Star Wars series The Acolyte will not be returning.
According to Deadline, Disney+ is not proceeding with a second season of writer Leslye Headland’s take on the waning days of the High Republic in Star Wars.
While The Acolyte broke streaming records for Disney+ with its first two episodes reaching 11.1 million views across its first five days, it couldn’t maintain similar momentum throughout the life of the series.
The Acolyte is still rated fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but has been subject to review-bombing on various review aggregators.
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s Amandla Stenberg had the dual lead role in The Acolyte as siblings Osha and Mae.
The gritty series revolved around respected Jedi Sol (Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae) investigating a series of brutal crimes that have tainted the reputation of the Jedi Order.
Disney+‘s eight-part drama — also starring Russian Doll‘s Charlie Barnett and Deadpool & Wolverine‘s Dafne Keen — was a marked departure from the streaming service’s previous Star Wars shows with a much darker tone and explicit violence.
Series creator Leslye Headland said at the time of the show’s release that she wanted to tap into the «shittiness» of the original Star Wars movies.
Related: The Acolyte’s Manny Jacinto reveals the surprising influence on his new Star Wars character
«I just thought my Star Wars, because I’m getting the opportunity to do this as a super fan, I just wanted to borrow all that stuff from the original trilogy only because that was my introduction to Star Wars,» the writer told Digital Spy.
«I remember as a little kid being like, ‘How is this fantasy sci-fi world taking place in this kind of shitty place,’ you know? It looks real beat-up, it looks lived in.»
The Acolyte has its first season available to stream in full on Disney+.
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