Can the Best of Star Wars Survive the Worst of Its Fans?

When George Lucas debuted his science fiction epic about a galaxy far far away in 1977, Star Wars went from a long-shot space opera into the highest grossing science fiction franchise of all time. Almost 50 years and one sale to entertainment conglomerate Disney later, Star Wars isn’t just a one-off world. There have been prequels, reboots, stand-alone television series, and an in-depth theme park addition. But like most popular culture, the Star Wars fandom, especially online, has become inundated with loud, conservative, and in some cases, incredibly racist voices. While Disney has never said these voices are directly impacting what shows get made, the vocal minority of Star Wars devotees keep limiting what they’ll accept as true Star Wars. These fans say they’re fighting for Star Wars’ future. But if their endless fantasy world can’t accept any stories that they don’t recognize — some of the self-professed biggest fans in all the worlds could be closing themselves off to any future at all. What is crystal (kyber?) clear is that before Star Wars can have another successful show, the loudest voices online need to realize the Star Wars they want to return to never existed in the first place. Will the real Star Wars please stand up?

Much of the online discourse around Star Wars has centered on the franchise’s most recent live action projects. First premiering in 2019, these include The Mandalorian,  The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Acolyte. The market has been oversaturated with stories, especially many that occur within the same time frames, with fans frankly, getting tired and in some cases — outright bored. Each of the projects has had its own reception — and own problems. However the low audience scores, angry YouTube rants, and long Reddit threads can really boil down to one question: who determines what’s real Star Wars? First as a film, and then a trilogy, Star Wars established early on to viewers that even when they were focused on a set of powerful twins and a dark Empire, shit was going down on literally every other planet. This freedom has allowed for endless story arcs across decades. But while opportunities have been endless — the patience of fans hasn’t.

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Take for example the most recent series, The Acolyte. Created by Leslye Headland (Bachelorette, Russian Doll), the series follows Mae and Osha Aniseya, a pair of mysterious twins (both played by Amandla Stenberg) who baffle a group of Jedi. When Mae fails to follow through on her education with Sith master Qimir (Manny Jacinto), Osha takes her place. The series is one of the first of its kind: a Star Wars addition that explores both the backstory of Sith and the potential for a corruption where the Jedi — the moral pillars — aren’t in the right. But well before the show premiered, vocal online fans mocked Stenberg’s casting, calling the series evidence that Disney was capitulating to a “woke” crowd by having multiple people of color in the cast. They also criticized news that the show would include queer characters, including a coven of witches. This week, Deadline reported that Disney canceled the series after just one season. Fans upset with what they called a social justice warrior direction for Star Wars celebrated, calling the show disrespectful to the original films, and simply not the Star Wars they loved. X owner Elon Musk even celebrated the news of the show’s cancellation, appearing to tweet a redacted version of the phrase, ‘Go woke, go broke.”

Disney has not released a statement on why The Acolyte was canceled, and representatives for Disney and Lucasfilms did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment. Reception for the series was mixed, though, with people praising performances from Jacinto, Stenberg, and Lee Jung-jae, but criticizing the story’s overloaded plot and short episode count. However,  it’s all too easy to imagine how a show with an already expensive budget (over $100 million, according to Deadline) might be easier to scrap entirely rather than contend with the potential of another lackluster — and ill received — season.

But another aspect that can’t be divorced from modern fandom is the almost consistent racism and sexism that leads of color receive when they are cast in Star Wars-related projects. Stenberg said that after her casting, she was bombarded with racist harassment. “It’s been very painful to me. It’s not something that I think you can emotionally prepare for,” Stenberg said on The View. “We welcome criticism of the show when it comes to storytelling or performance. But when it comes to death threats — horrific, violent racist language — it’s unacceptable to me.”

Kenobi star Moses Ingram has also said people threatened her life when she joined the Star Wars project. “There’s nothing anybody can do about this. There’s nothing anybody can do to stop this hate,” Ingram said on Instagram. “I question my purpose in even being here in front of you saying that this is happening.” The same thing happened to Kelly Marie Tran when she was cast in The Last Jedi. “If someone doesn’t understand me or my experience,” she said, “it shouldn’t be my place to have to internalize their misogyny or racism or all of the above.” And John Boyega received so much harassment and racism when he was cast as the lead in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that he claimed Disney executives sidelined him in further films to appease the outspoken white fans. Disney did not respond to this claim at the time, but has since been more outspoken through the official Star Wars social media pages when new cast members receive death threats.

This backlash of racism, sexism, and online abuse seems consistent across all Star Wars projects — most heavily targeted at leads of color. But when online pundits criticize Star Wars for taking a “woke” direction, they ignore the power that exists in the source material to begin with. Lucas himself has pointed out his intentional choices in making powerful and high ranking women integral to the success of each film. “Who do you think the heroes are in these stories? What do you think Princess Leia was? She’s the head of the rebellion. She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy who can’t do anything and trying to save the rebellion with these clowns,” Lucas said in May at the Cannes Film Festival. “And it’s the same thing with Queen Amidala.” He’s also pushed back on the idea that his world was created just for white men. “Most of the people are aliens! The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever,” he added. “The idea is all people are equal.”

But what it seems like extreme fans don’t realize is that they’re creating a space where even the truest of Star Wars fans still wouldn’t want to participate. Let’s be real. If you thought you could make the next great Star Wars iteration, but you knew that your project could be lambasted simply for casting a person of color, is that where you would invest your time? Or if you were an actor of  color choosing between two roles you believed in, would you pick the one that came with an almost guaranteed hate campaign? The Star Wars fans clamoring for a return to the originals aren’t just talking nonsense, they’re ruining their chances to see the franchise they love grow in any meaningful way. Star Wars is about a galaxy filled with endless choices, battles, and people trying to make a difference. The fans who are loudest at the moment aren’t just willfully ignoring Lucas’ original vision. They’re making their own worlds smaller in the process.

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