No one hates Star Wars like a Star Wars fan. 

That saying holds particularly true when it comes to anything unreleased or produced by Disney, and it stars someone, is written by someone, or is directed by someone who wasn’t born male. Sure, I am laying it on pretty thick. On the other hand, a quick Google search will show you a fertile breeding ground of hatred for Rey Skywalker, Kathleen Kennedy, and, most recently, The Acolyte. 

The Acolyte has yet to be released, and we’ve only just seen a teaser trailer for this upcoming Disney Plus release. All the hate is based on the need for clicks for content creators and misconstrued and out-of-content quotations from the show’s creator and main director, Leslye Headland.

Let’s break this down and look at what the ruckus is all about and why this show may be one of the most important releases in the history of Star Wars. 

What’s the hubbub, bub? 

Well, it would seem that most of the issues come from a quote from Leslye Headland herself—a couple of quotes, to be honest. 

In an interview with IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit Podcast, Headland says, “This is like what we understand to be Star Wars. The idea that like that only came from George Lucas. That only George Lucas holds the key for what we understand to be Star Wars is just untrue. And I think the prequels are an excellent example of that.” She criticized both George Lucas and The Prequel Era films … how dare she, right? Because no one ever did that before, right? Only everyone who watched them when they first came out did but let’s not discuss that. 

However, the other half of the quote gives context to the first half, which is being ignored because it doesn’t add to the brainless FIRE KATHLEEN KENNEDY script that many of the YouTube content creators are reading from. 

In the second half of the quote, Headland continues to say, “And the idea that like when you are hiring a director that everyone is sitting in there waiting for George Lucas and not for the person who is going to know to hire Ralph McQuarrie. That’s the problem. That’s the misogyny and the problem with the auteur myth as it stands today. Because they are not thinking this is the person that will hire the right people, and this is the person that will be able to create the look books and direct people to get them to that place. They’re just thinking, ‘Do you have all the answers?’ And the truth is that nobody does and anybody that says they do is lying,” 

She criticized George and the prequels 

YES! Leslye Headland is guilty of something we all did and still do. She voiced displeasure with the prequel-era movies, as many of us did when the movies first came out and still do to this day. It has taken some time, but I have grown to love the prequels, their quirks, obvious plot holes, and horrendous dialogue. Those issues haven’t gone away over time just because we appreciate the movies at a different level. Her example of George Lucas and the Prequels shows that it takes more than one person with a vision. George had amazing ideas but needed the help of people like Ralph McQuarrie, Roger Christian, Marcia Lucas, and others to make those ideas a reality. The arguments that people like those mentioned here are at times more instrumental than George Lucas are not without merit because of what each of them brought to the table. Star Wars and its original trilogy would not resemble what we know today without the enormous contributions of these three in particular. 

She was showing that her staff was important and that no one on her staff, including herself, was above being replaced. And the other part of her point had to do with needing the vision of more than one person. The original trilogy was built by a village. Lucas had writers, directors, and producers assisting him during that era, such as those mentioned in the previous paragraph. During the prequel era, it appears that George Lucas is wearing all the hats, and for many, the lack of challenge to his vision is sometimes apparent. 

Her criticism of Lucas for those movies is valid. It doesn’t change because she is a SHE, and SHE was hired and encouraged by Kathleen Kennedy to pursue a vision for The Acolyte. Encouraged by Kathleen Kennedy to make a show that challenges the norms of Star Wars. 

I welcome that. I want a show that isn’t cookie-cutter like we have seen. It will die if a property doesn’t grow, adapt, and change over time. But we will talk about this more in a moment. 

Either way, Leslye Headland will be under immense pressure and a microscope because she is being put in charge of a Star Wars series. The folks you find online doing that type of inspection have an agenda. They weren’t happy that the keys to the Millennium Falcon were sold to the House of Mouse and that a girl, Kathleen Kennedy, was put in charge. By the way, I love refuting the argument that the 8-time Academy Award Nominated Kathleen Kennedy was underqualified to lead Lucasfilm … her resume is bigger, better, and stronger than most in Hollywood. To claim otherwise is non-factual and absurd. If you don’t believe me, here is a link to her IMDb resume, and you can read it for yourself … https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005086/ 

Why The Acolyte NEEDS to be different 

I hope that The Acolyte is different. It NEEDS to be different from anything we have seen thus far in the Star Wars universe. We always get the story from the side of the Jedi, the light side of the Force. The Acolyte has the opportunity to present things from a new perspective. This is the story of the dark side of the Force, a story of the Sith in the era of the High Republic. 

So yes, this will be a different look than anything George Lucas had put into the world. It will be a fresh view and will likely differ from previous canon content. 

But that’s why this is a good thing! We need fresh and new content. There were so many complaints about the sequel trilogy just being a cookie-cutter rehash of the original trilogy and not original stories. Now we sit on the cusp of new stories, told from a new perspective, and we are getting the “why ain’t this like the old stuff” and “this ain’t my Star Wars.” As a fandom, we must agree that we cannot have it both ways. We either stay where we are OR allow the fandom to grow and push the boundaries. 

The Acolyte will push boundaries. It will be new and unfamiliar territory. The last time this happened, we got the show Andor. Andor is a different kind of Star Wars story. A story told of the everyday people fighting back against the Empire. There were no Jedi, no Sith, no lightsabers. Just a story told from a perspective we have never seen. By most reviews, the show was a breath of fresh air. I firmly believe that if we allow ourselves not to build up defensive walls and just let the story play out, we will be pleasantly surprised by what Leslye Headland and her crew send our way. 

This isn’t George Lucas’ Star Wars anymore, kids … its time we accept that. 

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