Why do ‘Star Wars’ fans already hate ‘The Acolyte’ so much?

As the fandom of the galaxy far, far away prepares for the release of another Star Wars project, this time marking the live-action debut of the bespoke High Republic era, Disney naysayers are banding together to say that… they have a bad feeling about this.

It’s not surprising to see the Star Wars fandom divided, especially not after Disney’s botched handling of the saga since its reemergence in 2015. If it weren’t for creatives like Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, in fact, most of the community would’ve altogether forsaken the franchise by now.

And the worst part is that even Favreau and Filoni don’t always manage to hit the right notes. Sure, Ahsoka was a decent enough series, but we still haven’t forgotten the whacky plot of The Book of Boba Fett. It seems fated that for every great project like Andor, there should be an equally cringe-inducing, nonsensical, and clumsy story like Visions.

Now, on the eve of The Acolyte’s premiere on Disney Plus, which purports to be an ambitious news story depicting the Jedi of old, the fandom can’t help but be somewhat apathetic towards the show’s prospects.

Why are so many people already hating on The Acolyte?

A lot of fans on social media already know how The Acolyte is going to turn out, and their sentiment is anything but encouraging. Is it a Force premonition or just a general air of cynicism involving everything related to Disney’s Star Wars?

Well, to know the answer to that question, we have to see what’s drawing the disapproving mob at the moment. Much of it seems to be centered around Charlie Barnett, who is portraying a Jedi Knight and Temple Guard in the new Acolyte universe.

During the show’s press tour, Barnett mistakenly suggested that it was Anakin, and not Luke, who blew up the Death Star.

Of course, it might just have been Barnett’s nervousness that caused this little slip-up. But as you’d expect, fans were more than willing and more than ready to raise their pitchforks at such a canon-breaking gaffe. There’s this idea that many of these new showrunners and writers and creatives have no idea what they’re doing with our favorite franchises, and to have all these misgivings confirmed in such a conspicuous way isn’t how you’d want your promo tour to go.

Others had a more reasonable response, noting that getting names mixed up isn’t all that uncommon. Besides, are we really saying that we expect every actor and creative from a crew of thousands on each of these projects to be a Star Wars loremaster?

He got the names mixed up. He obviously meant to say Luke. He understands the important parts, so complaining about this feels disingenuous.

— Michael Falk (@farmerlychucks) June 1, 2024

Alas, that’s not the only way things could go wrong for The Acolyte. While Star Wars fans have learned the hard way that they should never take review scores seriously until after they’ve watched the project in question for themselves, the pang of a mixed critical reception is always a subconscious reminder of all the things that have gone wrong with the story.

Sure, I can understand how Star Wars fans would find satisfaction in the exploration of deeper lore and mythology, not to mention the long-overdue return of the Jedi in force (pun intended), which has been missing since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. But is that, in and of itself, enough to generate interest in a new narrative?

As one of the reviewers (writing for USA Today) has pointed out, The Acolyte, despite all of its intricate worldbuilding, falls short of a compelling story, and that “mostly it’s a great big sigh.”

And it’s not just an isolated case. Other critics are echoing the same sentiments. Empire magazine wrote in its review: “While it might be unfair to hold this broader heartland series up against Andor’s edgy, adult-oriented outlier, The Acolyte so far is not the bold stride forward we’d hoped for.

Then again, many of you may be inclined to give this new series a chance. Perhaps we’ve had enough of space cowboys like the Mandalorian and rebel spies like Cassian Andor walking around wreaking havoc in the backdrop of the galaxy far, far away’s larger narrative, and it’s time for the story to revisit some of its mythic-tied roots. Put in Galactic Basic terms: To hell with the blasters; let’s bring back some lightsaber action to this far, far away galaxy.

Personally, I’m not going to so casually say no to a new Star Wars live-action series, especially not after eight months of drought following the premiere of Ahsoka.