‘I can only have faith racism will end someday’: ‘The Acolyte’ star breaks silence on show backlash and cancelation

We all know the tragic story of The Acolyte. From its debut, the show was slammed with criticism for its story, its seeming lack of respect for the Star Wars lore, and its overall quality, but alongside all these somewhat fair critiques were the more ugly and racist attacks unfairly aimed at its cast.

The Acolyte was first released back in June and told a story set many years before anything else shown on screen in the Star Wars universe. With its diverse cast of characters, the show suffered review-bombing and social media attacks aimed at its cast, to a point that overshadowed the genuine criticism and painted a poor picture of the Star Wars fandom.

Speaking about The Acolyte with Vanity Fair ahead of the upcoming second season of Squid Game, Lee Jung-jae, who played Sol in the Star Wars series , hared his thoughts on the reaction to the show, and his hope that attacks like this won’t happen again in the future.

“My feelings were hurt. Especially for Leslye Headland [showrunner for The Acolyte]. I can only have faith that racism will end someday, even though it’s going to be hard.”

Seeing fans turn on actors and producers for their work in vile outbursts is sadly becoming more common, to the point where some studios are even taking over the social media of their cast to protect them from the trolls. This is unfortunately and especially prevalent in giant franchises like Marvel or Star Wars.

Jung-jae expressed his desire to see the narrative regarding The Acolyte turn around in the future, but that doesn’t seem likely. Separate from the racist attacks against its cast, the Star Wars show suffered in terms of viewership, which ultimately led to any hope of a second season being dashed with news of its cancelation.

Only the first and last episodes of The Acolyte made it into the top 10 on the Nielsen charts when they were released, which is not typical for a franchise as popular as Star Wars, and shows that fans simply were not interested in the show. Another indicator that Disney is done with the series for good is the fact that all of the show’s merchandise was swiftly removed from the Disney online store shortly after it was announced that season two would not be happening.

Of course, we have seen the reaction to shows and movies turn around drastically in the past. In fact, even within the Star Wars franchise, the prequel trilogy was despised by some fans when it landed, but it since has become reappraised and cherished by many. It would seem like a stretch to see this happen with The Acolyte, but it’s still a possibility — and one that Jung-jae is hoping to see become reality.

The good news is that even though Disney has abandoned the series for now, you can still enjoy every episode right now. The Acolyte is still alive and ready to dive into on Disney Plus, so if you haven’t yet given it a chance then you can do so right now. If you’re looking for more Star Wars content, then you can check out the next show, Skeleton Crew, which will drop on the platform in just a few hours.