The Acolyte star Dafne Keen has addressed the Star Wars show's controversy again – and she's wondering where the lesbians are.
On a new episode of Losing the Plot podcast, host Ashleigh Simonot said that she and Keen met on the set of The Acolyte. "A fan favorite," Keen, who played Jecki Lon, the half-human, half-Theelin Padawan of Lee Jung-jae's Master Sol, joked.
After it was released in June 2024, the show was subject to review bombing and online backlash on account of its queer, female showrunner and non-binary person of color lead actor, and it was canceled two months later.
"Everyone loved it. There was no controversy," Simonot continued. "Do you know what, my favorite quote of someone that made a comment said, 'Ugh, this is just lesbians in space.' I'm obsessed with that."
"Everyone was saying that," Keen replied. "God forbid the lesbians make it to space. But, also, where were the lesbians? They were nowhere to be found."
Twins Osha and Mae (both played by Amandla Stenberg) were raised in a matriarchal society and it's revealed in a flashback episode that they had two mothers, but otherwise there's nothing particularly queer about the show's characters. "I don’t believe that I’ve created queer, with a capital Q, content," showrunner Leslye Headland even said at the time.
Next up for Keen is Whistle, a new horror movie from The Nun director Corin Hardy, about a group of teens who unleash a series of bloody and tragic events when they find an ancient death whistle.
Whistle arrives in theaters on February 6 in the US and February 13 in the UK. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to this year's other best upcoming horror movies.
