The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland is here to take on the Star Wars universe, and it’s not just because her show is told from the perspective of the Sith.
Speaking to IGN at Star Wars Celebration, Headland explained that she started brainstorming The Acolyte by challenging the status quo.
“You just go, ‘Well, where’s the part that nobody’s going, what about that?’ And so to me, the institution of the Jedi was that,” Headland said. “So they trained children and that seems super complicated of a thing. It’s not criticism. It’s just like, ‘well, that seemed strange.’
“And then it’s like, ‘Well, we’re in this era of peace and nothing’s wrong because we are in charge,’ which is also a strange thing to say. And again, they might be correct, but I would assume that in the very, very vast galaxy, people would go, ‘I don’t agree with that’.”
Challenging things that are just accepted in the Star Wars universe, and even things that fans have criticised looking in from the outside, was therefore her approach to The Acolyte.
“Why would this happen this way? Why did Qui-Gon make the decision that he made? How [did] Darth Sidious become chancellor without Yoda, one of the most powerful Jedi who ever lived, knowing about it? I think that those are questions that were just all still hanging out there. So that’s where I think you start.
“I think plenty of people are taking swings at the Skywalker Saga and the time periods between George’s original trilogy and the Disney trilogy and beyond. Plenty of people are taking cracks at that. So to me, I was like, ‘Well, I’d like to try to take a crack at just asking some of the questions that maybe other people wouldn’t necessarily think to ask or people have asked, but maybe not on a level where they were lucky enough to get the opportunity to make it actually happen like myself’.”
The Acolyte takes place during the High Republic era, an idealistic time in the Star Wars Canon where the Republic rules and the Jedi bring light to the galaxy. We obviously know this era doesn’t last though, so a Sith or two introduced in The Acolyte might have something to do with that.
More details were shared on the show at Star Wars Celebration, including that it’s Frozen meets Kill Bill set in the Star Wars universe. Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae and Amandla Stenberg are set to lead the series.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer and acting UK news editor. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
