'The Acolyte's Amandla Stenberg Got Thrown to the Wolves

By Mike Redmond | TV | August 29, 2024 |

By Mike Redmond | TV | August 29, 2024 |

After news broke last week that The Acolyte has been canceled, fans of the Star Wars series have been dismayed at what that decision means not just for the characters they’ve come to love but the future of the franchise. For a moment, Leslye Headland delivered a fresh and exciting tale that was clearly a love letter to Star Wars, and now, we’re left staring at a very boring landscape because that love letter dared to have minorities and lesbian space witches. Can’t have that in our robots and laser swords show!

“Well, actually, the numbers…” I will get to that. Hold your horses.

The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg has finally broken her silence on the cancellation, and she was not surprised one bit. As John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Moses Ingram know all too well, Stenberg was tossed into a sea of hate from toxic Star Wars fans before she even stepped foot on set. While Lucasfilm stepped up for Ingram heading into Obi-Wan Kenobi, including a video from Ewan McGregor denouncing racist fans, that, uh… that did not happen for The Acolyte.

“I’m going to be transparent and say it’s not a huge shock for me,” Stenberg said in an Instagram Story via Variety. “There has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing 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,” she continued. “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.”

Of course, Stenberg powered through like a pro, which was on display as she thanked The Acolyte fans and praised Leslye Headland for the experience. It was a bittersweet message as Stenberg truly loved playing Osha and Mae, but also, goddamn, what a world of sh*t.

Amandla Stenberg speaks on #TheAcolyte getting canceled

“It’s not a huge shock for me [that it was canceled]. Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality but for those who aren’t aware there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even… pic.twitter.com/sk7U8GFq7U

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) August 28, 2024

If you actually read my coverage of The Acolyte cancellation and didn’t just skim the headline, I noted that the numbers were not there. Not long after the finale, Dustin even wrote a whole post about the chances of Season 2 that hinged entirely on the viewership looking grim. We are not disputing the fundamentals here: The Acolyte was expensive and not enough people watched it. That’s show business.

That said, there’s been very little attention paid to how the toxic backlash could have easily depressed viewership. If you’re online — which you are if you’re reading this — and have interacted with anything related to The Acolyte, an algorithm has no doubt buffeted you with social media posts and/or YouTube recommendations all shrieking about how the show is killing Star Wars, it’s the worst Star Wars ever, etc. Christ, I wrote positive reviews about the show, and my feeds were still a crime scene. That’s going to discourage people from watching. Although, a trail of dreck probably didn’t help either. Looking at you, Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan, Mando Season 3, Ahsoka… My God, what are they doing over there?

Well, I’ll tell you what Lucasfilm isn’t doing. Backing up their creatives when it matters most. Here’s the nitty-gritty: Andor, which is an absolute masterpiece, did not have stellar numbers and cost more than The Acolyte. I’m even old enough to remember that Star Wars fans called Andor “boring.” However, it had a second season baked in from the jump. The Acolyte did not have that courtesy, and it was forced to sink or swim as everyone ignored that the water was full of Nazi sharks that hate women.

From Mitu Khandaker’s excellent Aftermath piece on The Acolyte’s cancellation that I highly recommend giving a read:

We’re now in an era in which there is a worrying tide of pushback against inclusion, from affirmative action in college admissions to corporations abolishing DEI. That so many of the diversity initiatives and supposed financial commitments that were set up in the wake of George Floyd were reversed speaks to this too, when it turned out that the work required was harder and more complex than they’d bargained for. The capitalist incentive for companies to pursue diverse representation has been well laid out many times: to expand a total addressable audience, bringing in new and untapped audiences that can look better for the bottom line. Yet for many executives and investors, if these new audiences don’t materialize immediately in the face of systemic bias, these offerings seem quick to be dropped.

There’s a reason why actual TV critics have been lamenting the cancellation of The Acolyte. It finally pushed the franchise in a new direction by speaking directly and authentically to female fans for the first time. It wasn’t perfect, but it did something different and there was an electricity around it thanks to The Acolyte having actual stakes and some much-needed nuance. In fact, in a move that was blasted by dorks, Leslye Headland hired a writer who knew nothing about Star Wars, which was smart!

If this property isn’t going to go away for a while — and I’m not opposed to that argument — it needs to give new perspectives a chance to grow instead of retreating to the same rote pew-pew-pew bullsh*t every time some nerds get scared of cooties or put on a Klan hood. There’s a reason The Mandalorian ran out of steam in Season 3, and Ahsoka fell flat. They were boring white bread sandwiches for boring white bread people.

(Via Variety)