The Acolyte only had a short lifespan. Disney canceled the series. Image source: Disney / Lucasfilm
Is the dark side strong in the Disney corporation? Current developments are causing unrest in the Senate of the High Republic. First, the master of the Star Wars brand sends the series The Acolyte to the eternal hunting grounds after only one season.
Now there are suddenly rumors circulating that Disney would like to undo the first season forever. But the matter is not quite that simple. We explain to you what worries the fans so much and what could be behind it.
What the supposed evidence really means
Reason #1: Disney is said to have removed the merchandise from the store.
What is th is all about?
But there is probably a simple reason for this, and it is not “Disney wants to delete the series.” Rather, the items are simply sold out at the moment and will probably be for a long time to come. That is why the merchandise is simply no longer displayed.
This assumption is confirmed by the fact that Andor fan articles are also not available in the storeAnd it’s hard to imagine that Disney would want to wipe out its most popular Star Wars series as well.
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Reason #2: The Acolyte is being removed from Disney Plus to save taxes.
What is this all about? The second reason that is currently doing the rounds on the internet. No, here too it is not as simple as many people make it out to be. Often reference is made to the already completed Batgirl film from DC, which Warner Bros. once canceled before its theatrical release in order to be able to claim tax advantages.
What is important here is the temporal classification before the cinema release
The Acolyte has already been broadcast in its entirety and Disney would no longer benefit from tax if the series was retroactively deleted from Disney Plus.
But what is possible is that Disney removes The Acolyte to save money that would otherwise have to be transferred to the series creators. Specifically, to Leslye Headland, who not only directed The Acolyte but also wrote the screenplay.
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The Acolyte: Disney shows how the fights in the new Star Wars series were created
The background: Ever since the historic Hollywood strike, authors have had to rely not only on cinema revenues, but also receive a share of the revenue from streaming broadcastsA series that is no longer available on Disney Plus would save the company money.
Most recently, Disney decided to take this approach with the series Willow, which aired in 2022. At the end of May 2023, the decision was made to take the series off the platform due to low viewership numbers – much to the displeasure of Willow author John Bickerstaff, as he told the Collider made clear:
They gave us six months. Not even once. This business has become absolutely cruel. […] These series have already been released and therefore cannot be written off. And in the case of Willow, Disney owns the IP outright. The only conclusion is that this is being done to avoid paying royalties.
Fans still fight for the survival of The Acolyte
So you see: At the moment, this is all just a lot of noise about nothing. The temporary disappearance of the merchandise could have completely different and logistically understandable reasons. And whether Disney will really decide to throw The Acolyte off their streaming platform is anyone’s guess. But at the moment, in our opinion, there is nothing to suggest this.
What is a fact, however, is: Many fans still haven’t given up hope of getting Disney to rethink. A petition on Change.org has already collected over 17,000 signatures at the time of this article. It remains to be seen whether this number of potential viewers will persuade Disney to revive the series, but it is doubtful.
It’s very unlikely that we’ll see any new episodes of The Acolyte. But things aren’t getting any quieter around Star Wars, quite the opposite. Star Wars Outlaws is the next big video game in the starting blocks and will soon be in cinemas and on Disney Plus. You can find all the information about the upcoming projects in the articles linked above.
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