The cancellation of “Star Wars: The Acolyte” genuinely seems to have been a surprise to quite a few people, among them the show’s male lead Lee Jung-jae.
However one person who wasn’t shocked was its female lead – Amandla Stenberg who played twins Mae and Osha. In a new video posting on Instagram, the actress has finally spoken about the “Star Wars” show’s official axing.
She says the extreme vitriol from some of the “Star Wars” fandom that has surrounded the project right from the time it was announced meant she knew going in, all involved would face an uphill battle.
In the video posting done today, she says:
“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me. There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced… a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language towards us.
This really affected me when I first got the job. Because it’s just not something – even though I anticipated it happening – it’s not something you can fully understand what it feels like until it’s happening to you. However, I feel like I’ve kind of moved through those feelings in various ways, including being vocal about it myself.
…It just became inarguable for me, at a certain point, that in order to continue to be myself, I would have to honor my value system by being vocal even in the context of working for Disney.
It has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled.… I just want to let those people know out there who supported us in that way, and supported us vocally – despite and in the face of all of the vitriol that we received and the kind of the targeted attack, I would say, we received by the alt-right – just that you were deeply loved and appreciated. And it made this job all the worthwhile for me.”
“The Acolyte” wrapped in July with news the other week being Lucasfilm officially cancelling the project, despite rumors of the show having begun early development work on a second season.
Though the fandom was divided on the show, declining viewership numbers over the course of the season has been cited as the reason Disney opted not to continue.
Source: Instagram