Where does Star Wars go after The Acolyte failure?

Disney has just seen its first Star Wars TV failure with the announcement The Acolyte has been canceled after one season. So where does the franchise go from here?

Much has been written about Disney’s treatment of Star Wars since 2015. Given we’re dealing with one of the most divisive fanbases in all of entertainment, trying to please everyone is futile. As someone once nicely summarized “what is ‘true’ Star Wars to one fan is not to another.” 

Disney has had great success in spinning the franchise into TV with The Mandalorian and the critically acclaimed Andor. Yet Obi-Wan, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, all of which were successful in viewers yet mixed reactions among fandoms. However, The Acolyte’s reaction is a bit different, which may have played a part in its cancellation. 

The obvious reaction was, sadly, among the toxic part of the fanbase. In fairness, this is a small minority of Star Wars fans, yet social media has amplified their voices (not that Star Wars is the only fandom with this problem). That gave the indication the show was much worse than it really was.

The issues revolved around a female lead and some other elements, not to mention a long-standing bias against Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, long blamed for “ruining” the franchise. Some comments by the creators and cast on making the show more female-centric didn’t help and distracted from the actual series.

Many of those slams were unfounded and misogynistic. However, even those more positive toward the show had to acknowledge it had issues. The writing was criticized as well as the pacing and that, like many Star Wars shows, it dragged a movie storyline to eight episodes. 

The show did have a lot of potential, set a hundred years before the movies and a threat involving the Sith. It also showed the inner politics of the Jedi and their flaws which contributed to their ultimate demise. It ended on a mild cliffhanger with obvious plans to build on the plotlines of the Sith and the heroine on a dangerous new path. It’s possible a second season could have been much better, as many hit sci-fi shows had a so-so first year and then dramatically improved (Star Trek is a good example). 

As it is, the show has been canceled, and while we can debate the reasons all day, a bigger question arises: How does Star Wars move from here?

What’s next for Star Wars?

There is another show coming as Skeleton Crew will premiere later this year. This looks more themed for younger audiences, with a band of kids on a galactic adventure. Aside from that, there’s the plans for a Mandalorian movie and still hopes for a new trilogy focusing on Rey. 

However, given Star Wars has just had an outright failure in The Acolyte, the franchise may need to regroup a bit. It’s not unlike how the MCU coasted on so many successes only for things to turn on them, and now need to refocus. 

It’s not the first time Lucasfilm has had to do this. The plan was for multiple Star Wars movies a year only for Solo to fail at the box office. That paved the way for the use of Disney+ for various TV shows, which has been a bit of a mixed bag. Likewise, the still controversial reaction to Rise of Skywalker has led to rethinking the movies with a few stop-and-start projects like Riann Johnson’s planned trilogy.

The issue has long been a mix of interference from the folks at top. This goes back to when George Lucas still owned things and was known for nixing ideas while still considering his own take on a sequel trilogy. It’s gotten more complex with Disney and the fact that we are again dealing with a fanbase that can barely agree on what they think is a “great” Star Wars project. Thus, many creators have had issues figuring out what can succeed against a fanbase ready to judge anything, even mildly, that they don't expect as "betraying" the franchise.

The reactions to The Acolyte prove that as again, the potential was there, but the execution was flawed. Disney seemed to go too far trying to push so much Star Wars content at once, and, in the process, has diluted the brand a bit. Star Wars was more special as an event with a movie coming out every few years, not multiple projects at once.