The Star Wars universe has long captivated audiences with its epic tales of good versus evil, legendary characters, and the mystical force. However, recent years have seen the franchise struggle to maintain the magic that once made it a cultural phenomenon. Enter “The Acolyte,” Disney+’s latest addition to the Star Wars saga, which promises to rejuvenate the series with fresh storytelling and intriguing characters.
Set a century before the rise of the Empire, “The Acolyte” explores the height of the Jedi Order and introduces a compelling mystery that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.
Showrunner Leslye Headland, known for her work on Netflix’s “Russian Doll,” brings a unique vision to this prequel, balancing the beloved elements of the Star Wars universe with new, thrilling twists.
Enter “The Acolyte”: A Fresh Perspective
Enter showrunner Leslye Headland, best known as the co-creator of the Netflix series “Russian Doll.” Headland breathes new life into the Star Wars universe with “The Acolyte,” set 100 years before the rise of the Empire.
By offering something die-hard fans will appreciate and something newcomers will enjoy a good mystery/thriller, Headland manages to bring balance to Star Wars for the first time in a long time.
Surprisingly, the success of “The Acolyte” is due to a well-known trope within this galaxy: duality.
Duality: The Heart of Star Wars
The concept of duality has been around since the franchise began. The light and dark sides of the Force are the most frequent examples, but it’s also seen in some of the franchise’s most iconic confrontations: Obi-Wan/Darth Maul, Rey/Kylo Ren, and Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker are classic battles of good versus evil. However, most dualities in this universe are usually a struggle for balance within oneself.
Who am I? What am I supposed to be? What’s my path? These are issues Luke, Anakin, Rey, Kylo, Obi-Wan, and pretty much every other central character have experienced, making Star Wars relatable to viewers.
Duality and balance are also what actress Amandla Stenberg contends with, playing two pivotal roles.
Amandla Stenberg: A Performance to Remember
At once inseparable, Stenberg’s two characters are now on opposing sides. I won’t spoil the plot by telling you how or why this happened but know that having two people who care for each other at odds is always compelling, especially in Star Wars.
Stenberg absolutely shines, utterly believable as a vengeful character and as her counterpoint, someone a bit meandering yet trusting. It really seems like a different actor is playing each character. In April, Headland called the series “Frozen meets Kill Bill,” which gives a strong hint to the relationship between the two.
A Stellar Cast
A talented cast that has a lot of Jedis in it surrounds Stenberg. Lee Jung-Jae is essentially the co-leader as Sol, a master who has a softness rarely seen in a Jedi. He has excellent chemistry with Stenberg, which gives their relationship a sincere father/daughter dynamic, reminding many of Qui-Gon Jinn.
Charlie Barnett is compelling as by-the-book Jedi Master Yord, and Dafne Keen is fascinating as Jecki, a padawan who exudes calm and is wise beyond her years. My favorite new Jedi is Carrie-Anne Moss as Indara. She’s not on screen often enough, but when she is, Moss is a boss.
Part of Moss and Stenberg’s fight was revealed in early trailers, but the full version is epic. There’s a veritable potpourri of Force users in this series. Aside from the prequels, Star Wars acolytes like myself have rarely been treated to so many onscreen Jedis, and we’ve never seen the Jedi Order in its prime.
Headland, a self-professed Star Wars nut with a Princess Leia tattoo on her right hand, clearly let her geek flag fly when developing this series. But she also does an incredible job of creating something new with “The Acolyte.”
A Mystery Worth Unraveling
This sprawling franchise hasn’t had a true mystery/thriller before. Oh sure, we’ve wondered about Snoke’s origins, Luke’s whereabouts, and if Jar Jar was really a Sith, but Star Wars fans have never experienced a significant secret the audience has been blind to since the Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker reveal. “The Acolyte” provides just that.
Seeing the Jedi at the height of their powers is impressive. But seeing them, at their apex, utterly confused and at times powerless, is even better. Jedi are being hunted, but they have no idea who’s behind it or what the motivation is. Neither does the audience. The mystery of this series is what will keep you riveted to your screen.
Early Episodes: A Tease of What’s to Come
I had access to the first four episodes of “The Acolyte,” and each one was unique, slowly adding layers. I came to have a basic understanding of the duality of Stenberg’s characters, why they feel the way they do, and the motivations for their actions.
But “The Acolyte” also hints at mysteries yet to be revealed. There’s more to its story than simple vengeance. Late in an episode, Master Sol comes to a stop. He senses something while staring into the distance, and Stenberg asks what’s wrong.
Sol dismisses the question, sees the doubt on her face, and then says, “You’re going to face your past. Both of us will. Once we get safely to the ship. I’ll explain everything.”
What Sol says comes out of left field because everything we’ve seen so far shows he’s a standup guy, but this hint at a dark past leaves Stenberg’s character and the audience baffled.
It’s this kind of mystery, along with a healthy dose of Jedi, that makes “The Acolyte” so compelling and unique, offering a new type of Star Wars duality.
A Franchise in Transition
Disney will drop the first two episodes of “The Acolyte” on Disney+ on June 4. The series has been billed as the earliest-ever Star Wars story in the timeline, set many years before even the Star Wars prequel movies.
In this story, the Jedi are at the height of their power and influence, and the Republic is thriving. Which is why it’s so disturbing that someone is killing Jedi.
Who would, or could, disrupt this paradise a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? By the end of the show, we’ll have an answer. I hope that answer is worth learning, but I doubt I’m the only one who now goes into every new Star Wars show with some level of trepidation. The truth is that the franchise has been in a rut for a few years now, a problem we can probably trace back to Disney buying Lucasfilm in 2012.
After that, we went from having six mainline Star Wars movies released over a period of 27 years, from 1977 to 2005, to five new films released in as many years.
Things got off to a decent start with “The Force Awakens” in 2015, but by the time we got to “Solo: A Star Wars Story” in 2018 and “The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019, enthusiasm had flagged and the fans were arguing over which movie was worse: “The Last Jedi” or “The Rise of Skywalker.”
Not everyone was like this, obviously; plenty of people enjoyed these movies. And it’s not like the Star Wars films had never received backlash; the prequel trilogy had plenty of naysayers when it was coming out in the 2000s.
But under Disney’s stewardship, the Star Wars franchise has become fatiguing and bloated, in addition to being divisive. I chalk up most of that to the avalanche of Star Wars TV shows that have come out since 2019: three seasons of “The Mandalorian,” “Ahsoka,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Andor”—and that’s not counting the various animated Star Wars series in the mix.
Some of these shows have been enjoyable, but only “Andor” has really distinguished itself as excellent. By and large, the shows feel a little beige: well-made, full of Star Wars iconography like lightsabers and Wookies, but made to order, as if Disney knew it wanted a lot of Star Wars TV series but wasn’t particularly concerned that each is more than presentable. It feels like “Andor,” which is the only show largely uninterested in the Jedi and the Force, is the exception.
But even if they were all great, how could people be expected to appreciate each show when there are so many?
The Future of Star Wars
And that is why it’s hard for me to look at “The Acolyte” with unbridled enthusiasm. For years, every new Star Wars movie was treated as an event, even if it were an event fans would instead not have attended.
But Disney has saturated the galaxy to such an extent that I don’t assume a Star Wars show or movie will even be worth watching unless there’s a lot of positive buzz. They’ve done this to themselves.
Early reviews of “The Acolyte” are pretty mixed; Paste Magazine says it “breathes new life into the Star Wars galaxy,” but The Daily Beast calls it “a shocking waste of time.” The Mary Sue calls the show “Star Wars at its finest,” but USA Today says, “the Force is not with…The Acolyte.”
The information is taken from The Verge and Yahoo News
