to release in March of 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Acolyte finally released an official trailer online, it was only three months before the show\u2019s release date. And while a teaser had been released beforehand, it was only shown at Star Wars Celebration in April a year prior. This footage was only shown to those in attendance, and was largely similar to the trailer released the next year. The only way you would have seen the first trailer was if someone in attendance filmed it and posted it online for you to watch. This strategy of showing footage from new Star Wars projects is done commonly and has been done for other Disney Plus Star Wars shows, which is a poor practice in my opinion. It limits the audience and viewership you\u2019d want for your new releases, and strictly limits criticism and discussion that comes from posting the footage online for everyone to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

The lack of footage and discussion prior to <\/span>The Acolyte\u2019s<\/span><\/i> release was damaging enough, but the story itself felt much different compared to its original premise. The original trailer framed the show as being about the student of a former Jedi gone rogue, now training under a mysterious Sith Master, a race long thought to be extinct in the Star Wars Galaxy. Now this rogue student turned acolyte is killing various Jedi around the galaxy in attempts to gain her new master\u2019s favor, while her previous master hunts her to solve the mystery. But when the show premiered, the audience found themselves misled. This Acolyte, named Mae, and the Jedi\u2019s student, named Osha, are in fact two different characters\u2013identical twin sisters on opposite sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the introduction of a secret character is an exciting twist and doesn\u2019t hurt the show, the misdirection took away from the vision of the show we expected. Now we as viewers spend more time with Osha and Sol than we do with Mae and her mysterious Master. However, Osha\u2019s introduction creates a unique twist at the end of the show, having the twin sisters trade places. Osha kills her former master after his crimes are exposed, and Mae, her memory now wiped of the murders she inflicted, works with the Jedi to find her sister, who has joined with the Sith. This change in allegiance is a very interesting shift for the protagonist, and would have been very exciting to explore had the show been continued, as showrunner Leslye Headland said that she had <\/span>ideas for Season 2<\/span><\/a> if Lucasfilm wanted another season. However, the Acolyte\u2019s cancellation means that this story is left on a permanent cliffhanger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In regards to the claims that \u2018Star Wars is Dead\u2019 after the show\u2019s poor performance, this is just hogwash. <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i>\u2019s failure was largely a result of bad marketing strategies, a high budget, and low viewership. The show itself was a branch of the main story of Star Wars, and the failure of one project shouldn\u2019t speak to the franchise as a whole. This overall situation should be a reminder that for a project to succeed, it needs to be advertised. Advertisement and discussion allow for news to circulate, and for people to form their own opinions about the show. I feel that Disney has grown too comfortable with their work, and assumes that people will watch what they release. I think that the failure of the Acolyte should come to Lucasfilm as a reminder that it’s not enough to just release a show, and expect people to watch it. <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> was a misfire in how it was unveiled, and would have benefited from more trailers, merchandising, and less radio silence between its initial announcement and premiere.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe that <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i>\u2019s failure speaks to Star Wars as a whole. The franchise has been around since 1977, with multiple shows getting new seasons or premieres each year on Disney Plus, and a new movie based on <\/span>The Mandalorian<\/span><\/i> slated for release in 2026. <\/span>The Acolyte<\/span><\/i> is largely a series of unfortunate events. The show didn\u2019t get a second season due to its low viewership and high budget not justifying the money spent. The review bombing of the show and hateful comments certainly didn\u2019t help, I\u2019m sure. But leaving fans anticipating for years with only one trailer just months before release doesn\u2019t do good things for a new project either. Thankfully, Star Wars has other releases nearing, namely the highly successful and anticipated <\/span>Andor <\/span><\/i>returning for a second season in April.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Wars\u2019 The Acolyte was an exciting prospect for Disney Plus\u2019 collection of limited television series for the franchise. This Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2312,"featured_media":4140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,29,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwr","category-reviews-recommendations","category-what-were-reading"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4139"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4145,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4139\/revisions\/4145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}