Disney Pulls the Plug on Lucasfilm’s High Republic Era Series, ‘The Acolyte’

For the past few years, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has remained steadfast in her belief that for Star Wars to thrive, the franchise needs to move away from Skywalker-centric projects. Though she’s called that mission “vital” and eschewed an adherence to George Lucas‘ original outline for the franchise, it’s proven difficult to cut the cord. Indeed recent streaming efforts such as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have both featured appearances by Skywalkers despite also attempting to blaze their own paths in the New Republic era. However, the franchise’s latest streaming offering, The Acolyte, set out to provide a brand new entry point for fans by telling a story with no connectivity to the Skywalker Saga despite being steeped in the familiar mythology and themes of the Star Wars franchise.

Series creator Leslye Headland–a lifelong Star Wars fan who described her love for the franchise as “existing on a cellular level”–put together what I called the” boldest storytelling effort to date within the franchise as it looks to redefine itself” in The Acolyte. The series came out of the gate strong but interest waned greatly down the stretch and, to no one’s surprise, became the target of online ridicule. Despite the social media buzz, Headland’s series showed promise late and she remained optimistic that more opportunity to continue the story of the series’ main characters would present itself. And now we know how that worked out.

According to Deadline, Disney has pulled the plug on the High Republic-era series, choosing not to move forward with a second season of The Acolyte.

With that, the stories of sisters Mae and Osha Aniseya, Darth Teeth, Darth Plagueis and, of course, the intrepid tracker, Bazil, will be lost to time.

Source: Deadline, Vanity Fair