Amandla Stenberg took to Instagram last night to share her thoughts on the cancellation of the recent Star Wars series, The Acolyte , in which she starred as Osha Aniseya / Mae Aniseya.
Stenberg said she wanted to "speak candidly" about the issue, speaking in detail for ten minutes about her thoughts on the show coming to a close, discussing her experience of being on the receiving end of the "vitriol, prejudice, hatred and hateful language" used towards herself and the cast which they had "faced since the show was even announced."
"This really affected me when I first got the job 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," Stenberg said.
Stenberg was vocal about this while the show was airing, citing the reason for that being that "it just became inarguable for me, that – in order to continue to be myself – I would have to honour my value system by being vocal within the context of working for Disney and working within the large massive IP that is Star Wars ."
She went on to say, "It has been an incredible honour and dream for [her] to be in this universe" and that "even though, of course, I'm sad about the show being cancelled and I'm sad about us not being able to give the people who were invested in it more" she "still just [feels] a lot of levity and joy around the fact that [she] got to experience it, and that people loved it, and that people were so responsive."
Despite how loud the hatred was, many loved the show, and Stenberg said, "I just want to let those people know out there who supported us in that way, and supported us vocally despite and in the face of all the vitriol that we received and the targeted attack — I would say — by the alt-right just that you were deeply loved and appreciated and it made this job all the worthwhile for me and it made all the challenging elements of it completely worthwhile for me."
Stenberg also thanked LucasFilm for "being a f*****g awesome team", saying that "they were so wonderful to work with", particularly producer Rayne Roberts, who Stenberg said, "had such a vision and hope and such a mission for what we were going to continue bringing into the sci-fi universe, and into the Star Wars universe."
The star went on to speak about how "it's not lost on [her] how the way that these events have unfolded is also due to the hyper-divisiveness of the time that we live in, that is driven — [she] would say at this point — by echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases."
The Acolyte 's showrunner also hit back at claims Star Wars went 'woke' in May before the show aired, saying, "Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech I don't consider a fan."
Stenberg closed her statement on Instagram with a poignant remark: "I would challenge us all — and challenge myself — to continue questioning what it is that I digest and think critically about what shapes it. Let's vote y'all. Let's vote. Let's vote. I think that's all I have to say."
The Acolyte ran for one season throughout June and July and has not been renewed for a second season.
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