We're still waiting for the release of The Acolyte in June 2024, but showrunner Leslye Headland definitely already has plans for a potential season 2.
Since Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars, there have been a whole lot of new shows in the franchise: Andor, Ahsoka has rightfully been renewed, there are even new movies in the works. But next up is The Acolyte and even though we're still waiting for the first season to come out, showrunner Leslye Headland already talked about potential follow-up seasons.
The Acolyte will be set one hundred years before Star Wars Episode 1, right at the end of the High Republic Era. Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae from Squid Games) investigates a series of crimes, leading him to clash with Mae (Amandla Stenberg, remember Rue from The Hunger Games?).
Star Wars Acolyte: Showrunner Already Talks About Season 2
In a recent interview with Collider, Leslye Headland, The Acolyte's showrunner, shared a little bit of insight about the possible future of The Acolyte – even before the show's release. And she had some quite interesting things to say:
I would say that when I pitched it, I definitely pitched it as a multi-season show. There are a lot of things at the end of this season that I think are narrative threads that are not tied up, for sure. However, I am the type of writer that is not interested in an emotional cliffhanger.
And, in the name of everyone who enjoys ongoing shows, I need to say Thank You, Leslye. We've all had our fair share of cliffhangers that never got resolved because the show got cancelled, and I don't know how much more disappointment I can take.
She still wanted some threads in her show to keep audiences engaged, aiming for a "I wanna see where that's gonna go" and "Oh, I didn't realize that person was related to that person in this way, and I'd like to see more" type of reaction, as she put it in the interview. So, she definitely planned for more seasons if the show performs well.
Showrunner Has "A Lot Of Ideas" For More Seasons Of The Acolyte
If the show performs well, it would be very on brand for Disney to renew The Acolyte. Good thing Leslye Headland does have ideas how it could continue and doesn't need to pull some more plot threads out of... a very dark place. She does seem well prepared:
We could make [season 2] pretty quickly. We definitely have a timeline. I have a lot of ideas, and again, a lot of it was stuff that I told Kathleen (Kennedy, Acolyte producer) early on, in terms of where I would like the season to go, and the conflicts that I see happening, specifically in the second season.
For now, she wants to take a break, though – a well deserved one.
The Acolyte premieres on June 4, 2024 on Disney+.