Disney has revealed that its controversial ‘Star Wars’ show “The Acolyte” came in "over the production budget" with its costs hitting $230M (via Forbes). That’s $50M more than the ‘Dune 2’ budget.
You can bet that if “The Acolyte” was any good, or had higher viewership numbers, then Disney would have never pulled the plug on it. It’s as simple as that. Fact was that “The Acolyte” was not as popular as “Andor” (which cost $250M) and it certainly didn’t come anywhere near numbers for “The Mandaloarian”.
Ever since its cancelation, we still haven’t heard from ‘Acolyte’ showrunner Leslye Headland. She claimed to be a “Star Wars” super fan, but that wasn’t enough of a reason for people to watch the show she created. The first episode had high numbers, but viewership kept freefalling as the season went along. The series disappeared from the Nielsen’s charts after its third episode.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.