‘The Acolyte’ Cast Speaks Out About Its Cancellation, And They’re Not Amused

Fans continue to rally to try to save The Acolyte from cancellation by Disney, which has now spread to a number of media outlets writing pieces about how this was a mistake by Disney (disclaimer: I am one of those media outlets). The move both gives in to a celebrating “anti-woke” toxic fanbase while also demonstrating Disney has no ability to commit to expanding meaningfully outside the increasingly stale Skywalker era.

Now even the cast members are chiming in about The Acolyte’s cancellation with reactions ranging from bewilderment to clear annoyance. The first is the diplomatic but confused Lee Jung-jae, one of the stars of the first season who was (spoilers) killed off in the finale. Even if he wasn’t returning, he wanted to the show to live on, and was stunned it wasn’t going to. Here he is speaking to EW.

“Personally speaking, I really loved Leslye’s writing. I thought that she was a great writer and director who was very talented in the storytelling, as well as creating characters and creating meaningful structures within the story. So I was actually personally really looking forward to watching a season 2 with her at the helm.”

“Honestly, I am hoping that maybe there could be changes in the future,” Lee says. “Because you never know what’s going to happen. So on a personal level, I really hope we could get to see further stories of Leslye’s second season.”

He seems to believe it’s not impossible that Disney could reverse it, or perhaps continue the story a different way, but Disney has been completely silent about all of this, letting the news leak out in the trades rather than addressing it directly.

Then there’s Rebecca Henderson who didn’t just play Vernestra on the show, she’s also married to Leslye Headland, its showrunner.

While she did not comment directly, she posted a number of stories clipping things like Rolling Stone’s story about Star Wars being able to survive its “worst fans” and a tweet about “which part of the fanbase Disney listened to” and how Disney should “stop caving to pressure and stand your ground.”

There is no indication that Disney cancelled The Acolyte because it was being review bombed and yelled about on YouTube. Again, the ultimate answer is likely cost versus viewership. But there was zero reason the show needed to cost $180 million in the first place, and there should have been a way to get to a second season to both resolve plotlines and ensure the concept of High Republic live-action content doesn’t die. And the end result was still…the toxic fans celebrating anyway, even if they weren’t the driving force behind the cancellation. That’s still the message it sends, however, even to its own cast which Disney did nothing to publicly support in the midst of mass harassment as the show aired.

In the coming days we may hear from more cast members. Amandla Stenberg previously posted a music video she wrote and filmed as a direct response to her “haters,” but she hasn’t said or posted anything about the cancellation yet. Qimir actor Manny Jacinto posted the final shot of him and Stenberg holding hands with just a heart. A calm, if not deeply sad reaction.

I do not think it’s entirely impossible Disney reverses course here. Stranger things have happened, and if everyone from actors to media to fans are angry enough about this, they may take notice. After all season 2 was supposed to be spooling up as recently as a month ago. The toxic set of fans that would be upset are angry about everything all the time anyway, so who cares about them. This takes away a “win” there, and lord knows that’s what Star Wars should be doing at this point which this group that makes discussion or especially appreciation about nearly anything in modern Star Wars almost impossible.

Disney is silent. They were silent during the harassment. They’ve been silent about the cancellation. Hopefully they won’t stay silent after listening to the non-screaming voices about a better way forward here.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.