The Acolyte: Disney Entertainment Co-Chair Explains Cancellation Call

Posted in: Disney+, Movies, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: star wars, The Acolyte

Disney Entertainment co-Chair Alan Bergman on why Leslye Headland’s Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae-starring The Acolyte was cancelled.

Four months after the word came down that Leslye Headland‘s Amandla Stenberg & Lee Jung-jae-starring The Acolyte would not be returning for a second season, Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, co-chairs of Disney Entertainment, are offering “The Mouse’s” perspective on why a second season didn’t happen. The series got off to a strong two-episode debut, with 11.1 million global views over the course of its first five days – going on to debut on Nielsen’s Top 10 originals chart with its premiere week at No. 7 (488 million minutes viewed), rising to No. 7 the following week. As the season went on, the streaming series would drop out of Nielsen’s Top 10 with the third episode – only returning to the chart with the finale.

It should also be noted that The Acolyte, its cast, and its creative team also faced the uphill battle of trying to win over a certain percentage of fans who attacked the series and those associated with it on social media for its efforts at diversity and representation and review-bombed episode during the show’s run. Stenberg and others called out the harassment that they received leading into and during the season – with Jodie Turner-Smith (Mother Aniseya) calling out Disney for not doing more to protect Stenberg.

Speaking with Vulture for a profile interview about him and Walden and Disney’s changing approach to streaming and theatrical, Bergman credited the series with doing well but not well enough for Disney to be able to afford a second season. “So, as it relates to Acolyte, we were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that,” Bergman explained.

Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte”. Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney+

The Acolyte Ending “Not a Huge Shock”: Stenberg on Experiencing Hate

Back in August, we got a chance to hear from the show’s major player – Stenberg, who made it clear that they weren’t surprised by the news because of the hate that they knew they personally – and the show overall – would face for daring to offer something different, with a cast the represents the diversity of the “Star Wars” fandom. “It’s not a huge shock for me. Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept, no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language toward us,” Stenberg shared during an Instagram Stories video addressing the show’s cancellation. “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.” Here’s a look at what Stemberg had to share:

THE ACOLYTE (Image: Instagram Stories; Lucasfilm/Disney) the acolyte the acolyte the acolyte

“Hello, I thought I would get on here and just speak candidly. I hate doing this. I hate doing this, but I’m gonna do it. I honestly, I don’t use social media very much anymore, and I’m so happy about that, but there are many folks out there that I want to acknowledge, and I want to show appreciation and love and support for, so that’s why I’m hopping on here to talk about this, which is that our show, our ‘Star Wars’ show, has been canceled. And I’m gonna say, I’m really transparent, and say that it’s not a huge shock for me. Of course, I live in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who aren’t aware, there has been a rampage of vitriol that we have faced since the show was even announced, when it was still just a concept, no one had even seen it. That’s when we started experiencing a rampage of, I would say, hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language toward us. 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 shared.

The Acolyte star continued, “On that topic, I just have to say it has been an incredible honor and dream for me to be in this universe. Even though, of course, I’m very sad about the show being canceled, and I’m sad about us not being able to give people who are invested into it more because…. I still just feel a lot of levity and joy around the fact that it that I got to experience it, and that people loved it, and that people were so responsive. I poured through a lot of different iterations of fan art and ship art and fan theories and things that were just so beautiful and filled my heart with joy. 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 of the vitriol that we received and the kind of the targeted attack, I would say we received by the alt-right, just that you are deeply loved and appreciated. It made this job all the worthwhile for me, and it made all of the challenging elements of it completely worthwhile for me. That plus my love of sci-fi and fantasy and being able to be a part of the legacy of something that I so deeply value, and something that means so much to me and I’ve looked up to for so long.”

“I also just want to say thank you to Lucasfilm for just being a f***ing awesome team. They were so wonderful to work with. Everybody that I worked with in Lucasfilm, particularly Rayne Roberts, my producer. Who just had such vision and hope and such a mission for what we were going to continue bringing into the ‘Star Wars’ universe. And it was a really beautiful, energizing, life-changing experience to be a part of. And I have to thank Leslye Headland, who just, I just f***ing love that b***h. Excuse my French. She’s just one of the best people in the world. I think she’s so incredibly talented and unique and kind, and I’ll love her forever, and I will love this experience with her forever. But at the end of the day, I also just want to thank everybody who watched it. Thank you for being so loving and supportive and excited and nerdy and awesome, and I’ll continue to process this for a long time,” Stenberg continued.

The actor ended the message urging others to vote and be their own agents of change moving forward. “Maybe the last thing I want to say on the subject is that we all exist in the context of all in which we live (laughs). But I’m serious. it’s not lost on me 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, I would say at this point, by echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases. And I think that applies to everybody, but I think that in a particular sect of people, it manifests as a lot of fear for what is changing, a lot of hatred for anything that is other. And I would challenge us all and challenge myself to continue questioning what it is that I digest and think critically about what shapes it. And let’s vote. Y’all, let’s vote. Let’s vote. I think that’s all I have to say.”