When I heard thatStar Wars: The Acolytewas going to pull from all different eras ofStar Wars, I was a little concerned. To me, that signalled a desire to pull characters out of the toy box, cram cameos everywhere you look, explain wider parts of the mythos better left open to interpretation, and wrap up each stray story thread, however minor, with the passionate aggression of an anorak-sporting trainspotter. Then I watched the first four episodes, and I was relieved.
There is not a cameo in sight, the story feels human and grounded, and the freshness and lack of a recognisable hero who must live to fulfil some nebulous destiny gives The Acolyte more tangible stakes. So what does it mean to showrunner Leslye Headland to touch on each era of Star Wars?
“I just wanted to get in as much Star Wars as I could,” Headland says. “I mean, I wanted to shoot my shot. Sometimes when I watched the show, I’m like, ‘is it just a bunch of fanfiction?’. Because there’s so many things that I wanted to pack in there. I wanted the practical sets and the puppeteering of the original trilogy, I wanted to have the Jedi at their height the waythe prequels are. I wanted to give a fresh, new take on it, which the sequels have. I just wanted all of it. Even having a coven of witches comes fromClone Wars. Having a Jedi Wookie comes from Clone Wars. So it was drawing from everything because, as a fan, I got the opportunity. So I’m just going to pack it full of stuff.”
The word ‘fanfiction’ stuck with me (is it two words? Note to self: look that up). The Acolyte couldn’t seem further from fanfiction - if it were, then it would have those tired origin stories and cameos. I told Headland as much, and asked how she felt fans might respond to something that on the one hand, feels so fresh and original, but on the other, is thoroughlyGlup Shittoless.
Fanfiction is definitely one word.
“I have no idea. I have to say I’m totally terrified,” Headland laughs. “My wife just keeps saying, ‘there are going to be people that like it, there are going to be people who hate it, there are going to be people who love it, there are going to be people who despise it’, there’s just no way around it. The fans feel a particular ownership over Star Wars. That’s how I feel as well. I have my own reaction to Star Wars media. I think what I would say is that as this is a fresh entry point, it affords the opportunity for people who do not know Star Wars, and are not super familiar with the lore and cameos from the Skywalker saga, or Clone Wars, or the Empire versus Rebellion. They don’t need to know anything to watch it. So hopefully, it’ll be fans, but it’ll also be newcomers and people that don’t know the franchise as well as the fans do.”
I just wanted to get in as much Star Wars as I could. I wanted to shoot my shot - Headland
Manny Jacinto, star of The Acolyte, was also present for the interview, and had a more inside perspective on Headland’s embrace of the classic Star Wars, including the return of practical shooting effects and the ditching of the once heralded, now controversial green screen technique The Volume, wherein LED panels are used to give an otherworldly depth, but often end up looking cheap.
“Coming from the perspective as an actor, [I loved] having all these practical, tangible things around you,” he says. “When you first step in, it’s such a big world. A lot of the previous shows are in The Volume and used CGI, but just having these real, tangible things triggering all of your senses really helps you ground the character. You really don’t have to use your imagination at all, because it’s all taken care of by the puppeteers and the creatures and the sets in the background. It’s an incredibly helpful thing. We were super fortunate to be able to do that.”
In a separate interview,Rebecca Henderson also praised the more practical approach of The Acolyte.
Part of the reason fans are so protective of Star Wars is because of what it represents about their childhood, whether that be a microcosm of a happy memory, an escape, a catalyst for a relationship, or an obsession. The Acolyte doesn’t have cameos that harken back to these days, but, of course, these projects didn’t rely on cameos either, and so The Acolyte may be able to tap deeper into those memories.
But The Acolyte is also about childhood in a far more literal sense, as it centres a battle between sisters. It explores those memories from a more personal perspective, as Headland explains.
“I don’t want to get too personal, but the sister-sister dynamic is absolutely something I experience in my life,” she tells me. “I have a sister that is on the opposite end of the spectrum, I would say, in terms of her belief system. And there is a world where I understand that she thinks she’s right, and [a world where] I think I’m right and in a way, that’s who we are. lt feels unlikely that your whole belief system is going to change because one person doesn’t like you. Then the other thing again, this might be too personal, but it started as a story about two sisters because of my experience with that. And then my father got very sick when I started working on physical production and writing the production scripts, and so it really went from a sister-sister story to a father-daughter story with Sol and Osha [Lee Jung-jaeandAmandla Stenberg], it just naturally morphed into that becoming the main dynamic.”
The Acolyte, streaming exclusively on Disney Plus from June 5
Star Wars: The Acolyte
Cast
The Acolyte is a series set in the wider Star Wars universe, in which a Padawan and her former Jedi Master come together to investigate a series of Jedi murders.
