The Acolyte getting cancelled hot on the heels of its debut season, a first for the juggernaut Star Wars franchise, was somehow both an unexpected twist and something we all saw coming. That’s demonstrated by the reactions of two of its stars to the sad news. While Lee Jung-jae has said he was “quite surprised” to hear it had been axed, series lead Amandla Stenberg has a very different take on it.
Tragically, the biggest talking point surrounding The Acolyte wasn’t anything to do with the show’s quality, but rather all the hate it received from certain “fans,” who seemed to have a problem with its decision to have a woman of color for a protagonist (regardless of the fact this has already happened, in Ahsoka). Because of this, Stenberg — who had a dual role as Force-sensitive twins Mae and Osha — has admitted the cancellation was “not a huge shock.”
Amandla Stenberg breaks her silence on The Acolyte ending after one season
The actress broke her silence on the news by sharing a “candid” response in a series of videos posted to her Instagram stories. In these, Stenberg stated, “I’m gonna be transparent and say that it’s not a huge shock for me,” regarding The Acolyte‘s premature ending. She then named exactly what she thought had doomed it to the streaming Sarlaac Pit:
“There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced,” she said. “A rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language towards us.”
Stenberg went on to stress that she believes she has already “moved through those feelings” thanks to the previous times she has challenged the trolls head on through social media. Don’t forget, the actress once shared an original song she wrote and performed which specifically skewered the haters for their personal and racist attacks. She also explained that she felt she had to do this to “honor my value system.”
On a more positive note, Stenberg emphasized that the outside negativity did not affect her experience of making the series and of being a part of the wider Star Wars universe, nor did it impact on her appreciation for the actual Acolyte fans out there (they are out there, and they are passionate).
“It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe,” Stenberg stressed, before addressing her fans: “I just wanna let those people know out there who supported us vocally, in the face of all the vitriol that we received and the targeted attacks we received, I would say, from the alt-right, that you were deeply loved and appreciated, and it made this job all the worthwhile for me.”
When Disney struck The Acolyte down with a lightsaber earlier this month, many blasted the decision as a sign that the studio was kowtowing to the haters and elevating their level of importance. Officially, however, the swift cancellation is believed to be due to the show’s poor Nielsen Ratings performance — it only appeared in the weekly top 10 for its pilot and final episodes. Of course, how much the negativity and the review-bombing impacted the viewing figures is hard to accurately determine.
What is easy to determine is that Disney was foolish to throw away such a talented and passionate star as Amandla Stenberg in this way, as it’s hard to see how she could return in any of Lucasfilm’s (much safer, more Mandalorian-ified) upcoming projects. It’s enough to turn anyone to the dark side.