‘The Acolyte’ Sees Audience Ratings Drop to 14%, Despite Strong Critic Reviews and Viewership

Disney’s new Star Wars project, ‘The Acolyte,’ sparked controversy even before its official premiere. Since debuting on Disney+ on June 4, 2024, with two episodes, the series has garnered high ratings and critical acclaim for its bold approach to the Star Wars universe. However, it has also faced backlash from fans online for perceived “woke” content and canon deviations, resulting in significantly low audience scores.

As of now, ‘The Acolyte’ holds a dismal audience rating of just 14%, marking it as one of the lowest-rated shows in recent memory. Despite this, the series continues to attract viewership and accolades from critics. The stark divide in reception begs the question: what exactly is causing this disparity?

As previously discussed, ‘The Acolyte’ falls somewhere in the middle ground among Star Wars series. The characters show promise, and there’s potential in the story, but significant issues persist. While the perceived “wokeness” didn’t concern us greatly, the series’ departure from canon in key scenes did. Some deviations were acceptable given the flexibility of current canon, but elements like Ki-Adi-Mundi and Force birth were harder to accept.

The root of the problem appears to be a lack of deep Star Wars immersion by the showrunners, resulting in continuity errors that must be rectified to maintain the series’ credibility. Star Wars fans expect adherence to canon, which the series seems to jeopardize. This prioritization of message over narrative integrity understandably frustrates many fans.

However, attributing this to a mere 14% positive rating seems disproportionate, considering the canon and continuity issues aren’t major enough to warrant such a low score. We would give the series a 5/10 rating for these concerns, but a 1.4/10 rating seems excessively harsh. So, what’s really going on?

The issue lies in review bombing. The show has been targeted by anti-woke critics who haven’t actually watched it, creating a false impression that fans universally despise the show, which isn’t accurate. While not universally loved, it’s not universally hated either. In our view, the series should address its narrative shortcomings and focus more on the franchise’s core elements. If there’s a message to convey, it should align with the franchise’s established canon rather than diverging from it.

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