Whether it was the new characters to be introduced or the unique lightsabers, fans had a lot of expectations from Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte. Unfortunately, die-hard fans of Star Wars did not receive the series with open arms upon its release. You may call it an overreaction of sorts, but the show was heavily review-bombed online by upset fans, one big reason being the apparent “wokeness” in it.
Due to the heavy criticism it received, The Acolyte ended up being axed by Lucasfilm as the studio canceled the show just after one season. While many fans of George Lucas’ universe might not miss the show, even they would agree that Disney’s one move after cutting the series is just cruelty at its finest.
Disney Seemingly Pulls Down The Acolyte Merch
After the cancellation of The Acolyte season 2, Leslye Headland’s show faces another punch to the gut as it looks like all of its merchandise has been removed from Disney’s official store. Talk about kicking someone while they are down, right?
If you hop onto Disney’s online store and do a quick search of The Acolyte, you can see for yourself that zero results pop up on your screen. This might be a horrible shock to fans who have launched an online campaign calling for the show’s renewal.
Of course, the series was met with negative feedback upon its release and was unfairly review-bombed on sites like Rotten Tomatoes. On the website, the audience score for season one is 18%, much, much lower than the critics’ 78% rating.
There is no denying that the show didn’t have the most loyal fanbase in the Star Wars universe. In fact, things were so bad upon its release that the President of Lucasfilm had to step in. However, even those against the show are left confused by Disney’s questionable move.
Even The Acolyte’s Haters are Left Stunned
While talking to The New York Times, Kathleen Kennedy bashed the chunk of the male-dominated fanbase of Star Wars who sit behind a keyboard and complain about women.
She stated,
Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation — it’s terrifying. I think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of the women who step into ‘Star Wars’ struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male-dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.
Headland also stated that while she’s empathetic with the fanbase, she simply doesn’t consider anyone who “engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech” a fan.
Coming back to Disney supposedly deleting all its The Acolyte merch, even the fans who couldn’t stand the show felt that the move was just a bit too cruel. Take a look at their reactions below:
As of now, there is no saying if the decision is permanent or temporary but it sure is a huge setback for the show whose life was limited to just eight episodes.
The Acolyte is available to stream on Disney+.
