Amandla Stenberg 'not shocked' by Acolyte firing over Star Wars fans | TV & Radio

Amandla Stenberg, who plays twin sisters Osha and Mae in The Acolyte, has spoken out about the cancellation of the Disney+ series. After Lucasfilm decided not to produce a second season of the Star Wars spinoff, the actress admitted she was “not shocked.”

Amandla has since addressed what she described as a “wave of vitriol” from fans of the Star Wars franchise, who are known for being very outspoken online. After the show was announced to be canceled before it even got a second season earlier this month, the actress addressed the situation on her Instagram Story.

On Wednesday, she told her 2.3 million followers: “There’s a lot of people that I want to acknowledge and show my appreciation and love and support for, which is why I’m coming here to talk about this, which is that our Star Wars series has been canceled.

“And I’m going to be transparent and say that this isn’t a huge shock to me,” she added. “Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who don’t know, we’ve been dealing with a wave of vitriol since the show was announced, when it was still just a concept and no one had seen it.”

She went on to condemn what she called attacks of “hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice-based hatred and hateful language” directed at the show’s cast. Other actors set to appear in the series include Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen and Rebecca Henderson.

Amandla continued: “It really hit me when I got this job. Even though I expected it to happen, it’s not something you can fully understand how it feels until it happens to you.

“However, I feel like I have overcome these feelings in various ways, including expressing it myself.

“For me, it became a situation where I had no choice but to honor my ethics, my belief system and my value system while being in this very particular position.”

Amandla even released a song, titled Discourse, in June in response to the “intolerable racism” she had received on social media.

On a more positive note, she added: “(I’ve had to) honor my value system in speaking out, even in the context of my work for Disney and my work within the big, massive intellectual property that is Star Wars.

“On that note, I just have to say that it has been an incredible honor and a dream come true for me to be in this universe.

“Even though, of course, I’m very sad that the show was canceled and that we can’t offer more to the people who invested in it, I still feel a lot of lightness and joy around the fact that I got to experience it and that people loved it and were so receptive.”

The synopsis for The Acolyte reads: “An investigation into a series of shocking crimes pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past.

“As new clues emerge, they embark on a dark path where sinister forces reveal that all is not as it seems…”

The Acolyte is available to stream now on Disney Plus.