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

I mentioned this in the Lit forum’s Acolyte thread, but my current theory is that the show will feature Dathomir and the Nightsisters as central characters (or as the main character’s background). I do think it’ll focus on the Sith, but probably not on Darth Plagueis.

My reasoning is that Headland was a big fan of the EU back in the ’90s, so it’s works like the Thrawn trilogy, RPG books, and the Courtship of Princess Leia that would’ve been what she was exposed to. In other interviews she mentioned that she lost touch with SW books after the prequels, and in this one she says that she came to LFL with the idea for the show, so I doubt it relates too much to the kinds of things we saw from the early 2000s onward.

Then there’s the discussion on martial arts, which we’ve seen most recently in the Mandalorian’s Morgan Elsbeth, played by martial artist Diana Lee Inosanto (goddaughter to the Bruce Lee), and who was described in a leaked IG post by the episode’s makeup artist as coming from Dathomir. (This was later edited out of the post, which gives it credence.) Considering how the second season of the Mandalorian worked as a soft pilot for a bunch of new shows, I do think that may have been a subtle tie to the Acolyte.

 

So essentially the Republic, the core worlds, will be at their zenith, but ignoring problems elsewhere like slavery and wealthy organizations like the Trade Federation that exploit worlds.

 

Pretty much everything in that interview is what I'd like/hope to hear a filmmaker/showrunner/writer saying about a new SW project. They seem to totally get it, and they certainly seem to be on the same page as me... so at the very least (and being selfish) the show should appeal to my sensibilities.

The Nightsisters, Dathomir and darkside magic are elements that would make for a fantastic TV show or film IMO. It can only be a matter of time, and is something that would take SW well into the realms of 'fantasy' and 'sorcery'... and I personally think it needs some of that at the moment TBH.

 

Dathomir, Onderon and Mandalore are definitely planets that I could see recurring in various shows.

 

I hope it’s not Dathomir/ silly witch magic stuff, and more complicated problems under the surface of the Republic at its height.

 

I just want something new in general, like I said I have dipped my toe into the high Republic books and I liked what I saw. Plus one of the YouTubers I watch who is critical of Disney Star Wars, actually likes a lot of the books in the high Republic era.

I love the concept of the high Republic and how everything on the surface is going great for the Republic and the Jedi, until you dig a foot or two under the surface and see major problems, it is very intriguing to me.

 

It’s essentially the dynamic in the prequels, but…in a more stable time.

 

Except with the prequel movies, it never dug too deep, because they're only two hour movies, these are the types of stories that would be better told in long-form storytelling.

I don't know if we'll ever get to this point but I wouldn't be opposed to one day you know having three or four seasons of a show that culminates in a big Blockbuster 2 hour movie, but that might require way too much of the general audience. Just my personal opinion the prequels actually had good ideas in them but just were not executed all that well to me. But that's okay because then we got the Clone Wars TV show, Rebels and Jedi Fallen order which I truly love.

 

Your point is very well taken, though. The new Doctor Strange movie, while still a huge Marvel blockbuster, and something of a sequel to No Way Home, is ABSOLUTELY a direct sequel to the events of WandaVision. I might go so far as to say that parts of Multiverse of Madness might be quite confusing without having watched that Disney+ show first. And that dynamic has certainly not harmed its boxoffice ($808 million and counting). Perhaps it even helped it? A similar pattern exercised within the GFFA would be most welcome, by me at any rate. I would love, love, love a culminating feature film starring the characters we've met so far in The Mandalorian. And if it also included that astonishing deep-fake Luke? Sign me up.

 

I'm of both mindsets here because as far as marvel goes I watch what I want to watch and Skip what I don't. For instance I did not watch wandavision or doctor strange 1 or 2. I did watch some of Loki and kind of lost interest, but watched all of Moon Knight and really liked it, except I thought the final episode was handled poorly. So far though with Marvel when I dip into something I'm never that confused, but if it goes too far I might completely tune out. if I have to literally watch everything to understand basic plot points, AKA not Easter eggs that is a turn off to me. But see I'm way more invested in the Star wars universe but for instance my mom just watches the movies and a couple of the shows here and there, and if it goes too far they would lose her as a consumer.

One thing Disney plus has done that was smart was when a new characters is introduced into a major show they recommend other episodes the character appeared in. for instance when I ashoka showed up in the Mandalorian, Disney plus recommended like 12 episodes of The Clone Wars and Rebels to see her in, which is great cross-promotion.

Either way it would have to be a very careful balancing act.

 

That Leslye Headland interview in Vanity Fair was great.

 

I agree, this is now my most anticipated show. Whole new era check something I've wanted for years, to break out of the 100-year time span of the Skywalker Saga. Focusing on the villains and Darkside check... I have not been that impressed with most of the villains. So far krenic was a wet blanket to me in Rogue one, moff Gideon has done nothing for me to be interesting really yet. And the gangs of boba fett were meh at best, even with the assist of Cad Bane. This show sounds like it was really Taylor made for me.

 

I think you’re on to something…

 

That'll certainly be visually interesting, if done well.

 

Leslye Headland keeps saying interesting things in her interviews. This is about the only one of the shows I'm mustering up a real genuine level of excitement for right about now. Really hope it delivers...

 

I think there could be a fine line about how far you can go into gray territory before it stops feeling like the good vs evil fairy tale in space that Star Wars is. Even in the prequels which are more gray than the OT, there’s really never any confusion as to who the good guys are.

Rogue One went further when in came to rebel extremism like Cassian shooting his informant in the back being tasked to kill Galen, or Saw’s use of Bor Gullet against Bohdi.

That for me was really at the extreme end, and I know Im probably in the minority, but while I’m a huge fan of parts of Rogue One, I’m not the biggest fan of the whole work. It just feels like something really kind of pushing the boundary of what Star Wars can be, and that’s fine. Andor is the natural successor to Rogue One to carry on that kind of story boundary pushing story.

Now, with how Leslye paints the image of the High Republic, and how the lines between good and bad could be blurred, I don’t know how I feel about that.

Because I can easily see a story where the Jedi are doing the wrong thing for seemingly the right reasons, while the Sith are doing the right thing for selfish gains.

E.G. the Republic stops expanding and really adopts more Roman attitude that Republicans are civilized while those in the Outer Rim are uncivilized. The Republic focuses on improving the lives of its citizens by staying out of conflicts in the Outer Rim, the Jedi are not allowed to participate in events outside of the Republic (and perhaps they even hold more power in the Republic government) and systems outside of the Republic that petition the Republic for help from war, crime and famine are constantly being turned away.

Enter the Sith, who creating rudimentary state start to fulfill those basic needs of Outer Rim systems, creating order, and gaining support by superficially benevolent acts that build a power base and then use cloak and dagger tactics, bribes, etc to manipulate Republic politics.

I just hope the tale of good vs evil doesn’t completely get buried.


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I understand your concern, however in the context of this show I think it may be worth remembering the quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”
Ergo, if the Republic is isolationist in this show and the Jedi follow suit, that gives the Sith a foothold through which they can gain power ultimately. (Even in the PT we see slavery unchallenged on Tatooine because it isn’t part of the Republic.) I think this show could end up having a very relevant message for today’s world. If you ignore problems that seem too far off to be relevant initially, eventually they’ll end up on your doorstep.

 

I think there’s a very real possibility of injecting a little TOO much of today’s world into fiction. When you have have issues like immigrants getting rejected at borders, or issues like the Afghanistan withdrawal, or funneling weapons into Ukraine.

There are so many hot button political issues these days. Issues are politically polarizing to the extreme and isolationism is one of those issues.

I think that could be a mine field to wade into.

I believe it was the guys at Rebel Force Radio that speculated that one of the reasons the PT has renewed appreciation is because a lot of the kids from back then are now of voting age and more politically conscious and that the story of a Republic becoming an Empire is now very relevant.

I am an American and I can say that both political parties will accuse the other of trying to create an Empire. I work with a fellow Star Wars nerd that is the polar opposite of me politically but still believes that the candidate he voted represents freedom and the guy I voted for is turning America into an Empire and vice versa.

If you dig a little deeper and start wading into mainstream political issues and act partisan to one, I could see just conversations about Star Wars reaching a point where I might not even want to discuss it with a fellow fan.


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It's essentially youngster tempted by the Dark Side whilst the Good Guys are in charge.

So no different from Anakin or Ben's story.

Still, looking forward to it, hopefully the story will be a good one and excited for the visuals.

 

It’s an odd situation, even George Lucas has mentioned using the Nixon administration as inspiration for Palpatine’s empire. So in some ways Star Wars has always been political.
I do agree though it’s probably better to keep the real world analogy vague in this universe.

Edit: An Order hamstrung by a corrupt Republic would be one thing, but I do hope we don’t see actually selfish Jedi. That would be kind of a bummer.

 

Didn’t Lucas have a qoute like “Richard M Nixon was the emperor. Or something. He wasn’t very subtle