Earlier this week, Disney announced that Star Wars series The Acolyte won’t return for a second season, much to the thunderous applause of the Gamergate-esque fans who see the show’s cancelation as Lucasfilm capitulating to their harassment campaign against lead actor Amandla Stenberg. Now, some of its other stars are reflecting on the show’s sudden end.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Master Sol actor Lee Jung-jae expressed his disappointment with the news while praising creator Leslye Headland’s directing and crafting of the script and characters.
“As you know, my character had died already in the first season,” Lee told EW. “So I wouldn’t have appeared in the second season if there was one anyway. But personally speaking, I really loved Leslye’s writing. I thought that she was a great writer and director who was very talented in the storytelling, as well as creating characters and creating meaningful structures within the story. So I was actually personally really looking forward to watching a season two with her at the helm.”
Master Sol’s death notwithstanding, Lee hopes that the pre-prequel-era show will be revived in the future.
“To hear the news, I was quite surprised personally as well,” Lee continued. “Honestly, I am hoping that maybe there could be changes in the future. Because you never know what’s going to happen. So on a personal level, I really hope we could get to see further stories of Leslye’s second season.”
Lee wasn’t the only Star Wars actor to mourn The Acolyte‘s cancellation. Manny Jacinto (Qimir/The Stranger) shared an image of his character holding hands with Stenfield’s Osha on a beach—the show’s final shot—with a heart caption on his Instagram page.
Set during Star Wars‘ High Republic era, 100 years prior to the events of The Phantom Menace, The Acolyte followed twin sisters played by Stenberg who were tragically separated as children—then ended up following different paths that led them back together, as representatives of both the light and dark sides of the Force fought to make use of their talents.
Aside from Stenberg, Jacinto, and Lee, the cast also featured Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dean-Charles Chapman, Margarita Levieva, Harry Trevaldwyn, David Harewood, and Joonas Suotamo—with a few surprise Star Wars character cameos too, as Disney+ shows always love to do. You can stream The Acolyte‘s first, and presumably only, season now on Disney+.
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