For fans of Qimir, Osha, and their twisted journey along the dark side of the Force, Star Wars: The Acolyte not getting renewed for a second season was disappointing enough. But now some are worried the first season might disappear from Disney+ as well after the show’s merch was removed from the online shop.
News of the erased merch, including sweaters, shirts, and other clothing with images from the show, started circulating on social media on Wednesday with fans noticing that the Disney store pages, which were still searchable in Google, now returned “page not found” when they tried to click-through. The mysterious disappearance came just a day after Disney announced Star Wars: The Acolyte wouldn’t be getting a second season, with the timing leading some fans of the embattled Jedi show to begin fearing the worst after what happened to the fantasy show Willow just last year.
Willow, a TV follow-up to the cult ‘80s fantasy movie starring Val Kilmer, debuted on Disney+ in 2022. The following March the company confirmed the show wouldn’t be getting a second season, even though one was already written. Even worse, the entire first season of the show was excised from the company’s streaming library only months later in a wave of cost-cutting measures.
Some Star Wars fans think concern over the disappeared merch is overblown. Hasbro action figures for Osha and more remain available on Amazon and other storefronts. There doesn’t ever appear to have been a whole lot of Acolyte merch on the Disney Store in the first place, with the central piece, a replica of the Stranger’s Sith-inspired helmet, selling out long ago. It’s possible the remaining Acolyte items weren’t selling well and the turnover was just a normal move after Disney decided it was no longer investing in the future of the show and its characters.
Still, the precedent set with Willow and other shows on streaming services like Max has some Acolyte stans bracing for the show to be deleted altogether. It would be especially weird if Disney tried to pretend that the events of The Acolyte weren’t canon, erasing it not just from streaming but the broader Star Wars lore as well.
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