There’s been a lot of hype leading up to the release of The Acolyte and it’s looking like the show will deliver something never seen before in the Star Wars universe. Showrunner Leslye Headland has set out to deliver the full Star Wars experience, cramming in everything that makes the franchise great.
If there’s one thing that goes hand in hand with the Star Wars franchise (besides lightsabers), it’s prequels. To that end: The Acolyte is the most prequel of prequels – it’s such a prequel it’s actually set 100 years before The Phantom Menace in the High Republic era. That means we won’t get any cameos from our favorite characters.
But this fresh setting means the show gets to pull influences from literally every era of Star Wars. Fun! Early reviews say The Acolyte is grounded and relatable and doesn’t rely on a hacky hero character who has to save the entire universe.
With all the freedom to pull in from anywhere, Headland has said she wanted to “get in as much Star Wars” as possible. She wanted to “shoot her shot” she said, adding that sometimes when she watched the show she would wonder “is it just a bunch of fanfiction?” because she just wanted to cram everything in there she could.
What does that mean? Well, there are practical sets and puppeteering lifted from the original trilogy and and then there’s depicting the “Jedi at their height” as they are in the prequels. “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 from Clone 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.”
As long as it’s not Solo: A Star Wars Story then we’re good to go. New episodes of The Acolyte release on Tuesdays on Disney Plus.
