Do you remember this actress named Amandla Stenberg? She’s the one who had the starring role in the worst Star Wars property off all time. I’m talking of course about The Acolyte. And yes, it’s worse than Ewoks Caravan of Courage or even the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Back in June 2024 when this show came out, I argued at length that it was terrible and not because of this actress in particular but because the writing was truly awful and the story it was trying to tell was basically an anti-Star Wars story in which the Jedi were evil space cops. Here’s my description of the show. You can skip this if you saw it (or just don’t care).
- In the beginning of the first episode we see the main character kill a Jedi with a knife as the Jedi is using the force to save the life of a bystander with a child. At this point, with no other backstory, we are predisposed to strongly dislike this person who is clearly bent on revenge.
- In episode two (I think?) the same villain tries to kill another Jedi who exists inside a force bubble. Having failed to kill him with knives she returns and convinces him to drink poison on the grounds that he knows deep down he deserves to die for what he did to her and her people.
- In episode three we finally learn what the Jedi did to her. And the answer is that they showed up on a planet where she and her twin were the only children living with a coven of lesbian space witches. The Jedi tested her and her twin sister for force powers. They then agreed to take her sister with them after said sister decided she wanted to go with them and become a Jedi.
- In response, the bad sister sets their home on fire in an attempt to kill her twin and apparently kills all of the lesbian space witches in the ensuing conflagration.
- In episode four, the main character has one more Jedi to kill (one of the four who was present when she burned down her own home) but she suddenly decides her lifetime of vengeance makes no sense and she’s going to turn herself in and go to prison. Why does she suddenly decide this? Because she now knows her long lost sister is alive. The same sister she tried to kill as a child.
She’s literally killing Jedi because she tried to kill her sister and instead killed her own family. As far as we can tell four episodes in, she’s seeking revenge for something that was entirely her fault. As a story it makes no sense at all.
I waited for this show to somehow make sense but it never did. The main character really turns out to be a villain and was arguably a villain all along from the time she was an evil, murderous child. Nothing in the show makes you have any sympathy for her or makes you want to watch a show about a villain who, unlike Darth Vader, never had any good qualities that could be redeemed. She’s not a victim at all, she’s a monster. That was the main problem with this show. It was a bad story.
As I argued in my 2nd take on this show, it’s obvious that the whole concept here was a post-2020, BLM-inspired take on Star Wars. If the Jedi are space cops then the Jedi must in fact be bad guys who indiscriminately murder entire communities of black and gay people and then cover it up. Why? Because all cops are bastards, you fascist! Someone might have suggested to the show’s creator that a show in which the Jedi are suddenly the bad guys maybe was a twist too far for the Star Wars universe, but I guess Disney though BLM-Star Wars would be edgy and therefore good. So they dumped a reported $180 million on this turd.
Someone could have made a very dark show about Jedi’s who abuse their authority but it wasn’t these writers. While it’s clear that was their intent, what you actually get is a show that doesn’t make sense. For instance, one of the Jedi is so ashamed of his secret past that he agrees to kill himself. Later we learn that aside from acting like an impulsive idiot (bad writing), he actually didn’t do anything to anyone. Another character (a Wookie Jedi) gets murdered for his role in this massacre, but what was his role exactly? His mind was taken over by the space witches to attack his Jedi friends. Other than that, he never harms anyone I don’t think. They started with a terrible premise about bad cops and made a complete hash of it, so much so that there is literally no one to root for in this show.
People attacked Amandla Stenberg who played the twin sisters who were the leads of the show and some of them were apparently racist and ugly about it. That does happen unfortunately. But Stenberg responded by putting out a music video in which she essentially told all of the show’s critics to go to hell.
Star Wars The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg rages against right wingers in this new music video, which she produced in less than 72 hours. pic.twitter.com/KVXeUsVyXS
— Catch Up Bites (@catchupbites) June 23, 2024
As I said at the time, the conspiratorial tone of this didn’t really help her point and it seemed like she was suggesting that all criticism of the terrible show she was on was racist. The video got pulled down and the show got canceled because it was awful and also absurdly expensive. Despite the budget, it had the lowest ratings of any Star Wars show.
Anyway, today I came across this story and it seems that actress Amandla Stenberg is still making friends and influencing people. She’s starring in a new, all-black fantasy movie set to be released next year. The author of the trilogy on which the movie was based was asked by her fans why she never talks about it anymore and she explained.
The upcoming film adaptation of Children of Blood & Bone has found itself in the middle of an unexpected controversy months ahead of its theatrical debut, with Amandla Stenberg and author Tomi Adeyemi now publicly at odds. Adeyemi revealed this week that she is distancing herself from the highly anticipated adaptation, saying she will neither promote nor watch the film despite co-writing the screenplay. Her comments, coupled with a previously private exchange involving Stenberg, have sparked fresh debate around one of the most anticipated fantasy releases of 2027…
Adeyemi said she subsequently blocked the actor and later explained in TikTok comments that she was “laying down my sword” because she had been “hurt and attacked behind the scenes.”
The author’s video doesn’t fully explain but it does include a text exchange in which she tells Amandla Stenberg never to use her name again in an interview and to never contact her again.
@tomi.adeyemi ✨🐉 for everyone’s who’s been asking – i’m answering this question once and for all. #childrenofbloodandbone #tomiadeyemi #booktok #blackbooktok ♬ original sound – shaalo_
So my takeaway is that the person who attacked her and hurt her was Amandla Stenberg and as a result she is not supporting her own movie. There’s no angry video dis track from Stenberg this time. Maybe she’s learned something.
In any case, this movie appears to have a star-filled cast but the plan is to release it in January which is literally the dumping ground for movies the studios think are going to bomb. I guess we’ll see but probably having the author refusing to even see the movie probably isn’t helping their chances. People who love the books may wait for Netflix.
Editor’s Note: Hollywood, academia, and liberal elites are out of touch with the average American.
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