Star Wars: The Acolyte Is Having A Resurgence Two Years After Being Cancelled

The Star Wars series The Acolyte is enjoying an unexpected resurgence, almost two years after Disney made the decision not to renew the show.

In 2024, The Acolyte premiered on the streaming platform Disney+, starring Amandla Stenberg as twin sisters Osha and Mae, leading a cast that also included the likes of Manny Jacincto, Jodie Turner-Smith and Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae.

Regrettably, the show’s diverse casting was met with a backlash from more narrow-minded, far-right members of the Star Wars fandom, resulting in it being “review bombed”.

Eventually, it was cancelled by Disney after one season.

However, fans have spotted in recent days that it has been enjoying an impromptu renaissance in recent history, to the point it’s made its way into Disney+’s list of most-watched shows right now.

In the summer of 2024, Amandla had some thoughts to get off their chest about the show’s cancellation, lamenting the “rampage of vitriol”, “hyper-conservative bigotry” and “prejudiced hatred and hateful language” levelled against them and their co-stars.

While Amandla said they feel “very sad about the show being cancelled”, they also insisted it had been “an honour” to be part of the Star Wars universe, particularly as a long-time sci-fi fan, and praised fans of The Acolyte who did their best to support for the show.

Months later, Amandla’s co-star Jodie Turner-Smith admitted she was not impressed with the way Disney handled the conservative backlash against The Acolyte.

“They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting fucking dog-piled on the internet with racism and bullshit,” Jodie said. “It’s just not fair to not say anything. It’s really unfair.”

Her comments were similar to quotes from Star Wars actor John Boyega, who has also been critical of Disney since his time playing Finn in the reboot trilogy came to an end.

The Acolyte is available to stream on Disney+ now.