Disney Co-Chairman Confirms 'The Acolyte' Was Scrapped Because Views Were Too Low For Its Cost
Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman confirmed that Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte series was scrapped because the viewership was too low for how much it cost.
Speaking with Vulture’s Josef Adalian, Bergman was asked, “The Acolyte had many strong reviews and did well in the ratings its first week out, but you ultimately opted against a second season. Why didn’t you move forward?”
He replied, “So as it relates to Acolyte, we were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
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Brooks Barnes at The New York Times previously reported that the show cost $180 million. He wrote, “Headland’s show The Acolyte will debut on Disney+ on June 4. Costing roughly $180 million (for eight episodes) and taking four years to make, it attempts two feats at once: pleasing old-school Star Wars fans — who can seem unpleasable — while telling an entirely new story, one that requires no prior knowledge of Star Wars and that showcases women and people of color.”
However, Jonas J. Campbell at That Park Place uncovered that the show cost at least £172 million or $231 million based on a UK tax filing.
As for its viewership, The Acolyte and its two-episode premiere debuted on Nielsen’s Top 10 chart with just 488 million minutes viewed.
The viewership declined from there with the week of the show’s finale only managing to garner 335 million minutes watched. In fact, that was the least minutes watched of any live-action Star Wars series finale on Disney+.
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Not only were the costs extraordinarily high and the viewership low, but audience reception to the show was extremely negative as well.
The show has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 10 on IMDb.
Furthermore, the cast of the show were highly antagonistic towards Star Wars fans and even blamed them for the show’s cancellation.
Actress Jodie Turner-Smith, who played Mother Aniseya, accused fans of racism and even accused Disney of failing to protect her and other actors from the alleged racism.
She told Glamour, “[Disney’s] got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f***ing dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls**t. It’s just not fair to not say anything.
“It’s really unfair,” Smith continued. “It would just be nice if the people that have all the money were showing their support and putting their feet down. Say this is unacceptable: ‘You’re not a fan if you do this.’ Make a really big statement and just see if any money leaves.”
“I bet you it won’t, because people of colour, and especially Black people, make up a very large percentage of buying power,” she asserted. “They might find that it’s actually more lucrative for them, but everyone’s using ‘woke’ like it’s a dirty word.”
Actress Amandla Stenberg, who played Mae and Osha in the show, also blamed “a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol” for its cancellation.
In a video uploaded to her Instagram Stories, Stenberg stated, “Our show, our Star Wars show has been cancelled. I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me.”
“Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality but for those who aren’t aware there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language towards us.”
Next, she said, “And, you know, this really affected me when I first got the job because it’s just not something, even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you.”
“However, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways including being vocal about it myself . For me, it just became a situation where there was no option but for me to honor my sense of ethics and my belief system and my value system while being in this very unique position,” Stenberg continued.
“It is kind of like I had this very unique experience of experiencing the world at-large which is, of course, hyper divisive right now through the lens of this very unique opportunity of being in Star Wars,” she elaborated. “And it brought up a lot for me, a lot sociopolitical dynamics, a lot about my own value system, how I respond to that kind of hatred, how I move through the world at-large. And it just became inarguable for me at a certain point that in order to continue to be myself I would have to honor my value system by being vocal even within the context of working for Disney within the large massive IP that is Star Wars.”
“On that topic, I just have to say, it has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. It still feels —. even though, of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled and I’m sad about us not being able to give people, who are vested into it more, ’cause I just feel a lot of levity and joy around the fact that I got to experience it and that people loved it and that people were so responsive.” Stenberg stated. “I poured through a lot of different iterations of fan art, and ship art, and fan theories, and things that were just so beautiful and filled my heart with joy.”
“And I just want to let those people know out there who supported us in that way, and supported us vocally in the face of all of the vitriol that we received, and the kind of the targeted attack I would say we received by the alt-right, just that you were deeply loved and appreciated, and it made this job all the worthwhile for me,” she said. “And it made all of the challenging elements of it completely worthwhile for me. Plus my love of sci-fi and fantasy and being able to be apart of the legacy of something that I so deeply value and something that means so much to me and I’ve looked up to for so long.”
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From there she thanked Lucasfilm, “I also just want to say thank you to Lucasfilm for just being a f***ing awesome team. They were so wonderful to work with and just everybody I worked with in Lucasfilm particularly Rayne Roberts, my producer, was just — had such vision and hope and like such a mission for what we were going to continue bringing into the sci-fi universe, into the Star Wars universe. And it was a really beautiful, energizing, life-changing experience to be part of.
Next, Stenberg thanked showrunner Leslye Headland, “And I have to thank Lesyle Headland. I just f***ing love that b***h. She’s just one of the best people in the world. I think she’s so incredibly talented and unique and kind and I’ll love her forever. And I will love this experience with her forever.
“But at the end of the day I just want to thank everybody who watched it. Thank you for being so loving and supportive and excited and nerdy and awesome and I’ll continue to process this for a long time.”
She then started uncontrollably laughing and paraphrased Vice President Kamala Harris, “But maybe the last thing I want to say on this subject is that we all exist in the context in all of which we live.”
After collecting herself, she added, “But I’m serious. It’s not lost on me how, the way that these events have unfolded is also due to the hyper divisive of the time that we live in that is driven, I would say at this point, by echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases. And I think that applies to everybody. But I think in a particular sect of people it manifests as a lot of fear for what is changing and a lot hatred for what is other.”
“And I would challenge us all and challenge myself to continue questioning what it is that I digest and think critically about what shapes it. Let’s vote, y’all. Let’s vote. Let’s vote. I think that’s all I have to say,” she concluded.
What do you make of Bergman confirming the show was cancelled because its views were too low for its high cost?
It was an awful show! It was poorly written, poorly executed, and badly acted (except for Lee Jung-Jae). The issue was not racism, bigotry, or sexism, which some cast members and producers used to defend poor performance. Over 180 Million for a show that seemed to have been written by a twelve-year-old wannabe writer and produced by people on an absolute amateur level.
I never felt my intelligence insulted so much as by The Acolyte.
It’s incredibly narcissistic and arrogant of these d grade actors to actually think the film is about them as people. We don’t give a toss about your politics or woke ideology we just want to watch an amazing film with great script and actors, clearly in woke media we can’t have that as it’s waycist.