LucasfilmIt feels silly to mourn the loss of a TV show, particularly one that was only in our lives for a short time. But it’s hard not to think of The Acolyte without feeling a twist in my gut. Lucasfilm’s innovative, ill-fated series premiered one year ago today, opening the door to a new corner of the Star Wars galaxy. Before the Acolyte, the saga was treading water: sure, Andor’s first season had presented the novelty and prestige that had long evaded the franchise. Besides that offering, however, Star Wars felt creatively stagnant. Spinoffs like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett largely failed to justify their existence, and though Ahsoka endeavored to expand the galaxy in a new direction, it felt more like a proof of concept — or worse, an exercise in nostalgia — than the dawn of a new era.One thing seemed clear after so many hits and misses: Star Wars needed fresh blood, and a new perspective that wasn’t so reliant on the Original Trilogy. Showrunner Leslye Headland stepped up when the franchise needed her most, turning our focus to an underexplored but steadily growing era in Star Wars history. The Acolyte was the first live-action series set in the age of the High Republic, and that alone gave the franchise the breath of fresh air it’d long needed. With an unforgettable cast of characters, an intriguing mystery fueling its premise, and Headland at the helm, The Acolyte had the power to deliver Star Wars TV out of the dark ages. If only it’d been given the chance.While The Acolyte wasn’t a totally perfect series, it does deserve its props for bringing a new brand of conflict to the Star Wars saga. From the very beginning, the franchise has told the same tale of good vs. evil: the players change, but the conflict has always been the same. The Acolyte was one of the first that had the guts to flip the script on the Jedi Order, depicting the stalwart warriors as flawed individuals moving in a suppressive institution. Jedi like Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson), Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), and Sol (Lee Jung-jae) still serve Light and Life, but each had made major mistakes in their efforts to uphold their creed.In the last days of the High Republic, the Jedi’s bad karma manifests in the form of Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg). As a child, her family was slaughtered in a mysterious accident, and for one reason or another, she blames the Jedi for the tragedy. Now a hardened warrior with a proto-Sith master, Mae launches into her quest for revenge. The demise of Master Indara immediately puts the Order on alert, and while Mae slinks in the shadows, her twin sister Osha — a former Jedi padawan herself — is tapped as the prime suspect in Indara’s murder case.The Acolyte had its flaws, but it deserved the chance to iron out its kinks. | LucasfilmThe Acolyte is part-murder mystery, part-revenge thriller, with a clear reverence for sweeping, tragic wuxia films and Star Wars’ unexplored lore. Osha reteams with Sol, her old Jedi master, to help clear her name, while Mae and her master take out Jedi one by one. The Acolyte certainly doesn’t pull its punches on the action front: each combat sequence harkens back to the pulse-pounding duels that defined the Star Wars prequels. Each of our players has something to fight for, turning a classic conflict into one rife with emotional stakes and difficult choices. Through Osha’s push-and-pull with Mae, The Acolyte interrogates the virtues and vices of the Jedi Order — and by examining the franchise’s constant protagonists in a more critical light, the series also challenges the hero worship that’s long defined the fandom.Of course, that choice didn’t go over well with every Star Wars fan, but The Acolyte faced backlash long before its divisive premise even saw the light of day. Like a handful of Star Wars projects, the series was the target of “anti-woke” hostility from the very beginning. The negative reaction to the show only grew as it premiered in 2024, making it difficult to engage with its subject matter in good faith. It remains one of the most-watched Star Wars shows on Disney+, but that wasn’t enough to save it from the chopping block. Disney officially canceled The Acolyte just a few months after its final season wrapped, citing low viewership and an unsustainable budget as the primary culprits. Despite the franchise’s checkered history on the small screen, it’s the only Star Wars series to be canceled on Disney+. It’s also one of the few that deserved to continue its journey.One year later, The Acolyte’s ultimate fate still stings. Again, the series had its flaws, but its originality and confidence outweighed any narrative imbalances. The Acolyte brought something brand new to the saga, and it was clear Headland had big plans for future seasons. The introduction of legacy characters like Master Yoda and Darth Plagueis raised the stakes for an intimate, complex narrative, and though this story can continue in other mediums, it’s a shame we won’t see it play out in live-action.The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+.