Fans of The Acolyte are currently campaigning online to get Disney+ to pick the show up for a second season, but as far as they know, Disney and Lucasfilm aren’t pushing forward with the High Republic-era show.
Though Osha and Qimir aren’t expected to return soon, some fans fear that Disney may consider removing The Acolyte from their streaming service.
Could Disney Delete The Acolyte from Disney+???
As reported by Kotaku, Acolyte fans are currently worried that Disney could be planning to sweep The Acolyte under the rug after they decided to cancel the series. This worry was sparked when some fans realized Acolyte merch had been deleted from the official Disney+ online shop.
The merch has since been added back to the online store, but that hasn’t stopped fans from worrying about the series' future on the platform. After all, Disney+ did remove the Willow series from streaming after it underperformed when it was released.
WB Discovery and Their Tax Write-Offs
It also doesn’t help that completely deleting/shelving movies and series has become a new practice in the industry—particularly at WB Discovery. After CEO David Zaslav took over, WB started shelving finished projects for tax write-offs. The idea was that the company wouldn’t have to pay taxes for material it doesn’t publish, so they just decided to remove them from the available library.
Multiple animated series saw the chopping block, like J.G. Quintel’s adult comedy Close Enough and the Batgirl solo movie from directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi. WB was even said to have started shopping out to other studios, the Looney Tunes-focused Coyote vs. Acme—a completed film that fans may never get to watch.
The Future of The Acolyte
For now, fans are still hopeful that they can get Disney to change their minds when it comes to The Acolyte. There is the fact that major publications like Rolling Stone and Forbes have published think pieces for why canceling the series was a huge mistake on Disney’s part; plus, there is also a fan petition to renew the show that has managed to gather more than 40,000 signatures.
So far, conflicting reports have emerged online that the series still managed to attract a significant audience. The main issue was that the viewership was simply not enough to justify the series' $180 million budget.
With all the fan support coming out online, some hope that Lucasfilm could agree to a more realistic budget should they greenlight the next season of The Acolyte. Then again, perhaps they’ll just have to wait a couple more years.
It is worth noting that out of all the live-action Disney+ Star Wars shows, only Mando, Ahsoka, and Andor have managed to get a second season greenlit. The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Acolyte didn’t get picked up for a renewal.
Fingers crossed that Skeleton Crew will be able to complete the story that it sets out to tell.
For now, The Acolyte is still available to stream on Disney+.