(Chris Cella Jr., Headline USA) The Walt Disney Company has faced another setback with its latest Star Wars project, The Acolyte, which was recently canceled following a controversial debut that included show-runners touting its reimagining of the Jedi as lesbian witches.
Initial false reports indicated the show cost around $180 million, but tax documents filed by Disney’s UK branch revealed that the company actually spent close to $230 million on the show.
This significant financial investment resulted in a series met with an abysmal 18% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and struggled to maintain viewership as producer Kathleen Kennedy continued the trend of mutilating beloved intellectual properties like Star Wars.
Despite the show’s poor reception, the cancellation ignited a wave of criticism from far-left media outlets, such as The Mary Sue, which claimed the backlash was fueled by “angry dudebros.”
In reality, The Acolyte only had three episodes that cracked Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart, indicating a lack of interest and support among viewers.
Amandla Stenberg, the show’s star, expressed her disappointment on Instagram, attributing the cancellation to what she described as a “targeted attack” from the alt-right. She claimed that hostile reactions began as soon as the show was announced, characterizing the backlash as “hyper-conservative bigotry.”
Kennedy, the current head of Lucasfilm and believed to be the successor-in-waiting for Disney CEO Bob Iger, has previously echoed this sentiment. She has implied that the male-dominated fanbase was to blame for Star Wars’s struggles since Disney acquired the franchise for $5 billion—rather than blaming attempts to market the movies to a different audience while alienating and insulting those established fans.
In a New York Times interview, Kennedy complained that working as a woman in Star Wars could be “terrifying” because of the “male-dominated” fanbase.
Kennedy also faced backlash for wearing a “The Force is Female” shirt at a film festival in 2018. In the Star Wars universe, the Force is “a mysterious energy field created by life that binds the galaxy together,” balancing both good and evil, encompassing all characters, regardless of gender.
Despite its massive potential, The Acolyte failed to resonate with audiences. Set in the largely unexplored High Republic Era, the series, directed by Leslye Headland, lacked depth, an exciting plot, and character development, missing the mark of what has traditionally captivated Star Wars fans.
With multiple films and series slated for release in the coming years, “The House of Mouse” may need to reconsider its approach to the Star Wars franchise. The cancellation of The Acolyte signals a potential shift in strategy as the company navigates a divided fanbase and seeks to restore its beloved intellectual property.
