Assistant cancellation gets official explanation from Disney

Nearly six months after the final episode aired on Disney+, many fans are still sad about the cancellation “Star Wars: The Acolyte” (Read our movie review). While the High Republic series certainly had its flaws, it was very different from the other films Lucasfilm had put out on the streaming platform – a mysterious Jedi-centric story from an era that had never been seen before in live-action. It also featured some of the best lightsaber choreography the series has had in years, but that wasn’t enough to stop Disney from giving “The Acolyte” a chance after just one season.

In an interview with eaglediscussed Disney Entertainment co-president Alan Bergman The official reason behind Disney’s cancellation of The Acolyte, Unsurprisingly, it comes down to money. “With ‘Acolyte,’ we were pleased with our performance,” Bergman said, pointing to the show’s strong critical reviews and high early ratings. “But it wasn’t where we wanted to give the cost structure of this title, quite frankly, to go and make a second season. So that’s why we didn’t do it.”

“Cost structure” is not quite the same as saying that the series was very expensive, but it is not difficult to discern what Bergman is probably referring to. According to a report from Forbes Earlier this year, “The Acolyte” ended up $230 million over budget — just $20 million less than the announced production budget for the first season of “Andor,” which has four more episodes and double the runtime due to the shorter installments. Much more than “Monarch.”

Beyond Bergman’s explanation, “The Acolyte” appears to have been canceled mainly because its high cost did not match the actual scope of the show. The first and now only season consists of eight episodes, which is very unusual for a streaming series. However, the longest episode in the collection is only 43 minutes long once the credits cut, and the shortest episode is only 28 minutes. A common complaint during the series’ broadcast was that its episodes were too short, but even with the less significant runtime, some elements of the production – namely the set and costume design – also received criticism for looking cheap compared to those in other “Star Wars”. “He appears.

Television productions – especially those of major franchises that have a lot of special effects and different locations – are huge projects. There’s never one explanation for why things don’t turn out the way the creators hoped. If Disney was happy with the viewership of “The Acolyte” but canceled it due to “cost structure,” the main problem may have been in the conception stage.

The show was actually aimed more at young adults, similar to the CW’s tone, which was new for a live-action “Star Wars” movie. This type of series doesn’t necessarily need a big budget to thrive. “The Acolyte” also starred all new characters, and the High Republic era is completely unknown to most “Star Wars” fans. With a more reasonable budget, viewership numbers might have been more reasonable for a second season.

If the main reason for The Acolyte’s cancellation was the cost structure, there is still hope for fans that the story could continue in a different form somewhere in the future. Manny Jacinto’s mysterious dark side character, The Stranger, was a clear favorite on the show, and given the amount of praise Jacinto has gotten for his performance and stunt work, it would be great to see him reprise the role in the future. The Stranger arc ends with Amandla Stenberg’s Osha with a big cliffhanger and a cliffhanger for Darth Plagueis, leaving a lot of interesting canon material on the table. The High Republic still has a lot of potential in a live-action “Star Wars” movie. Although there are no official plans yet to return to this part of the timeline on Disney+.

However, it’s likely that if we see these characters again, it will be in the comics or novels – the worlds where the High Republic was built, and where exorbitant production budgets aren’t an issue. In his interview with Vulture, Alan Bergman stated that Disney’s current focus with Star Wars is on streaming “Andor” season 2 And the second season of “Ahsoka,” as well as the currently ongoing “Skeleton Crew.”

While Bergman’s justification for canceling “The Acolyte” makes sense, it still stings that a show that received such vicious hate from “anti-woke” internet trolls got the ax so quickly. Given how The company has left “The Acolyte” actors like Stenberg out to dry While they face huge backlash online, they may not even want to come back and reprise their characters if given the chance.