Disney is pulling the plug on its controversial Star Wars prequel series “The Acolyte” in a major setback for the entertainment giant’s streaming strategy. The series had come under heavy criticism from notoriously demanding Star Wars fans for what they deemed to be woke messaging and virtue-signaling.

According to Deadline, Lucasfilm is choosing not to move ahead with a second season after its first season on Disney+, which cost an estimated $180 million to make, saw its ratings drop sharply with each consecutive episode. 

Disney paid $4 billion in 2012 to acquire Lucasfilm, which gave it ownership of the Star Wars franchise. In a presentation to investors, Disney recently said it has brought in roughly $12 billion in revenue from Lucasfilm since the acquisition, but its stewardship of the cherished brand has been rockier than that of the other two major franchises it bought in recent decades, Marvel and Pixar.

Since acquiring Star Wars, Disney has released five films which, in toto, made huge profits but alienated many fans who felt they did not live up to the standards of the original trilogy, and who objected to a new commitment to inclusiveness that was criticized as heavy-handed. Stunned by the backlash, Disney hasn’t released a new Star Wars movie since 2019, and the franchise has been exclusively for television on Disney+, where it’s a key player in Disney’s all-important streaming strategy. 

“The Mandalorian,” Disney’s most successful franchise show, has been renewed for a fourth season and has been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show gets a 90 percent rating from critics and a 78 percent audience score. “Andor,” a more sophisticated series geared toward adults, got rave reviews but low ratings. The other Star Wars series have received a mixed reception.

“The Acolyte” is the most controversial entry into the canon yet. A mystery thriller, it takes place decades before the formation of the Empire and the original movies that sparked the franchise. Despite its eye-popping budget for the first season, which equates to roughly $23 million per episode – more than the amount spent per episode in the final season of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” – the show has been panned by fans.

On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a relatively healthy 78 percent rating from critics but a dismal 18 percent audience score, partly due to so-called review bombing, when aggrieved fans specifically target crowd-based ratings services. 

The show faced intense criticism that it was too “woke.” Showrunner Leslye Headland, who is openly gay, observed during an interview with The Wrap in June that “The Acolyte” is the “gayest Star Wars” show. She also asserted, in a comment that horrified fans, that R2-D2 is a lesbian.

However, it was not merely talk about the show by its creator that sparked outrage. Critics claimed Disney has drifted from focusing on producing entertaining content to trying to satisfy “diversity quotas” in the series. 

The show featured several actors who identify as LGBTQ+, such as Ms. Headland’s wife, Rebecca Henderson, who plays a scowling Jedi. The leading star, Amandla Stenberg, identifies as nonbinary and gay. Also featuring in “The Acolyte” is the franchise’s first trans actress, Abigail Thorn, who plays a key member of an a coven (the series uses that word) of women with mystical powers that the series’ critics assailed as “lesbian space witches.”

The coven plot line dominated two of the six episodes and was criticized for its improbable storyline (the witches were all killed in a fire that seemed easy to escape) and bad acting by Jodie Turner-Smith, who some fans were already angry at for divorcing “Dawson’s Creek” star Joshua Jackson.

Ms. Headland also came under criticism, some of which was mean-spirited, for casting her wife as a widely disliked character with green skin and a bald head.

The show’s premiere in June appeared promising as it generated 4.8 million views on its first day and set the record for the biggest premiere ever on Disney+. Within five days, it had received 11.1 million views, and it landed on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart in its first week.

Yet, amid criticism from conservative commentators and the passionate “Star Wars” base, the show’s viewership dropped off steadily until the season finale.

The decision not to make another season of “The Acolyte” makes the series the latest flop in Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s tenure. During her time in that role, she has been accused of excessingly infusing the franchise with “woke” content, as the same time as being overly cautious in employing over the hill directors such as JJ Abrams and Ron Howard, hiring Ron Howard’s daughter to direct an episode of “The Mandalorian” that was considered the weakest in Season One, and inserting a lesbian kiss into the despised “Rise of Skywalker” film.

  
Ms. Kennedy, who’s worked with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg for more than 30 years, has also been blamed for chaos in the production process. And it was under her leadership at Lucasfilm that the first “Star Wars” movie was released that failed to turn a profit. That film, “Solo”, suffered from a messy production process in which its directors were fired and replaced by Mr. Howard.

For many years, Ms. Kennedy has been ridiculed by the characters of the show “South Park.”