Some Star Wars “fans” really hate this show.
Anyone who has even casually followed the online discourse about the Star Wars franchise over the last 25 years — and especially since Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 — likely knows that opinions are…divided…over the franchise’s output. This has been especially stark when it comes to The Acolyte, the franchise’s latest Disney+ series.
Earlier this month, Quincy published a piece on the show titled “The Acolyte Wasn’t As Bad As Everyone Said and 229 Other Thoughts I Had Binging The Season”.
As you can likely imagine, the piece incited a deluge of commentary on our Facebook page, with many of the comments skewing negative. Perhaps these sentiments were best summed up reader Joe, who went into great detail. “I really wanted to like it but it’s horrible. I hate agreeing with internet incels but by God, it’s so terrible. It’s like if Chatgpt wrote the show. Leslye Headland should never go near another Star Wars show. Kathleen Kennedy approved this garbage and should be replaced. The Disney Star Wars era has been mostly bad. Bad Batch, Clone Wars and Mando have been good. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan (Kenobi) have been decent. My wife said Andor was very good. The sequel trilogy was bad, Book of Boba Fett was horrendous, and The Acolyte is the worst of the bunch. I get that they want to expand past the Skywalker era but The Acolyte is on par with the Christmas special. The only bright spot on the show were the actors who played Qmir and Sol. All the other characters were unlikeable, especially the main character/characters. I love Star Wars but I definitely won’t be watching season 2. They should really make more Clone Wars content.”
While other readers didn’t quite go as in-depth as Joe — or mention the legendarily bad Star Wars Holiday Special — theirs was far from the only negative comment. Reader John left a simple “It’s awful” while reader Paul added “I know garbage when I see it. PASS.” Reader Roger might have left the “kindest” of the negative reviews, saying “It was really bad outside of a couple of episodes.”
However, we would be remiss not to point out that there were also several positive comments on the series. For example, reader Kirk wrote “Don’t listen to the haters Quincey! They can’t just enjoy a good story and further universe building. I’m right there with you, my wife and I are thoroughly enjoying it!!”
Reader Scott was also positive on the series, praising it for improving week-to-week. He wrote, “I was happy that they stuck the landing. The first two episodes were just ok, but episodes 3-8 really picked up. The finale was phenomenal.” Reader Jeremy expressed a similar sentiment, saying “It started kinda meh and then really caught its stride in the 3rd episode. I’ve been enjoying it a lot since then.”
Some are even looking forward to more, with reader Staci writing, “I liked it but it just needed to be longer to fully develop the characters more. I hope there is a season 2 so they can answer some of those questions.”
Finally, there were some readers who didn’t have strong positive or negative feelings (Believe it or not, it is possible to feel that way about Star Wars content). For example, reader Lauren’s review seemed split down the middle. They wrote, “It wasn’t bad! It introduced some interesting ideas…and then left us hanging. I’m kinda tired of shows focusing more on setting up the next season than fully forming a thought in the current one.”
Reader Bob was middling on the series as well, writing, “6/10. A lot of flaws, but certainly did not find it as bad as some “real” fans”, while reader David expressed “It was ok. There were parts I didn’t like and the acting wasn’t always good but the overall story was good and I would watch a second season if they did one. I thought it was better than Kenobi and Book of Boba Fett.”
Reader Henry arguably summed up these middling feelings very concisely, saying, “I thought it was fine. Don’t get the hate, some of the praise is strange too.”
As with pretty much every piece of Star Wars media released since Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1999, The Acolyte has met with a mixed reaction online, with many loudly proclaiming their dislike for the series, arguably growing out the voices of those who don’t feel as strongly. Stay tuned to AllEars for more Star Wars coverage.
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What did you think of The Acolyte? Let us know in the comments below.
What did people expect with Kathleen Kennedy running lucasarts. She’s always pushing her woke feminist agenda on Star wars fans. One day they will learn that people are getting really sick of this nonsense. They are only pushing a further divide by constantly promoting this stuff. But hey, you want to make it, go ahead, but people will not watch it. Have a great day 🙂
As part of a survey being conducted some time ago, I was selected to review an extended preview of The Acolyte after signing an NDA. Now that the series had aired, I believe I can state what happened. I may have been selected because I had no subscription to Disney+ and I had never heard of the series before. I came in as part of a blank slate audience.
When asked whether the series made me more likely to subscribe to Disney+, I responded that it made me far less likely. I didn’t care about the characters or most of the storyline although I found the idea of an assassin that could take out Jedi interesting. My preview emphasized the children and the threat to them. At the time, I had a two-word summary for it, Space Hogwarts. It seemed to me that the creative staff went with message first and storytelling if there was time to layer it on later.