It’s been quite some time since I’ve written an op-ed about the Star Wars fandom, specifically its treatment of men and women of color. And if we’re going to be super specific, Black women seem to get the worst kind of vitriol from the so-called fans of this franchise. There’s also the contempt for queer stories within the universe by this small yet loud community of MAGA-like fans that use terms like “woke” and “forced diversity.” This is clearly a dog whistle to their sycophants that if it’s not cis, white, and male, it’s not the Star Wars they knew nor grew up with.
On August 19, 2024, the trade publication Deadline announced an exclusive that the Disney+ series The Acolyte was canceled and would not be renewed for a second season. This announcement ironically occurred the same day fans of the series were celebrating Manny Jacinto’s birthday. Manny Jacinto plays Qimir, one of the main characters of the series. His performance this season received a great deal of critical acclaim from fans as he was able to maneuver playing both the light and dark side of this enigmatic character. However, not every character was well-received on the series, and that included many of the female characters on the show.
What is the deal with Star Wars and Black women though?
The Acolyte’s leading star Amandla Stenberg, who plays a dual role as Verosha “Osha” and Mae-ho (Mae), has undoubtedly received more mixed opinions from viewers than any other character. While there are fans like myself who thought Amandla gave a stunning performance playing a twin, others didn’t feel the same way. But the issue isn’t whether you liked her performance or not because our opinions of an actor or character depiction will always be subjective. The issue is the real-life treatment of the actor playing the part. In the case of Amandla, she received hate in her IG comments after news of the cancellation reached the interwebs. And it’s awful what these toxic people are saying. The tragedy in all of this is that this is not Amandla’s first rodeo with online hatred.
In 2012, Amandla played the role of Rue in The Hunger Games. For some bizarre reason, fans of Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name assumed Rue was white. For those of us with clear reading comprehension, it was evident in Collins description of Rue that she’s Black or at least a person of color.
She writes in one passage that Rue has “dark brown skin and eyes.” In another passage she describes her having “bright, dark eyes and satiny brown skin.” Having read the book myself (long before the movie was released), I always thought Rue was Black.
In The Acolyte, the series also stars Jodie Turner-Smith (Mother Aniseya) who has a queer romance with Koril (Margarita Levieva). The force-sensitive witches live in Brendok and she carried Mae and Osha as Aniseya’s partner in parenthood. This subculture of Star Wars incels took to social media to decry this relationship as well. Sadly real-life targeted cyberbullying towards queer cast members and showrunner Leslye Headland, who is openly lesbian, had to deal with this backlash.
Moses Ingram had to endure this during her work on the series Obi-Wan Kenobi. In that series she played Inquisitor Reva Sevander, also known as the Third Sister. She’s force-sensitive and serves the Galactic Empire as a member of the Inquisitorius. The same cyberbullying hate that Amandla is dealing with now on her IG, Moses received as well. Her co-star Ewan McGregor addressed the hate and the official Star Wars account uploaded the video.
And when Star Wars is not casting Black women in leading or significant roles, they are “fridging” their characters or using them as a plot device to advance another character’s narrative. Examples of this include Val Beckett (Thandiwe Newton) from Solo: A Star Wars Story and Jannah (Naomi Ackie) from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Currently, we can at least have a sigh of relief that we have Rosario Dawson, a Black woman, leading a Star Wars franchise with Ahsoka. And I can speculate why she has not received as much of the backlash as other Black women performers, in large part because there was a popular campaign cultivated by fans to cast her in the role. There is also the significant fact that Ahsoka Tano doesn’t have a human appearance; her face is literally orange.
Just like Maz Kanta voiced by Lupita Nyong’o in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Perhaps it’s easier for the MAGA fans to digest seeing our Blackness erased than to see it on full display. I remember when Lupita’s name was first announced as an ensemble cast member of TFA, before it was mentioned which character she was playing. I was hoping to see Lupita herself on screen and not a CGI character.
There seems to be a great deal of diversity and more acceptance in the literary world of Star Wars towards Black women than in cinema and TV with characters like Rae Sloane, Sana Starros or Vi Moradi. But it’s clear that this fringe group of so-called “fans” don’t read. And many, in my opinion, are grifters that use YouTube, TikTok, or other social media platforms to profit off the hate. Rage-bait engagement seems to keep these trolls well-fed. As long as they have followers that tune into everything they say, like a Trump cultist, they will continue to farm divisive content for clicks and views. It’s sadly where we are, and Black women are the target.
I will add that of course Black men such as John Boyega, Asian women such as Kelly Marie Tran, and even white female leads like Daisy Ridley have also been the target of hate. I’m sure I’m missing a few more names here, but you get the point. If you’re not cis, white, and male, prepare to be the subject of these videos and podcast topics from these folks. The tragedy in the cancellation of The Acolyte is it took us to another part of the Star Wars universe we haven’t explored yet on screen and took us out of the Skywalker era, which was quite refreshing.
Lucasfilm using the nostalgia of a franchise launched 40 years ago is a formula they keep rehashing over and over again with the feature films. Sadly, The Acolyte is gone, and Black women yet again are attacked for just existing. Why is there so much vitriol towards us? There are several answers to this, and I’ll leave you to discuss after reading this. But what I hope is that Disney and Lucasfilm see the history of how the Star Wars universe treats us and takes steps to ensure we feel safe in the fandoms we love.
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