Disney has given the ax to The Acolyte, a Star Wars series that centered women of color, featured queer characters and was the target of a massive review bombing campaign. While Disney has not yet cited a reason for the cancellation, fans have connected the dots to the relentless internet hate the show received for its representation.

The Acolyte, created by queer showrunner Leslye Headland, takes place in the High Republic era of Star Wars, over a century before the advent of the Skywalker family—an era that has mostly been explored in print media.

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It follows two twins (both played by queer actor Amandla Stenberg), one attuned to the light side of the force and the other to the dark. The light side twin teams up with her former Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) to investigate a series of murders, which eventually brings them into contact with the dark side twin.

In addition to featuring queer talent like Charlie Barnett and Rebecca Henderson, the protagonists’ were raised by lesbian moms (Jodie Turner-Smith and Margarita Levieva) who happen to be leaders of a witch coven.

Although the series received high viewership and critical praise for its initial two episodes, both had dropped off by the end of its eight episode run. But before the first episode had even aired, the show itself and actors behind it became the targets of internet hate mobs calling the series “The Wokelyte.” This culminated in an aggressive review-bombing campaign.

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To be fair, plenty of fans have voiced issues with the show’s writing and overall quality. However, no legitimate dislike can account for the sheer number of reviews The Acolyte received. According to Forbes, within the first three weeks, the series had amassed over 25,000 reviews, thousands beyond than the vastly more popular series The Mandalorian and four times the amount the beloved series The Clone Wars received.

But not all Star Wars fans are alike. In the middle of the online hate storm, Stenberg found solace in her own community. “There are so many different other kinds of Star Wars fans who are loving and supportive and probably less vocal on the internet in that way,” she said in an interview with GQ.

“But there’s also a significant sect of Black creators and Black Star Wars fans on TikTok who are being vocal about…the pushback that we’ve received and where it comes from. And those folks make me so deeply happy, and those are the folks that I’m so grateful to, and I want to send as much recognition and love and gratitude towards them because they keep us grounded.”

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