Amandla Stenberg isn’t too surprised that “The Acolyte” has come to an end on Disney+. The protagonist of the ‘Star Wars’ series shared a statement about her Instagram story Wednesday reflecting on the “disaster of hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol” they faced after being cast.
“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock to me,” Stenberg begins in the video. “There’s been an outpouring of vitriol that we’ve been dealing with since the show was even announced, when it was just a concept and no one had even seen it. Then we started to experience an outburst of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language against us.”
Although ‘The Acolyte’ received generally favorable reviews from critics, the series was review bombed, meaning a group of fans formed a digital protest and posted negative reviews en masse. This practice often impacts productions that feature actors of color and LGBTQ characters. The 2017 “Star Wars” film “The Last Jedi” also faced extreme backlash from online fans upon its release.
“This really influenced me when I first got the job. Because it’s just not something — even though I expected it to happen — it’s not something that you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you,” Stenberg said. “However, I feel like I have worked through those feelings in several ways, including talking about them myself. … It just became indisputable to me at a certain point that in order to remain myself, I would have to honor my value system by making my voice heard even in the context of my work for Disney.”
“It was an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe,” she added. “Of course I am very sorry that the show is cancelled. …I just want to let those people know who have supported us in that way, and supported us vocally – despite and in spite of all the vitriol that we’ve received and the kind of targeted attack, I would say, that we’ve received from the alt-right – just that you were deeply loved and appreciated. And it made this job worth it for me.”
“The Acolyte” aired its season finale in July. It was reported that the Disney+ series was coming to an end in August, with Lucasfilm opting not to continue with more episodes of the prequel that followed the rise of the Sith, approximately 100 years before the events of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace .” In the series, Stenberg played separated twins Osha and Mae. Although the season 1 finale ended on a cliffhanger and lingering storylines, the divided reception among fans and declining ratings did not seem to imply that a second season was a guaranteed prospect.