After acquiring the “Star Wars” franchise from George Lucas, Disney quickly set to work creating new offerings for the legendary intergalactic saga. Some of these Disney-created TV shows and films have been well-received by fans, while others have fallen short. A segment of the fanbase seems inherently critical of Disney’s contributions to the franchise, and this was certainly the case with “The Acolyte.” When the series debuted, numerous fans took to the internet to voice their dissatisfaction with the cast, storyline, and other elements they found lacking.

The division in opinion is reflected in its 79% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to a mere 19% audience score. One of the reasons “The Acolyte” was so divisive was that some viewers felt it leaned too much towards being “woke,” leading to a relentless wave of negative reviews. Although the series faced significant online criticism, this wasn’t the primary cause for its cancellation. The main issue was financial: the production was prohibitively expensive, surpassing its budget, prompting Disney executives to discontinue it.

Disney seldom reveals its streaming data to the public, making it hard to assess how much the backlash against “The Acolyte” affected its viewership. Despite Disney’s typical discretion regarding such figures, the company has been more forthcoming about its financial losses. Since the launch of Disney+, the company has reported a substantial loss of $11.4 billion. To appease shareholders, Disney needed to recoup these losses, necessitating cuts to its content lineup. Regrettably, “The Acolyte” was among those that faced an early cancellation as a result.

Because “The Acolyte” received so much negative attention from the fandom, it’s understandable to assume that it was canceled as a result. It didn’t help, but the reason was financial, as the series’ budget ballooned up to $230.1 million. That means that each of the series’ eight episodes averaged around $28.8 million to produce. That’s not an insignificant amount of money, and because it cost as much as it did, Disney was stuck with a poorly-received series that would likely cost more going into a second season.

While it started strong, the series lost its audience pretty quickly after the premiere in June 2024. A little over a month after it ended in July, the possibility of a second season was dashed. The first two episodes had 4.8 million views, and after five days of streaming, the number rose to 11.1 million. That put it below the numbers for “Ahsoka,” which drew in 14 million viewers in its first five days on the streaming platform.

Regarding the show’s budget, it was initially set at $180 million. While that’s still a lot of money, the show went over by a staggering $50 million. Co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman explained to Vulture why “The Acolyte” was canceled, saying, “We were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a Season 2. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”