Disney exec says ‘The Acolyte’ wasn’t “where we needed it to be” to warrant a second season

nme.com:

The Acolyte never made it to a second season.In August, reports first emerged that the sci-fi show was getting scrapped after just one season, partially due to low viewership numbers.

Although it was well-received by critics (including NME), it was divisive to fans and resulted in a dire 18 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.It didn’t help matters that the series was also effectively panned by fans before its release, with many slamming its trailer earlier in the year for “looking cheap”.Now, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Alan Bergman has spoken to Vulture and said that while the company felt positively about how the first season performed, it wasn’t enough to justify a follow-up considering the hefty price tag.“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,” he said. “So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”Other notable Star Wars series including The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi also never received second seasons.

The Acolyte, however, ended on a cliffhanger and had teased big events in a potential second season, with showrunner Leslye Headland going on record to say she was hoping for a renewal.Following its cancellation, series lead Amandla Stenberg shared her thoughts in a series of Instagram Stories that ran for over eight minutes, in which she remarked that the one series run wasn’t a surprise, given fans’ reactions even before it had premiered.“It’s not a huge shock for me,” she said at the time.