The cast of “The Acolyte” speaks out about the cancellation and is not amused

Fans continue to campaign for The Acolyte not to be cancelled by Disney, and this has now spread to multiple media outlets writing articles about how this was a mistake on Disney’s part (disclaimer: I am one of those media outlets). The move is both a concession to a partying, “anti-woke” toxic fanbase and proof of Disney’s inability to commit to any meaningful expansion outside of the increasingly stale Skywalker era.

Now even the cast are speaking out about The Acolyte’s cancellation, and their reactions range from confusion to downright annoyance. First up is the diplomatic but confused Lee Jung-jae, one of the stars of season one who was (spoiler alert!) killed off in the finale. Even though he didn’t return, he wanted the series to live on and was baffled that it didn’t. Here he speaks to EW.

“Personally, I really enjoyed Leslye’s writing style. I thought she was a great writer and director who was very talented at telling stories, creating characters and creating meaningful structures within the story. So personally, I was really looking forward to seeing a second season with her at the helm.”

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

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

And then there is Rebecca Henderson, who not only played the role of Vernestra in the series, but is also married to the series’ showrunner, Leslye Headland.

While she did not comment directly, she posted a series of articles, including a Rolling Stone story about Star Wars outliving its “worst fans” and a tweet about “which part of the fanbase Disney listened to” and that Disney should “stop caving to pressure and make its point.”

There’s no indication that Disney canceled The Acolyte because of reviews and rants on YouTube. Again, the ultimate answer is probably cost versus viewership. But there was no reason at all why the show had to cost $180 million, and there should have been a way to make a second season to both resolve storylines and ensure the concept of High Republic live-action content didn’t die. And the end result was still… the toxic fans celebrated anyway, even if they weren’t the driving force behind the cancellation. That’s still the message the show sends, though, even to its own cast, who didn’t publicly support Disney amid the mass harassment during the show’s airing.

We may hear from more cast members in the coming days. Amandla Stenberg previously posted a music video that 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, albeit deeply sad, response.

I don’t think it’s entirely impossible for Disney to change course here. Stranger things have happened, and if everyone from the actors to the media to the fans are upset enough about it, maybe they’ll take notice. After all, Season 2 was only supposed to premiere a month ago. The toxic group of fans that would be upset are upset about everything all the time anyway, so who cares. That takes away a “win” and god knows that’s what Star Wars should be doing at this point where that group is making discussion, or especially appreciation, about almost anything in modern Star Wars nearly impossible.

Disney is silent. They were silent during the harassment. They were silent on hiring, too. Hopefully they won’t continue to be silent after listening to the non-screaming voices demanding a better way forward.

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