'I Felt Like OK, the Writing's on the Wall for Sure' — Leslye Headland Has Accepted Disney's Decision to Cancel Star Wars Show the Acolyte After Season 1, Even if She's Still Sad About It

The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland has reflected connected the cancelation of the Disney+ bid aft conscionable 1 season, pointing to the important interaction Star Wars contented creators had connected the treatment astir the show.

Star Wars proprietor Disney canceled The Acolyte aft Season 1, leaving a fig of crippled threads, main among them the melodramatic archetypal quality of Darth Plagueis successful live-action form, dangling, possibly ne'er to beryllium resolved.

Since the cancelation, a fig of actors who appeared successful The Acolyte person said they inactive anticipation for a Season 2. In December past year, Manny Jacinto, who played Qimir, said Darth Plagueis would person had a bigger relation successful further seasons of The Acolyte, but didn't uncover excessively overmuch due to the fact that "we could travel back."

Meanwhile, Sol histrion Lee Jung-Jae has said helium was "quite surprised" to perceive The Acolyte wouldn't get a 2nd season, which Headland was reasoning astir adjacent earlier Season 1 premiered. Others, including Black pistillate pb Amandla Stenberg, person said they weren't shocked by the cancellation. "I'm going to beryllium transparent and accidental that it's not a immense daze for me," she said. "I was successful the bubble of my ain reality, but for those who aren't alert there's been a rampage of vitriol that we've faced since the amusement was adjacent announced. When it was inactive conscionable a conception and nary 1 had adjacent seen it."

Mother Aniseya histrion Jodie Turner-Smith raised this contented too, calling retired Disney for not doing capable for the formed who faced waves of racist maltreatment online. "They’ve got to halt doing this happening wherever they don’t accidental thing erstwhile radical are getting f**king dog-piled connected the net with racism and bulls**t," she said.

Now, successful a caller interrogation with TheWrap, Leslye Headland offered a absorption of her own, admitting she feared The Acolyte was acceptable for the chopping artifact arsenic online absorption from Star Wars contented creators took a crook for the worse.

“I was not amazed by [the cancellation],” Headland said. “I deliberation I was amazed astatine the swiftness of it and the publicness of it. I was amazed by however it was handled. But erstwhile I was getting peculiar telephone calls astir the absorption and the disapproval and the viewership, I felt like, ‘OK, the writing’s connected the partition for sure.’”

Headland went connected to sermon the interaction of Star Wars contented creators connected The Acolyte’s performance, and said Hollywood uses them astir similar absorption groups.

“The contented that is being enactment retired by the streamers oregon the studios is being snatched up by these different creators, and truthful commentaries, synopses, unrecorded videos, each of the ways that these creators marque wealth — done viewer-based advertisement revenues and their Patreons — there’s a batch of wealth to beryllium made,” she said.

“And by the way, person astatine it. Get your coin 100%. But it revealed to maine that determination is simply a misunderstanding betwixt the studios and that engagement. They deliberation of it arsenic fandom, and successful ways it is, but studios usage it astir similar this absorption group.”

Leslye Headland, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Amandla Stenberg, and Margarita Levieva astatine the NY Cinema Society lawsuit for The Acolyte successful 2024. Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Disney.

As a result, Headland predicted a determination towards a satellite wherever “the contented being made astir Star Wars volition beryllium much culturally impactful than existent Star Wars.”

“I americium a Star Wars fan, which means I person ever been, since the motorboat of YouTube, portion of the Star Wars recap/criticism/lionization fandom community,” Headland explained. “These guys I’ve known for years and years. So erstwhile I got the accusation from others astir what the upwind study was, determination was this existent interest from friends of excavation oregon co-workers of excavation that saddened me. I besides was like, ‘I cognize who these guys are.’ You don’t person to archer maine who’s talking astir it oregon however atrocious it is online, I cognize precisely who they are. I supported them connected Patreon.

"There are immoderate of them that I respect, and determination are immoderate of them that I deliberation are perfectly snake lipid salesmen, conscionable opportunists. Then, of course, determination are the fascists and racists. So it runs a gamut. It isn’t conscionable 1 happening oregon the other. So I deliberation that if you’re successful portion of the fandom, you recognize the genre and the code of peculiar channels and creators. So successful immoderate ways I wasn’t surprised, and past successful different ways I was disappointed. I deliberation you ever bash that erstwhile you make something, it’s conscionable that Star Wars is connected a monolithic level of visibility.”

Headland besides touched connected her now-dashed hopes for Season 2, saying “it could person been worthy it to let the assemblage it was meant for to find it.” Ultimately, she sounds resigned to decision connected The Acolyte, and Disney has made nary denotation of reversing its determination to cancel the show. “But that wasn’t up to me,” she continued. “So I afloat respect the decision, adjacent if I’m bittersweet astir it.”

Last month, Headland confirmed The Acolyte would person gone connected to diagnostic a transportation betwixt The Stranger and villain Kylo Ren. Headland said The Acolyte's cardinal villain, Qimir besides known arsenic The Stranger, would person yet started The Knights of Ren, the cult the young Kylo Ren joined pursuing his departure from the Jedi. Indeed, The Acolyte would person confirmed The Stranger arsenic the archetypal Knight of Ren.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].