For a long time, the heroes of Star Wars have been good people trying to make the universe a better place. Our heroes have always been put up against seemingly insurmountable odds, be it an endless war, a magic cult, or dudes obsessed with doomsday weapons and cloning. The Acolyte, one of the Disney+ series, is going to make the bad guys of its story.
Leslye Headland spoke about her goals for the series in a lengthy interview with Vanity Fair. The new series will be set 100 years before the Prequel trilogy and will star Amandla Stenberg, who is currently the focal point of several books and comics. The appeal of this era in Star Wars history is what drew Headland to the show.
She said that the High Republic is so golden. The Jedi were at their best during the High Republic, and the Republic was devoted to creating Great Works to serve the larger galaxy. As peaceful as it seems, Headland knew that the Sith had to start somewhere, and her show will explore how they took advantage of the gaps in the Republic's might. It's one bad guy, but it's also one bad guy that undermines the entire system of government.
The Acolyte is a mystery to Headland, with that mystery being what is really going on during this so-called peak period. She has the chance to bring in more elements of the Expanded Universe that dominated the franchise before Disney bought it. The EU has been slowly incorporated into the new canon over the years, and it sounds like The Acolyte will be bringing even more of that into the fold. Kathleen Kennedy said in the same article that Headland was drawing from various pieces of the old canon that hadn't been explored before.
The big one for Headland is Timothy Zahn's 1991's Heir to the Empire. She admitted to writing Star Wars fanfiction inspired by the novel that introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn when she approached Lucasfilm with her idea for a series. She wrote her OC in different scenarios after playing the game with her friends. I knew the time period well.
Acolyte gives Headland plenty of room to work with, but what parts of the EU will be incorporated remains to be seen. She feels pressure to make her show great, but she also feels a good amount of freedom since she doesn't have to worry about legacy characters. I think I'm telling a story about a time period we don't know much about. When the good guys are in charge, what Star Wars looks like can be seen. What happens? Let's explore, we know what it leads to. What are the holes that we can look into?
Disney+ will show Star Wars: The Acolyte in 2023.
Do you want more io9 news? Check out when to see the latest movies from Disney and Lucasfilm, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
