Amandla Stenberg wasn't too surprised that “The Acolyte” is ending its run on Disney+. The “Star Wars” star shared a statement on her Instagram Story on Wednesday reflecting on the “hyper conservative bigotry and attacks” she faced after being cast in the role.
“I’ll be honest and say it wasn’t a huge shock to me,” Stenberg begins in the video. “We had a wave of ridicule since the show was announced, when it was just an idea and no one was watching. That’s when we started seeing a wave of hyper-conservative bigotry, ridicule, bias, hatred, and hateful language toward us.”
While “The Acolyte” has been generally well-received by critics, the series has been bombarded with criticism, meaning a group of fans have formed a digital protest and posted negative reviews en masse. This practice often affects productions that feature actors of color and LGBTQ characters. The 2017 “Star Wars” film “The Last Jedi” also faced backlash from fans online upon its release.
“It really affected me when I first got the job. Because it’s not something that — even though I expected it to happen — it’s not something that you can fully understand until it happens to you,” Stenberg said. “However, I feel like I’ve been through these feelings in a variety of ways, including expressing them myself. … It became impossible for me, at a certain point, to honor my value system by expressing myself even in the context of working at Disney.”
“It was an incredible honor and a dream for me to be in this universe,” they added. “Of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled. … I just want to tell those people who supported us in such a way, and supported us so loudly — despite all the venom we received and the kind of targeted attack, as I say, we received from the alt-right — that you were deeply loved and appreciated. And that made this job worth it for me.”
The final episode of the first season of The Acolyte aired in July. The Disney+ series was said to be ending in August, with Lucasfilm opting not to continue any more episodes of the prequel that followed the Rise of the Sith, set about 100 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. In the series, Stenberg played estranged twins Osha and Mai. Although the final episode of the first season ended with a cliffhanger and remaining plot lines, the divided reception among fans and low viewership numbers didn’t seem to indicate that a second season was a guaranteed possibility.
