Lee Jung-jae Starring 'Acolyte' Season 2 Production Cancelled

Low Ratings Are the Cause... Continuous Decline After Release
Production Cost 239.7 Billion Won "Higher Ratings Needed"

Actor Lee Jung-jae's starring series ‘The Acolyte’ will not have a second season. On the 20th (local time), according to U.S. media outlets Deadline and Variety, Lucasfilm, a subsidiary of Disney and the producer of the ‘Star Wars’ series, recently decided not to produce an additional season.

The news came about a month after the series finished airing on the streaming platform Disney+. Deadline reported, “Although it was praised by critics, it is not surprising considering the mixed reviews from Star Wars fans were reflected in the viewership ratings.”

‘The Acolyte’ received an average score of 78 from critics on the U.S. film and drama rating site Rotten Tomatoes as of this date. However, the general audience score was only an average of 18.

Interest was high immediately after its release. It recorded 11 million views over five days, including 4.8 million on the first day. This was the highest initial viewing record on Disney+ this year.

It debuted at 7th place in the top 10 streaming charts by market research firm Nielsen during its first week. However, by the third week, it fell out of the top 10 and did not rebound. The viewing time for the final episode was 335 million minutes. Deadline reported, “It is estimated to be the lowest among the final episodes of all Star Wars series.” They also emphasized, “Producing a large-scale series with a production cost of over $100 million (approximately 133.2 billion KRW) per season requires higher viewership ratings.”

It took about four years to produce ‘The Acolyte.’ Approximately $180 million (about 239.7 billion KRW) was invested in creating eight episodes.

Variety analyzed that Master Sol, played by Lee Jung-jae, was portrayed in a more complex way compared to the perfect and noble image of the existing Jedi, which failed to garner broad support. Additionally, the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and the casting of many actors of color in major roles were cited as factors that caused backlash.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.