“Acolyte” won’t return for a second season. Smart business decision… or sabotage?
Some vocal defenders of the recently canceled Disney+ series seem to be arguing for the latter.
“It seems like Disney is quietly cancelling shows aimed at ‘progressive audiences’ like ‘Acolyte,’ as the viewership numbers are no longer sustainable.”
Rolling Stone magazine is “worst” For Star Wars fans.
on the other hand, Online Petition Those who want the show back are attributing the vast amount of negative reviews to “a few loud trolls.”
Ockham’s Lightsaber
Back on Earth, all signs point to a simpler explanation: people just didn’t see it.
The Star Wars series got off to a decent start with viewers, with the first two episodes garnering a combined 4.8 million views.
Disney bragged that this was Disney+’s biggest premiere of 2024, and while that’s technically true, it’s not all that impressive considering only two other shows have debuted on the platform this year. Plus, adding up the viewership numbers for the two episodes is a bit of a cheat.
Despite initial buzz, “Acolyte”‘s viewership steadily declined over the following weeks.
deadline An insider reported that the show found out about a month after the season ended, after just eight episodes.
Please give us a round of applause.
The show’s future seemed in jeopardy in July when director and creator Leslye Headland urged viewers to support the show and share it with their friends, even if they thought it was mediocre.
“Even if you were like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ at the show, if you enjoyed the performance, go on their social media and tell them you love them, that you’re rooting for them, that they performed great.”
Game designer and media critic Mark Kahn told Align that he thinks the cancellation signals a change of direction on Disney’s part.
“It seems like Disney is quietly cancelling shows like ‘Acolyte’ that are aimed at ‘progressive audiences’ because the viewership numbers are no longer sustainable,” Kahn said. “I think there will be a shift in direction and new shows in development will focus on story and quality rather than promoting a message.”
Bad reputation
It didn’t help Disney that the actors who appeared in “Acolyte,” especially series star Amandla Stenberg, were constantly in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Critics of the show prompted Stenberg to release a hip-hop diss track aimed at her oppressors, with the young actress spitting lyrics decrying slavery and the effect it had on her psyche.
“Tired of suppressing my rage, like my ancestors were caged, 400 years of taking their bullshit with distinction,” she raps.
“If we don’t face our pain, it will manifest as addiction, disease and hatred. I have seen the infection that oppression can cause. I don’t want to be the next person to die prematurely,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, co-star Manny Jacinto commented on Tom Cruise’s departure from another film, “Top Gun: Maverick,” in late July.
Jacinta said she was “not surprised” that her scenes were cut because Cruise wrote the movie for her, but oddly enough, the lesson Cruise took from the experience was that non-white people in Hollywood need to pursue filmmaking that is specific to their race.
“Whether we are Asian Americans, whether we are people of color, [for ourselves]We can’t wait for someone else to do it. If we want to put a bigger story out there, we have to create it ourselves.”
Lesbian Force Witches
It wasn’t just its off-screen behavior that marred “The Acolyte”: creator Headland attempted to fundamentally alter the Star Wars lore by introducing a series of innovative characters who would bring never-before-heard explanations to the Star Wars universe.
The biggest change in the story is the idea that the Force is controlled by a coven of witches who can (and did) perform the Rite of the Immaculate Conception on a lesbian witch duo.
The story’s consistent injection of far-left dogma, which Stenberg described as “already very gay,” was apparently not what fans were looking for.
“The cancellation of the show is good news,” said John F. Trent, editor of the culture and gaming site That Park Place.
“This will prevent Leslye Headland and her co-conspirators from causing further damage to Star Wars by changing the Force, introducing feminism, and attempting to subvert morality.”
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