Mini Series Official “The Acolyte” Series Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Maybe we meet the Skywalker enterprise family.

 

I'd say its very / most likely that Plagueis won't appear in The Acolyte and the content within The Acolyte may likely to be its own thing.

But given that "big events" help shape the Galaxy and the future stories in the overall timeline (and has an effect on characterisation too), I can't help but think that, as you mentioned, given the show's relative proximity to TPM, there has to be elements / seeds of this "cheating death idea" within The Acolyte's story that then merges into the "big events" of the Skywalker Saga. Because although seemingly small in concept, learning of, researching and trying to learn to cheat death is a major event in my eyes because 100 years later, it causes a man of the light to turn to the dark; as well as allowed a Sith Lord to survive certain death and target future generations of that family. Essentially, its the overall story concept that runs through the 9 movies.

And 100 years is not a long time to encompass the Sith learning of this ability and then researching and exploring this ability - and ultimately learning it through trial and error. Not something as great as cheating death. I just can't see how this concept won't be in The Acolyte and if it is touched on, surely Plagueis is touched on too. This is the connective tissue (the exploring of this concept pre-Skywalker Saga) that forms into what happens in the Skywalker Saga. And if its linkage is back to the end of the High Republic era, maybe the Sith discover this secret based on knowledge held by Marchion Ro - which would be a great way to link the High Republic to the Skywalker Saga through what happens in The Acolyte.

 

LOL - same people who don't agree are the same ones mad that I was calling out early that the ST clearly didn't have a plan when TLJ released. I don't worry about those opinions.

Prophecies are made for a reason - prior to people being born. Anything with the Force essentially ties to it how GL/Filoni have crafted the story. Their story - their call.

 

I can't

 

What do you mean by this?

Lucas used the surname 'Warka' or Shmi Warka in earlier drafts of TPM. What are the origins of the Skywalker surname, an interesting question, especially considering that Anakin and Shmi were enslaved peoples. Skywalker is a surname that connotes honorific status. What happened? There's a potential for a great backstory in that. A question, among many, I believed the ST should have addressed.

I hope Headland is reading and using the first chapter of the TPM novelization for this series.

 

*Googles* Weeelll,, whaddayaknow. Very interesting.

 

screw it if we gotta have sky walkers WHY NOT GIVE US A HENDER

 

Rogue One

Story by: John Knoll and Gary Whitta
Additional help in script: Christopher McQuarrie, Scott Burns, Michael Arndt
Screenplay by: Chris Weitz, Tony Gilroy

Yes, you do need to know Star Wars to be able to write it. Tony Gilroy's input was only in changing the ending in order to complete the re-shoots. And he still had help from 4 other people. Let's not pretend that 90% of Rogue One was not written by Knoll, Weitz and Whitta. And I don't know how much they know and/or like Star Wars, but I also don't understand why people feel the need lately to declare how they don't care for Star Wars or their character that much. Are they proud of it? Rupert Friend said he did not watch anything about his character so that he gives a new approach to him. Fine, but why brag about it? It's not exactly an example of what actors should do. And I like Rupert Friend, but that statement is poor and unneccessary in my opinion.

Anyway, on topic, I agree wholeheartedly with this:

If they did not want The Acolyte to tie in with the overarching main Star Wars story, it could have been placed 400 or 500 years before TPM, not 100 years. It is quite probable that this show will eventually explain a whole bunch of things that appear in the main George Lucas saga. And I would hope so.

 

Clearly not since someone who didn’t know Luke and Leia were brother and sister is now writing on a Star Wars show. And again someone who declared they didn’t care about Star Wars helped make Rogue One and is currently the showrunner of Andor. These are facts.

 

Well yeah, but I meant how it should be. I didn't say "to be hired", I said to "be able to make it" , and I clearly implied "to be able to make good Star Wars".

I think it's a bad idea to have someone write for a Star Wars show if they don't even know Luke and Leia were siblings. However, kudos to her for watching the SW movies while writing for the show. I don't have a problem with that. None of us were born Star Wars fans, we became such. And perhaps watching the movies now will work miracles for her, and she might be in the "honeymoon" phase with Star Wars when writing.

And Tony Gilroy (along with his brother and all the other collaborators) have obviously done their SW homework for Andor. It will show on the screen. It already shows from the trailers and the production featurettes. There is NO WAY that the Gilroys haven't done their homework on Star Wars since 2016.

 

As long as showrunner and most writers know star wars in and out, hiring a writer not knowing star wars is no big deal and could make it better. This show will No doubt tie heavily to TPM and serve as a prequel to the prequels.

 

@Master Jedi Fixxxer

need and should are two different words, personally I don’t think someone needs to be familiar with past Star Wars films to be included or hired to make a Star Wars film or show

I think the more voices included the better

 

Also the main actress playing the lead character, is already a big fan. And has read it all and listen to podcast.

 

The more voices included the better is true, but no one is suggestion putting a limit on voices. It's predicting which voices will make the best contributions and hiring them as opposed to people who may be good but not as good. Can someone unfamiliar with Star Wars add something to the mix? Sure. They can think outside the box in ways SW fans might not. So that's an advantage. But what you give up is so much bigger, IMO, which is an ability to write with context. If you don't know Luke and Leia are siblings, then you know almost nothing. So the writer can never think in terms of "how does this relate to what's been done before, and how will the audience perceive it given that much of the audience has been along on this journey from the beginning, or at least for many years. The writer also has no idea what's been done before, so they can't avoid being repetitive until someone tells them they're being repetitive. Hiring a writer who is COMPLETELY IGNORANT about Star Wars seems like it might offer you the rare gem, but I would seriously doubt that most franchises would think like that. Maybe Marvel hires writers who have never seen superhero movies and know nothing about super heroes, but I kind of doubt it. Maybe they hire writers for the Crown who know nothing about the Royals, but I doubt it. I just don't think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Also, when Tony Gilroy says he was never interested in Star Wars, I believe him. But I'd bet a million dollars he knew Luke and Leia were brother and sister. He knew the basic characters and the basic plots. He'd seen the films. He just wasn't a big fan. He might not have been a fan, but I'd bet he wasn't completely ignorant either.

 

if someone says ‘you do need to know Star Wars to be able to write about it’ then that certainly comes across that way

it’s suggesting someone needs to be familiar with Star Wars, that they need to watch the previous films that have been made, how is that not suggesting a limit on who is allowed to tell Star Wars stories?

I mean my preference is that people should be familiar with the subject as well, but it’s certainly not necessary, I think we’ve already seen examples of this

 

I’m not opposed to PT/TCW era characters who we know are alive at this time showing up (Yoda or Tera Sinube for instance). But i’d honestly rather these were glorified cameos at most. As fun as it is to get spin off movies and shows about fan favourite characters, I do kind of hope that Lucasfilm can use projects like this that are fairly distant from the Skywalker saga timeline-wise as an opportunity to stop using legacy characters as a crutch. Taika Waititi’s ‘Chewy’s grandma’ quote comes to mind.

Besides it’s not as if this series wont have all the regular iconography associated with Star Wars. Spaceships, lightsabers, Jedi, Sith, cool alien planets ect…
The Star Wars universe sells itself IMO.

 

You need Yoda as more then a cameo, he play a major role in this show, if this is about the rise of the sith and corruption of the republic and jedi order. He is the leader of his faction. Like who ever other sith is around wether Darth plagueis or Darth Tenebrous. And Rise of coperate greed from Nemodians and other coperations.

 

"This is a show about an acolyte" - Ric Olie’s grandfather

 

You're conflating whether someone be "allowed" to write a Star Wars show with whether they are the right person for the job. No one is suggesting a rule. It's just pretty much normal protocol that when you hire for a job, you try to hire people who are most qualified. And so the argument is whether knowing about Star Wars is a qualification for writing on a Star Wars show. I would think that most people would consider knowing the most basic facts about Star Wars a positive attribute in terms of writing for a Star Wars show, as opposed to a negative attribute. Clearly, Leslye Headland doesn't see it that way, and hopefully, in this case, with his particular writer, she's right. No one is saying the writer shouldn't be "allowed" to work on the show. I'm just questioning whether hiring someone like that is the best hire. If the person is working for free, and just another voice, then great, the more the merrier. But obviously this writer is there instead of someone else, and what they gain in one writer, they lose in the potential of another.

 

So Rogue One wasn’t good? Andor doesn’t look good? What we’ve heard about The Acolyte doesn’t sound good? I would disagree if that’s your opinion.

Yes, exactly. So it really doesn’t matter if they’re fans as long as they do they’re homework and are passionate about the project they’re working on.

 

It’s not always the best idea having fans making films. If they are they must be able to separate their fandom from their professional mandate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

A good writer can write in almost any genre, and Star Wars is a kind of genre, a hybrid made up of other genres.

But in the writing industry, if you aren't an expert on a particular character, story, or genre, it's expected that writers do some homework to the write the story effectively.

Imagine pitching a detective story or war story without any knowledge of what makes those genres work or what's come before (in order to avoid cliche).

So while one certainly doesn't need to be a fan of SW to write a good SW story, I think it would be strange to hire a writer and have them not do some homework. Then again, if Headland thinks she's the expert and plans on working with the writer closely, that could work too, adding a fresh perspective on things.

This approach is likely more doable since the period the story takes place in isn't directly connected to the PT and OT (the Skywalkers).

 

Rogue One is phenomenal, but my argument about it was that there were still lots of people involved with it, other than Gilroy, who knew their Star Wars.

Andor is looking great. And I think it's looking great and will feel great because Gilroy must have connected it to the rest of the Star Wars stories set in that time. I don't think there is a chance that he proceeded to write all of Andor without understanding first how the Imperial Senate works, how Palpatine is in power, how the Force works etc. I would be shocked if that were the case. And doubly shocked if Andor turned out good despite of Gilroy having no idea about these things

I will reserve my judgement for the Acolyte when it comes out. I have some reasons to be very skeptical about it (and one main reason to be very excited about it, with Leslie being a huge prequel fan).

Completely agree.

Agree down to the last comma.