Yes, I am coming out with the salty clicky headline. Thanks for noticing, but I am still quite miffed about all of this.
In an official explanation from a Disney executive about why The Acolyte was not renewed for a second season, Disney Entertainment co-chair Alan Bergman told Vulture via TV Line that the show's performance didn't justify the cost. He stated, "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 2. So that’s the reason why we didn’t .”
This explanation gives me one response: Shut up, Mickey.
You are the third richest company in the world. You can give a series some time to find its feet. I'm still upset I never got a chance to watch Willow because I work an adult job and have a life, and I didn't get to it fast enough in the few weeks you had it on your platform before removing it.
We have talked at length on this site about the broken TV streaming model and how Disney is very much a big problem when it comes to this. When launching a new series in a new era with new characters for the majority of the general audience who hasn't read The High Republic, it takes time for shows to find their audience. It doesn't happen right away. Series needs time and word of mouth to grow. I always think of my best friend. She and her husband work full-time jobs and have a toddler. They're always 2-3 series behind on Star Wars stuff. They haven't watched Seasons 2 or 3 of The Bad Batch yet. This is how many normal people are. TV isn't about watching it as fast as possible, or it didn't used to be anyway. Some people like to wait until the entire season is out so they can binge. Watching Star Wars should not be a chore and a race to get in those Nielsen numbers to help it perform well. Especially with new shows, it takes time to grow.
It also needs-- and this is so important-- merchandise. Merchandise is an indicator of how good a show is doing, but when merch is not made, it's harder to tell. What little merchandise for The Acolyte was actually removed from Disney's shop. Because that makes sense, I guess (sarcasm). It can only make a show look worse by making it harder actually to buy the items. The hosts over at Gold Squadron Gays podcast had an excellent discussion about Disney's shortcomings in this area in their, frankly, excellent discussions of The Acolyte.
In their review of episode 6, "Teach/Corrupt," at the 35:23 mark, Charles, who is an avid LEGO collector, noted his confusion about the lack of LEGOs made for the show. It made sense for something like Andor to make fewer toys because the show wasn't tailored for kids. But when it comes to something like The Acolyte, Disney should have prepped for at least the basics of the show.
He said, "It was a little weird to me that there were no LEGOs for The Acolyte. I was watching this again and looking at the ship Sol has. And I'm like, 'Where's my LEGO set of this ship?' Not even in the flippant way. There were no LEGOs for this show. Even Andor had one."
"The merchandise that is sold that are toys are generally made with the mentality that kids will be buying them," Charles continued. "Something like The Acolyte was still made for kids. So it was weird to me that I didn't see a single LEGO set at all. Sol's ship alone is like custom made for it... Obi-Wan Kenobi got 2-3 sets. Andor got one. Acolyte didn't get any. There was not as much merchandise for The Acolyte that I feel like there should have been."
"This is where I'm going to be critical of Lucasfilm broadly," Charles continues. "I was critical of the show for being more expensive than it had to be. But I'm also going to be critical of Lucasfilm as they didn't trust this show enough to merchandise as hard as I think they could have. Also, an important part of what merchandising does is that it's part of the marketing of the show."
"Look at Wicked," he points out. "Wicked is doing this funny thing called marketing, where you see Wicked everywhere right now. Wicked was an absurdly expensive movie. That movie cost so much money to make, and they have to sell two of them. What they made sure of is that Wicked is everywhere. You cannot get away from it. There are Wicked Rice Krispies Treats... They even had Wicked LEGOs. The reason for that is they're trying to sell the movie. And it worked... You have these toy partnerships and tie-ins, and they benefit each other. People look at the toys, go see the movie, and they come back and buy the toys."
While being recorded prior to Skeleton Crew's release, Bradley, the other co-host, also notes, "I'm surprised they didn't do more. There should have been at least six LEGO sets for this. There's already a LEGO set for Skeleton Crew, and it hasn't even come out yet. That alone tells you everything you need to know..."
"Especially a show like this, which is a brand new concept of a show," Bradley continues, "Anything that takes place during Mandoverse shows, all that stuff is easily marketable. For The Acolyte, you need to market. It's a brand new proof of concept. Everything else in Star Wars is already established. Kenobi is an established name. Andor is an established name. Mandalorian built a franchise because it was a new thing that they overly marketed."
And they're right. Charles and Bradley are right. Sure, it was cute for the Swagmin to send influencers little Yord tissues. But that doesn't help the kid at Target looking at all the Star Wars toys, and they see a billion Baby Yoda's before a Jecki Lon LEGO minifig. What makes them want to watch the series if there aren't cool toys? The Stranger's mask for Halloween? All the amazing lightsabers each Jedi had in the series made of plastic they could smack their friends with? A Vernestra Rwoh foam lightwhip sounds awesome!
The Acolyte had its share of problems, and the more we hear about it, it becomes apparent how much Disney has failed this show. From not protecting its actors from clearly not believing in the series enough to market it, it tripped so much along the way.
But hey, The Acolyte was one of FanSided's Fandoms of the Year, so go check that out.