Star Wars is firmly grounded on Disney Plus for the foreseeable future, but any fan should salivate over the cool things coming our way. There’ll be another season of Andor, the long-awaited Ahsoka with Rosario Dawson, The Mandalorian‘s third season, the 80s Spielberg-inspired Skeleton Crew, and the apparently-still-coming Lando show based around Donald Glover’s performance in Solo. But it’s not all sunshine and roses over at Lucasfilm HQ.
‘The Acolyte’ facing a delay until late 2024
The Acolyte was first announced way back in December 2020 and billed as a “female-centric” show featuring The Hunger Games; Amandla Stenberg, True Blood‘s Jodie Turner-Smith, The Good Place‘s Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), and Squid Games’ Lee Jung-Jae. Billed as a “political series” by showrunner Leslye Headland, it was originally planned to release in late 2022 but got pushed back to an undetermined date in 2023.
Now it seems that it’s getting pushed back even further, with Bespin Bulletin reporting that it’s now expected to land in “the later half of 2024.” Pre-production is underway and sets are being constructed in England, but as yet there’s no confirmation as to when shooting will actually begin. Theoretically The Acolyte should go before the cameras later this month, but even if it does it looks like we’re going to be waiting two years to see it.
Fans are still frosty on ‘The Book of Boba Fett’
Then again, maybe giving a show ample time to shoot and go through post-production isn’t the worst thing in the world as it might avoid another The Book of Boba Fett. Created to fill a gap between The Mandalorian‘s second season and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the show wasn’t awful but felt rushed and had muddled character motivations. We guess it’s difficult to have a crime boss as the hero when content restrictions mean he can’t commit crimes.
In a measure of how little fans think of the show a poster on r/StarWars popped up to say how much they loved it and the reaction was that this must be satire. In the thread, replies identify the show’s major issues: lackluster action, a dull setting, and characters that didn’t fit the dusty Tatooine aesthetic.
It’s telling that the two best-received episodes of the show minimized Boba Fett’s story, instead focusing on Luke Skywalker training Grogu and the continuing adventures of Din Djarin. Maybe a second season will improve matters, but we aren’t holding our breath.
Getting under the skin of Anakin Skywalker
Anakin Skywalker had one of the most miserable lives in the Star Wars saga. He spent the first ten years of his life in slavery before being indoctrinated into a cult and told not to feel emotions. This left him primed for manipulation, so it’s no big surprise he was groomed by a manipulative older man, committed some truly heinous crimes, and ended up as a limbless and scarred torso miserably trapped inside a robot suit of armor.
Perhaps if the Jedi had offered emotional support counseling the galaxy wouldn’t have gotten into such a mess and we’d be enjoying ‘Star Peace’ rather than Wars.
Fans have been discussing Anakin’s emotional attachments to Shmi and Padme, theorizing what might have happened if his mother hadn’t died at the hands of Tusken Raiders and his revenge had given him a taste of Dark Side power. This was a lucky break for Palpatine, though fans agree he’d have used Shmi in his plan somewhere down the line anyway.
But, in a theory we hope doesn’t launch any fanart, some say Palpatine might have cemented himself in Anakin’s life by… marrying his mom and becoming his stepdad. Maybe Shmi was better off staying on Tatooine after all…
Tomorrow will bring the fifth episode of Andor, likely centered around a heist on a remote Imperial base. The Rebels’ carefully laid plans are likely to go wrong quickly, though we’re hoping the majority of the new characters make it out of there unscathed. Cassian has to do something to prove his worth to his comrades, so keep an eye out for some dazzling piloting skills as he makes his way through the promised interstellar light display. If it’s as good as previous weeks we’re in for a treat.
