The Acolyte gained a hefty amount of buzz before it even landed on Disney+ earlier this year. The show had the most diverse cast of any Star Wars story and also aimed to bring younger viewers to a new part of the galaxy. But the series was seriously review-bombed by audiences who were less open to the newbies, and now that the series is cancelled, the stars are speaking out.
Amandla Stenberg, who plays Jedi twins Osha and Mae in the series, took to Instagram to address the cancellation, which didn’t surprise her. “I’m gonna be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me. For those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was announced,” the actress said in a series of candid Instagram stories.
Stenberg started out by thanking the fans for their support, “I don’t use social media very much anymore. But there are many folks out there that I want to acknowledge and I want to show appreciation and love and support for. So that’s why I’m hopping on here.” Despite the support from fans of the show, backlash from online trolls and haters was hard to ignore.
“We started experiencing a rampage of, I would say hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred, and hateful language towards us,” Stenberg explained. “This really affected me when I first got the job, because even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you.” Stenberg, who is no stranger to fandoms after their breakout role in The Hunger Games, decided to keep going despite the negativity.
“I had this very unique experience of experiencing the world at large, which is super divisive right now, through the lens of this unique opportunity of being in Star Wars,” she said of her decision to continue the show despite the initial casting backlash. “It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Of course I’m sad about the show being cancelled, I still feel a lot of joy that I got to experience it and that people loved it and people were so responsive.”
Even though the series was cancelled (despite an open-ended finale and a planned season two arc) Stenberg doesn’t see the experience as a failure. “I just want to let people know who supported us in that way, despite all the vitriol we received and the targeted attacks…just that you are deeply loved and appreciated, it made this job all the worthwhile for me.”
Maybe, if we’re lucky, in 10 years the show will land on Netflix and get a whole new generation hooked enough to warrant a reboot. It has happened before!
(Via Deadline)