Amandla Stenberg Isn’t Surprised by ‘The Acolyte’ Cancellation After Trolls

The Acolyte, a series that sparked significant anticipation upon its release on Disney+, has now been canceled. The show, known for its diverse cast and fresh narrative space within the Star Wars universe, faced a challenging reception from certain audiences, leading to substantial review-bombing efforts. This backlash has prompted reactions from the show’s stars.

Amandla Stenberg, portraying the Jedi twins Osha and Mae, took to Instagram to address the unexpected, albeit not entirely surprising, cancellation. “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,” she shared candidly in her Instagram stories.

Stenberg began by expressing gratitude towards the show’s supporters. “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,” she said. Despite the overwhelming support from fans, the online negativity was hard to overlook.

She elaborated on the nature of the backlash, describing it as “hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudiced hatred, and hateful language towards us.” Stenberg admitted that the hostility affected her significantly when she first got the role. “Even though I anticipated it happening, it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it happens to you,” she added. Known for her breakout role in The Hunger Games, Stenberg chose to persevere despite the negativity.

Discussing her motivation to continue, she reflected, “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. 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 with the cancellation, which came despite an open-ended finale and planned second season, Stenberg does not view the journey as a failure. She conveyed heartfelt thanks to the supporters. “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.”

Stenberg retains hope for the future, humorously suggesting that maybe in a decade, the show could resurface on Netflix and attract a new audience, potentially even becoming subject to a reboot. Stranger things have happened.

Source: Deadline