The Acolyte creator says she was "not surprised" her Star Wars show got axed because it "was always a major risk", but she was "surprised by how it was handled"

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The Acolyte creator says she was "not surprised" her Star Wars show got axed because it "was always a major risk", but she was "surprised by how it was handled" News By Mireia Mullor published 21 November 2025

Leslye Headland addresses the show's cancellation

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Over a year after The Acolyte was axed on Disney Plus after only one season, the show's creator Leslye Headland has admitted she wasn't surprised by the decision, but she didn't expect how the news was delivered to the fans, and to her.

"I was not surprised by it. I think I was surprised at the swiftness of it and the publicness of it. I was surprised by how it was handled," she told The Wrap. "But once I was getting particular phone calls about the reaction and the criticism and the viewership, I felt like 'OK, the writing's on the wall for sure.'"

The Acolyte was reportedly canceled due to poor viewership, although it was later revealed that it was the second most-viewed Disney Plus show last year. Headland explained that, with Star Wars, "you're not just measured within the marketplace that you happen to be in at that time, you're measured against every other Star Wars show."

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"We hit the Nielsens a couple times," she continued, "not every week or anything like that, but a couple times it poked through. I feel like for a launch of a first season show that was trying different things, I think it could have been worth it to allow the audience it was meant for to find it. But that wasn't up to me. So I fully respect the decision, even if I'm sad about it."

Despite getting a good reception among critics (it stands at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes), the show became a target of racist online attacks. Lead actor Amandla Stenberg called out "a rampage of… hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred and hateful language" towards the cast, and admitted the cancellation was "not a huge shock."

Headland thinks "the whole thing with The Acolyte was always a major risk," as it was a very different story for the beloved sci-fi franchise. "It was a new part of the timeline. It was all new characters. It was a part of the lore where you couldn’t use a Storm Trooper, you didn't have the reference of the politics and war that Tony Gilroy has brilliantly exploited in such a genius way in Andor. But all that iconography and all those visual references are original trilogy references, and our references were the High Republic novels and the publishing initiative and then the prequels, specifically with the lightsabers," she explained.

Next up for Star Wars is The Mandalorian & Grogu, which hits theaters on May 22, 2026. In the meantime, see what else the galaxy far, far away has in store with our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.

TOPICS Lucasfilm Disney CATEGORIES Star Wars TV Shows Mireia MullorContributing Writer

Mireia is a UK-based culture journalist and critic. She previously worked as Deputy Movies Editor at Digital Spy, and her work as a freelance writer has appeared in WeLoveCinema and Spanish magazines Fotogramas, Esquire, and Elle. She is also a published author, having written a book about Studio Ghibli's 'Kiki's Delivery Service' in 2023. Talking about anime and musicals is the best way to grab her attention.

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