Star Wars TV show The Acolyte axed after Lucasfilm cancel production

Lucasfilm has cancelled the Star Wars series The Acolyte after one season.

Deadline reported parent company Disney has opted to not proceed with a second series. The Acolyte starred Amandla Stenberg as twin sisters powered with the mysterious Force - one trained with Jedi knights while the other had been lured by an evildoer.

The show was slow going at first but ultimately revealed itself to be an interesting exploration of the origins of the dark side.

The season one finale which resolved some mysteries but teased others (was that Yoda?!) will now serve as the series’ last episode. The Acolyte, which also starred Manny Jacinto, Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen and Charlie Barnett wrapped a month ago.

Jacinto had said as recently as 10 days ago at Disney fan convention D23 that he had his “fingers crossed” that he could play his villainous character again.

The expensive show (according the The New York Times, the first season’s production costs were $US180 million), had been a divisive entry in the Star Wars canon. It had OK reviews from critics but was excoriated by segments of the fandom who had “review bombed” the show before its release.

At the time of release, The Acolyte had an 85 per cent Rotten Tomatoes critics score but only a 14 per cent audience score. On IMDb, more than half of its audience ratings were one-star.

The Star Wars fandom is among the most vociferous and the more gatekeeper-y parts of it have previously hit out at the franchise’s inclusion of actors from non-white backgrounds including Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega in the recent films.

Tran, who was introduced in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, had to delete her social media profile and wrote in a New York Times opinion piece, “Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of colour already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories”.

Stenberg, who is of mixed-race heritage, clapped back at online trolls after she was subjected to sustained attacks.

The Acolyte was developed by Leslye Headland who had created Russian Doll with Natasha Lyonne.

Headland had told NYT, “I essentially cold-called Lucasfilm and, after a lot of conversations, found myself pitching a show – utterly elated, my ultimate career goal, the culmination of my fandom. At the same time, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

“There is so much pressure. It’s extreme. I had never done anything this big before.”

The next project from Lucasfilm will be Skeleton Crew, a Star Wars streaming series that has been self-described as akin to The Goonies. It follows the story of four kids who accidentally blast off into space and must find their way back home.

It was created by John Watt, who directed the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, and Christopher Ford, and stars Jude Law.

Filming is also underway for Mandalorian & Grogu, a feature directed by Jon Favreau and written by Favreau and Filoni. It carries the adventures of Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin and Baby Yoda onto the big screen. The film is due for release in May 2026.

Season two of Andor, starring Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, will be out in 2025.