Amandla Stenberg Breaks Their Silence on the Cancellation of ‘The Acolyte’
Just days after it was reported that The Acolyte had been canceled by Disney+, series star Amandla Stenberg (who uses she/they pronouns) broke their silence on the news.
In a lengthy video on Instagram, Stenberg admitted that they were not surprised by the decision, as the show had been a target of a “rampage of vitriol.”
“I’m going to be transparent and say that it’s not a huge shock for me. Of course I was in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who aren’t aware there’s been a rampage of vitriol that we’ve faced since the show was even announced. When it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it,” Stenberg said in a nearly 9-minute video.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“And that’s when we started experiencing a rampage of I would say hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol. Prejudice, hatred, and hateful language toward us. And this really affected me when I first got the job, because it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you.”
A “Life-Changing Experience”
Stenberg has long been open about their Star Wars fandom, and their excitement about entering a galaxy far, far away was palpable before The Acolyte premiered.
Photo: Star Wars
Despite the divisive response to The Acolyte, Stenberg had nothing but good things to say about her time in the Star Wars Universe. They called working on the show a “really beautiful, energizing, life-changing experience.”
Photo: Lucasfilm
“It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe,” they added. “Of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled.”
Stenberg Thanked the Fans
Stenberg also took time in her video to thank fans of the series for their love and support.
“I still feel a lot of levity and joy around the fact that I got to experience it, and that people loved it, and that people were so responsive. I poured through a lot of different iterations of fan art and ship art and fan theories that were just so beautiful and filled my heart with joy,” Stenberg said.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“I just want to let those people out there who supported us in that way, and supported us vocally in the face of all the vitriol we received… just that you were deeply loved and appreciated.”
Why Did Disney Cancel ‘The Acolyte’
Much of the discussion surrounding Disney’s decision to cancel The Acolyte has centered on the discourse surrounding the show and the darker aspects of Star Wars fandom.
In the end, however, despite its ambition, stunning choreography, and original characters, The Acolyte didn’t deliver a strong enough story. The ratings for the Star Wars series were, frankly, abysmal.
Between its massive budget and lackluster viewership numbers, it does not seem that Disney had all that hard of a decision to make. Hopefully, however, showrunner Leslye Headland and Stenberg will get a chance to continue the story of Mae and Osha at some point in the future. In the Star Wars universe, crazier things have happened.
Photo: EW
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