The Acolyte's Eye-Watering $230 Million Budget Revealed, Further Explaining Disney's Cancelation

By Thomas Bacon

Published Sep 27, 2024

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Tax returns reveal that Disney ultimately canceled The Acolyte season 2.

New tax filings, unearthed by That Park Place, offer new insight into The Acolyte's cancelation. According to tax documents filed by the Walt Disney Company’s UK branch, Lucasfilm spent £172 million ($231 million) on the show, meaning the budget ballooned to an eye-watering $28.75 million per episode. This comes in significantly over-budget, given previous comments that had seemed to indicate it cost $180 million - making it the most expensive Star Wars TV show to date.

What The Acolyte's Budget Means For The Future Of Star Wars

Did The Acolyte ever really have a chance?

The Acolyte's viewership just wasn't good enough given those costs. Here's how The Acolyte compared even to other Star Wars shows.

Star Wars TV shows by reported budget
Obi-Wan Kenobi	$90 million
Ahsoka	$100 million
The Book of Boba Fett	$105 million
The Mandalorian	$120 million
Skeleton Crew	$136 million
The Acolyte	$231 million
Andor	$250 million

It's unclear quite why The Acolyte was so over-budget, but this certainly explains why Lucasfilm invested heavily in tie-ins and merchandise. While all attention is on viewership, merchandise is probably Star Wars' biggest source of income, so Disney is using merch to make up for the costs. At the very least, this likely means The Acolyte tie-in novels are safe. Some lovers of The Acolyte had been deeply concerned.

Lucasfilm Really Do Need To Relearn George Lucas' Most Important Lesson

George Lucas excelled at keeping costs under control

The streaming era has had a massive effect on TV show budgets, and it frankly doesn't feel sustainable. Budgets have gone through the roof, episode counts have dropped, and seasons release with years in between rather than annually. Star Wars in particular needs to relearn a simple lesson from George Lucas; he excelled at keeping the costs under control, meaning even the more expensive prequels were a tremendous return of investment.

George Lucas, edited in front of The Acolyte posters of Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Mae (Amandla Stenberg), and Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss)

The Acolyte Failed Because Star Wars Forgot George Lucas' Most Important Lesson

Lucasfilm and Disney have canceled The Acolyte after just one season, and the decision points to a major failure to learn from George Lucas himself.

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Lucasfilm is reportedly reducing its number of live-action TV shows, turning a lot of attention back toward the big screen. This is probably a good idea, because the kind of budgets seen by The Acolyte should really be reserved for theatrical releases. It is to be hoped Lucasfilm learns a lot from whatever went wrong with The Acolyte, resulting in these high costs.

Source: That Park Place