Disney Chief On “The Acolyte” Cancellation

Lucasfilm
Alan Bergman, the co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, has finally given an official explanation on behalf of the studio as to the cancellation of its “Star Wars” TV series “The Acolyte”.

The series featured the most diverse cast yet for a “Star Wars” show, along with being set in the previously unexplored on-screen High Republic era. However it proved incredibly divisive with the fans and overall viewership also wasn’t great.

Though it had a strong start with 11.1 million views globally after five days of streaming, the momentum couldn’t be sustained and was out of the Nielsen Top 10 streaming chart for the majority of its run.

Around mid-August, the decision came down not to renew the series for a second season – even as reports emerged that some early development work had been done in preparation of one potentially happening.

In a new interview with Vulture, Bergman explained the decision to axe the series came down to a basic one of economics – namely the cost of producing the series was too high in comparison to the size of its audience:

“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 two.. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”

Disney has subsequently premiered another “Star Wars” series, “Skeleton Crew,” which is halfway through its run. Of that, Bergman indicates they’ve “seen some growth on that” but it’s too early yet: “we’ll have to see how that all plays out as it moves forward.” He did note the better reviews overall for the show.

Where Bergman is excited is for the the second and final season of “Andor” next year: “We’re really excited about [it]. It is excellent. I’ve watched all the episodes, and it is a fantastic season.”

He confirms a second season of “Ahsoka” is coming and there are “a number of additional series that are in development.”