Summary
The latest viewership data raises the difficult question of whetherThe Acolyteshould be considered a success. Triggered by Netflix, the streaming revolution has caused massive disruption to the traditional film and TV landscape. It’s even now difficult to figure out whether a streaming show should be considered a success, because the metrics are opaque and streaming services are wary of providing useful information for their competitors.
Star Warsis undoubtedly one of the most successful franchises in modern popular culture, but it also has one of the most divided fandoms. The latest TV show, Leslye Headland’sThe Acolyte, has been the subject of intense controversy; there’s been a literalbacklash againstThe Acolyte, complete with a review-bombing campaign on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and the like. That makes it all the more important to critically assess whetherThe Acolyteis aStar Warssuccess story, especially because this is the first step beyond the Skywalker saga.
Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode Guide - Cast Members, Biggest Takeaways & Easter Eggs
Here’s everything you need to follow along with Star Wars: The Acolyte, from references and trivia to main takeaways from each new episode.
The Acolyte’s Rotten Tomatoes Score Is A Really Poor Indicator
A review-bombing campaign makes Rotten Tomatoes useless
It’s common to look at Rotten Tomatoes to get a sense of how popular and well-liked a TV show really is. Unfortunately, in the case ofThe Acolyte, there’s substantial evidence of a massive review-bombing campaign that completely distorts the results. At time of writing, the show has an audience score of just 14%, with over 25,000 reviews. To give an idea,that’s more reviews than all three seasons ofThe Mandalorian, or even thanGame of Thronesseason 1 - which seems most improbable.
I tested a random sample of 30 reviews, checking for evidence of whether they were written by human beings or bots;29 of the 30 were highly likely to be AI-generated. Meanwhile, it doesn’t even take a little digging on social media to stumble across conversations between certain parts of the fandom who are determined to get the score down as low as possible. In one case, the conversation even happened in the replies to an officialStar WarsTwitter post.
The backlash is largely because the show is perceived as “woke.“The Acolyteshowrunner Leslye Headlandhas come in for heavy criticism because of a claim this was the “gayest Star Wars show ever,” which she later stated was an awkward response to a question she didn’t know how to answer. Some criticism has felt somewhat over-the-top, witha particularly absurd backlash over the age of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi(The Acolytecontradicted a non-canon CD-ROM from 1999 and a non-canon trading card from 2013). I refuse to believe anybody really cares about Ki-Adi-Mundi’s age.
The net result, though, is that it’s impossible to use Rotten Tomatoes as evidence for how well-received (or not)The Acolytereally is. Instead, the only option is to look to viewership - and that’s where things get really tricky. Streaming services carefully avoid giving concrete data, meaning it’s only possible to assess using third-party metrics.
Nielsen’s Viewership Data Gives A Mixed Picture For The Acolyte
The show is doing fairly well, but not great
Nielsen is generally seen as the most reliable source for viewership figures, and data forThe Acolytesuggests the show is doing reasonably well. Here’s how the premieres compare to other live-actionStar WarsDisney+ TV shows(data not available forThe Mandalorianseason 1):
TV show
Estimated minutes of viewing
1,032 million
823 million
513 million
414.5 million
389 million
244 million
Andor
208 million
The Acolyte’s viewership is apparently lower than any other show barAndor. Now, it’s worth stressing that doesn’t meanThe Acolyteis a failure; Lucasfilm has already commissionedAndorseason 2, proving 208 million is fine. It does, however, reinforce the sense thatStar Warsis associated with major established brands.The Mandalorianis essentially Disney+’s flagship show,Obi-Wan Kenobifeatured the return of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen, and evenAhsokawas really a live-actionStar Wars Rebelsseason 5.The Acolytelacks that pre-established draw, clearly so important forStar Wars.
But, again, is that really a problem? The simple truth is thatStar Warsneeds to keep expanding as a franchise, and it has to go beyond the established names sooner or later.The Mandalorianwill always be pretty much impossiible to match, because it literally released alongside the launch of Disney+, shooting its new characters to galactic levels of prominence.The Acolytewas never going to be the nextMandalorian; but as it stands, in spite of the backlash, it seems to be doing OK.
The Acolyte
Cast
The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes - all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.
