‘The Acolyte’ Cast Talks 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 articles explaining that it was a mistake by Disney (disclaimer: I am one of those outlets). This decision both panders to a toxic “anti-woke” fanbase and also demonstrates that Disney lacks the capacity to commit to meaningful expansion outside of the increasingly stale Skywalker era.

Now, even the cast members have rallied behind The Acolyte’s cancellation, with reactions ranging from bewilderment to obvious annoyance. First up 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 coming back, he wanted the show to continue and was stunned that it wasn’t happening. Here he is speaking to EW.

“I personally really enjoyed Leslye’s writing. I thought she was a great writer and director, very good at telling stories, as well as creating characters and meaningful structures within the story. So I was really looking forward to a season 2 with her at the helm.”

“Honestly, I hope there might be some changes in the future,” Lee says. “Because you never know what’s going to happen. So, on a personal level, I really hope we get to see more of Leslye’s second season.”

He seems to believe that it’s not impossible that Disney could go back, or perhaps continue the story in a different way, but Disney has remained completely silent on the whole thing, leaving the new leak in the exchanges rather than addressing it directly.

Then there’s Rebecca Henderson who not only played Vernestra on the show, she’s also married to Leslye Headland, her showrunner.

While she hasn’t commented directly, she has posted a number of articles picking up on things like Rolling Stone’s article that Star Wars was able to survive its “worst fans” and a tweet about “which part of the Disney fanbase was listening” and how Disney should “stop caving to pressure and stand firm.”

There’s no evidence that Disney canceled The Acolyte because the show was getting bashed and bashed on YouTube. Again, the ultimate answer is probably cost/audience ratio. But there was no reason for the show to cost $180 million in the first place, and there should have been a way to get to a second season that would both resolve the plot holes and ensure that High Republic’s live-action concept didn’t go away. And the end result was… toxic fans celebrating anyway, even if they weren’t the driving force behind the cancellation. That’s still the message it sends, though, even to its own cast, whom Disney did nothing to publicly support amid the mass harassment during the show’s run.

In the coming days, we may hear from more cast members. Amandla Stenberg has already released a music video she wrote and filmed in direct response to her haters, but she has yet to say or post anything about the cancellation. Qimir actor Manny Jacinto posted the last photo of him and Stenberg holding hands with just a heart. A calm, if not deeply sad, reaction.

I don’t think it’s entirely out of the question for Disney to change course here. Stranger things have happened, and if everyone from the cast to the media to the fans is angry enough about it, they might take notice. After all, Season 2 was supposed to air a mere month ago. The toxic fans who would be angry are angry about everything all the time anyway, so who cares? It takes away a “win” at this point, and goodness knows that’s what Star Wars should be doing at this point, with this group making discussing or especially appreciating almost anything in modern Star Wars nearly impossible.

Disney is silent. They were silent during the harassment. They were silent about the cancellation. Hopefully they won’t be silent after listening to the voices that aren’t screaming and are talking about a better way forward.

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