Even ‘The Acolyte’ Star Lee Jung-jae Is ‘Quite Surprised’ Disney+ Canceled the Series

[Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for “The Acolyte.”]

Despite him almost certainly not being part of a possible Season 2 anyway, Lee Jung-jae is still “surprised” that Disney+ pulled the plug on fan favorite “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte.”

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The show’s cancellation after one season came to light August 19. The series, set 100 years before the events of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” was created by Leslye Headland and starred Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Lee and charted the resurgence of the Sith.

Lee told Variety that he was “quite surprised” that Disney+ was not moving forward with a Season 2, even though he noted that he would most likely not be cast in a follow-up installment due to his character’s death. That said, Moss’ role continued past her onscreen demise, given the show’s uniquely chronologically scrambled structure.

“To hear the news, I was quite surprised personally as well,” Lee, who played Master Sol, said. “As you know, my character had died already in the first season. 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 2 with her at the helm.”

Lee teased that perhaps Season 2 could be resurrected later, though, especially after the Season 1 cliffhanger ending.

“Honestly, I am hoping that maybe there could be changes in the future,” Lee said. “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.”

Meanwhile, Lee will appear in Season 2 of Netflix’s “Squid Game,” premiering December 26. Lee previously told The Guardian that while “it’s great that audiences are consuming Korean content around the world,” he was troubled by just how much the fictional survival show resonated with audiences.

“The themes of ‘Squid Game’ – how far are we willing to go to accumulate personal wealth, the lengths people are forced to go to – the fact it resonated with so many around the world is worrying,” Lee, who won the Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, said. “You get a sense this is the reality for so many people globally. And that makes me feel hugely sad.”

Read IndieWire’s Christian Blauvelt dissection of what the cancellation of “The Acolyte” means for the future of “Star Wars” here.

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