The Acolyte Is Dead: Star Wars Series Wont Return for Season 2

The Acolyte will not return for Season 2. Lucasfilm has elected not to continue with the Star Wars Disney+ series following its first season, which depicted the rise of the Sith roughly 100 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

“The Acolyte” will not return for Season 2.

Lucasfilm has elected not to continue with the “Star Wars” Disney+ series following its first season, which depicted the rise of the Sith roughly 100 years before the events of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.”

The news comes at once as a shock, given how much of the Season 1 finale ended on a cliffhanger and teased several plotlines for a Season 2, and not much of a surprise, given the wildly opposing reception from fans and the less-than-robust viewership that appeared to drop off after the series premiere in June.

Related Stories

snapshot of the data contained in the article VIP+

AI Content Licensing Deals With Publishers: Complete Updated Index

Vince Vaughn

Vince Vaughn Says 'Responsible' Comedies Are a 'Snoozefest': Hollywood Should 'Let Young People Go Make Movies and Leave Them Alone'

Creator Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll”), an avowed “Star Wars” super fan, set out to create the first “Star Wars” story set outside of the core timeline in the franchise that stretches from “The Phantom Menace” to “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The show followed twins Osha and Mae, both played by Amandla Stenberg, who were separated as children and led to believe the other had been killed. Some critics and fans loved how the show challenged the traditional perception of the Jedi as infallible and wholly virtuous, as embodied by the emotionally self-serving choices made by Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), who is responsible for removing Osha from her family and causing her separation from her sister.

Other fans, however, felt those creative choices were antithetical to the good-vs-evil nature of “Star Wars” storytelling, and strongly objected to the show’s expansion of the mythology of the Force. “The Acolyte” was also review-bombed, an insidious practice most often employed as a form of digital protest against inclusive casts centered around actors of color and LGBTQ characters, like Osha and Mae’s mothers played by Jodie Turner-Smith and Margarita Levieva. (The 2017 film “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was an early recipient of this kind of trolling.)

Popular on Variety

Despite these objections, “The Acolyte” also captured a great deal of positive reactions, especially surrounding the reveal that Manny Jacinto (“The Good Place”), first introduced as Mae’s hapless sidekick Qimir, was really the masked Sith warrior commanding Mae to assassinate the Jedi responsible for separating her from Osha. A scene in which Jacinto disrobes along a rocky coastline as a tactic to seduce Osha to the Dark Side garnered a great deal of attention, spawning legions of thirst posts to social media. Other cast members included Carrie-Anne Moss, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Dean-Charles Chapman and Joonas Suotamo.

Lucasfilm’s next “Star Wars” series for Disney+, “Skeleton Crew,” debuts on Dec. 3, and it could scarcely be more different from “The Acolyte,” with a cast made up mostly of children and an approach akin to the Amblin-style kidventure tales from the 1980s. The second and final season of “Andor,” the sprawling political drama starring Diego Luna, is set to follow in 2025, and a second season of “Ahsoka” is in development.

Deadline first broke the story that “The Acolyte” was ending after Season 1.

Read More About:

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXOAjq2taKaVrMBwwMeeZJqbn6HGtbGMnJinm5WhsqV50p6YrKeeYn9uv9OaqWavkafAbn2RbG1qaWFrfXl7

 Share!