‘The Acolyte’ Showrunner Talks Making Jedi “The Bad Guys” and Bringing ‘Clone Wars’ Species Into Live-Action
At Star Wars Celebration, The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland spoke to Collider about her process for making her upcoming Star Wars series for Disney Plus. The Russian Doll creator talked about her desire to tell a story from the perspective of the villains and how that drove the pitch and emotional throughline of the series.
Headland reiterated the timeline for the series, stating it as taking place before the prequels but after the end of the High Republic, meaning the story takes place sometime after the events of Phase 3 of the publishing initiative, which was recently unveiled at Celebration. This sets The Acolyte about 100 years before the Skywalker Saga. Headland also made a surprise appearance at the High Republic panel to reveal that at least one of the characters from publishing would be joining her series.
Having a story set in this time period, in combination with her desire to tell a story from the villain’s perspective, meant having a very different viewpoint on the Jedi in this story:
Star Wars is always about rebels versus institutional threat, right? Underdogs versus huge empire. So, if we set it [in this time period] then the Jedi become the antagonists. Not the ‘bad guys’ but they become the bad guys to the bad guys.
This perspective was evident in the trailer shown at Celebration during Lucasfilm’s Studio Showcase, which had narration (presumably by Amandla Stenberg’s character) about how the Jedi possess too much power. The trailer was an absolute lightsaber-fest, so you can certainly see how, from a certain point of view, the Jedi are the ones with the power who need to be overthrown. Brief glimpses of a standoff between Stenberg and Carrie-Anne Moss’s Jedi Master were also seen, and Stenberg definitely came off as the plucky underdog.
Kathleen Kennedy’s support was brought in as a key factor to the development of this original story.
I gotta say Kathy really responded to that, she really felt like that was a pocket of the universe that we had not seen, that nobody else had pitched her. And so I continued to develop it.
When pressed further about Kennedy’s involvement, she spoke about how presenting a story where the Jedi are seen as less than heroic made people nervous, even bringing up the strong reaction to The Last Jedi by part of the fandom, but the Lucasfilm executive was unphased by this narrative, which is internally consistent with what has been told before.
I think it’s difficult to do a show that is critical in any way of the Jedi. And I think that you saw that with [Rian Johnson’s] film. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think that, especially in that moment, people were very nervous about saying this particular institution may not be the light and perfect, stunning group of heroes that are totally nobly intentioned. And one thing that I think Dave would say is that they are fallible. That’s really the story that George told with the prequels, right? The fall of this particular group.
With the downfall of the Jedi being central to the storyline of the Jedi, Headland intends to dive further back in the timeline to explore how that downfall was able to happen, and to see, perhaps, the smaller steps that made the Jedi helpless to stop Order 66 and the rise of Palpatine.
If you went back further, where are the cracks in the system? How can evil start to rise in the way that it does to the point where literally one of the strongest Sith that ever lived can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi know about it?
This is certainly an interesting angle, and it will be fascinating to watch how the story unfolds. But, having seen the first trailer at Celebration, I think it is worth stating that, while the perspective may lean towards that of the villains, there are plenty shots of the Jedi looking heroic, and I don’t think the entire series will see every Jedi in a bad light. The Acolyte looks and sounds phenomenal, and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
In another interview, Headland talked about bringing one of her favorite animation species to life and how she used practical effects to make the transition:
Oh, I got a Zygerrian in live-action, which that was one of my things. I was like, ‘I’ve got to get a Zygerrian.’ The poor makeup department. Let me tell you what I put them through. She’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her in the teaser, actually. So I got her in there as a Padawan.
It’s likely that the Zygerrian appears in the opening scene of the trailer, which features Lee Jung-jae resplendent in white Jedi robes, addressing a group of youngling learners. A Zygerrian Jedi makes for an interesting character, as they were introduced in The Clone Wars as slavers and enemies of the Republic, but perhaps we shouldn’t judge all Zygerrians by their stripes.
The Acolyte will premiere in 2024 on Disney Plus.
A teacher from Wales in the UK, Aled has loved Star Wars ever since that Star Destroyer flew over his head and blew his mind.
