Star Wars: The Acolyte Has Disney+’s Biggest Launch of 2024

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte were released on Disney+ earlier this week, and the show is currently “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. It seems audiences were eager for more Star Wars content because the show is off to a very strong start. According to Variety, the new series had the streamer’s biggest launch of 2024 so far. 

Within its first day of being online, The Acolyte reached 4.8 million views. Variety explains that “a ‘view’ is calculated by dividing the number of hours each title is watched by its runtiame.” Disney tends to release different data for each series. For compairson, Disney previoisly reported that it took five days for Star Wars: Ahsoka reach 14 million views, but their first day tally was not shared. It will be interestting to see how the two shows compare in a few days, but Disney releasing the numbers this quickly bodes well for The Acolyte.

Welcome to the Yord Horde:

After the show’s release, Star Wars fans instantly fell in love with Yord Fandar, the Jedi played by Russian Doll‘s Charlie Barnett. Fans of the character have dubbed themselves the “Yord Horde” and have been sharing some hilarious posts online. During Star Wars Celebration in London last year, Barnett had a chat with Collider and teased his character, and talked about working with the show’s creator, Leslye Headland. 

“I am a Jedi Knight, and I’ve got some really cool hair. I can tell you that.” Barnett joked without revealing much else about his Star Wars role. “Leslye is an incredible writer, first and foremost, and the entire team. She’s a playwright so she is invested in the story. I think what’s most exciting for me, and exciting about working on this, is that through the language, through the development of these characters, you realize that bad and good is at the eyes of the beholder. You know, things are so multilayered and complicated, and it takes a really talented person to write a person that you can see from all of those angles.”

“It’s a comment on policing, honestly, in my mind, which is why it’s so exciting,” he added. “We’re at a point where we’re at our highest, and power can be a difficult thing.” 

What Is The Acolyte About?

Set during The High Republic, Star Wars: The Acolyte delivers an investigation into a mysterious string of crimes, which pits a Jedi master against his former apprentice in a race to uncover the truth. The more that the pair learn about the situation, the darker their journey becomes, as they confront things that darker than either of them could have imagined.

The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss.

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+ with the third episode scheduled to drop on Tuesday, June 11th.