‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ and the Absence of Anticipation

 

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

There are essentially three types of Star Wars fans. There are those who watch all the films, occasionally purchase a LEGO set or Hasbro figure, casually catch up on the live-action Disney+ shows, and cherry-pick the animated shows if they watch them at all. Then there are the die hards, who not only watch everything – live-action or otherwise – but read the comics, play the games, pore over the novels, and dedicate sizable space in their homes to their collections. Lastly, there are the fans who claim that Star Wars died when Disney purchased the franchise 12 years ago, and whose Star Wars content consumption mostly consists of hate watching the new stuff, critiquing it online, and then rallying around YouTubers who are doing the exact same thing but are monetizing it. I have my thoughts about that third category still considering themselves “fans” of something they don’t really like anymore but hey, you do you.

I’m mostly in that middle “die hard” category, but it’s admittedly difficult keeping up with everything these days because there’s so, so much of it. But no matter where you find yourself in the fandom, you’re likely spending a lot of time discussing the new Disney+ series Star Wars: The Acolyte, which has sparked debate about everything from “wokeism” in the Star Wars galaxy to whether or not there can be fire in space (there can be, for the record, based on virtually every Star Wars project since 1977). But we’re not going to get into any of that because I feel like I’ve done it enough on X. So, here’s the question: Is The Acolyte good?

Yes.

But just as Yoda warned Luke before he entered that mysterious cave on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, much of what will shape your opinion of The Acolyte depends on “what you take with you.” If you’re open to a slow burn murder mystery set 100 years before the films featuring Jedi you’ve never heard of before, you’ll probably have a good time – at least based on the two episodes we’ve seen already. If you’ve already decided that you don’t love present-day Star Wars under Disney, I don’t see The Acolyte changing your mind.

Star Wars’ High Republic era has been at the center of Lucasfilm’s publishing efforts for the past three years, spanning adult novels, junior publications, comic books and audio dramas. Featuring Jedi who have yet to succumb to Palpatine’s machinations, it’s a near-Arthurian take on the Jedi as the ultimate peacekeepers in the universe, battling threats ranging from greedy pirates to evil plants. Yep, evil plants.

What I like most about The High Republic – from which I have mostly just read the adult novels – is that there’s a sense that any character at any point is in danger, which is something you just don’t get from the stories-between-the-movies print material featuring the movie characters we know.

This unpredictability spills into The Acolyte in a meaningful way from the very beginning, when Carrie-Anne Moss’ Master Indara is killed in battle with a mysterious warrior, who we later learn is Mae, the twin sister of former Jedi Padawan Osha (both played by Amandla Stenberg), who left the Jedi Order years earlier after struggling with the loss of her family. Osha, working as a ship mechanic, is wrongly believed to have killed Indara, and is pursued by her former master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae), along with Jedi Knight Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) and Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) to be brought to justice. It’s revealed that Mae is alive and is targeting four specific Jedi who were stationed on her homeworld, including Sol himself, blaming them for her mothers’ demise. As the series’ titular Acolyte, Mae is guided by a mysterious dark warrior with a crimson lightsaber who likely has motives of their own.

Showrunner Lesley Headland (Russian Doll) injects the dark narrative with some humor, mostly courtesy of the self-serious Yord and Mae’s poison-making lackey Qimir (Manny Jacinto), who might be more important to the story than we know. Thus far, I’m finding that I’m having fun with The Acolyte, and although I admit that it’s moving at a slow pace so far, with the excellent action scenes being few and far between, I have the feeling that it’s about to pick up with the reveal of Jedi Wookiee Kelnacca at the conclusion of the second episode.

As for performances, Emmy Winner Lee was a clear stand-out for me, which was doubly impressive considering that he learned English specifically for this role (via Radio Times). There’s a lot of Qui-Gon Jinn’s calm power in this character, and considering Qui-Gon was one of the best parts of the prequels, I’m all in on Master Sol.

But there is some definite room for improvement. Some of the makeup effects left me a little cold – looking more Trek than Wars for certain characters – and the dialog lacks the quotable crackle of classic Star Wars, feeling more like Law & Order: Trial by Jedi at times. I’m hoping this will naturally improve as the series delves deeper into the mythology.

But to go back to why this show – and Disney Star Wars and Marvel projects in general – might not be gelling with certain audiences is that we aren’t really given the chance to miss these worlds. The Original Trilogy set a cadence of one movie every three years, which the Prequel Trilogy followed 16 years later. But since The Force Awakens in 2015, we’ve gone from one movie every year to a new TV season every few months. With multiple movies and Disney+ series each year, the MCU has similarly lost some of that necessary mystique that kept anticipation high between theatrical releases. Could the apparent apathy among some sectors of Star Wars fandom be because a new release doesn’t feel special anymore? Or is it that the franchise’s shift from pure, theatrical experiences to a steady stream of serialized TV shows has cultivated a perception of Star Wars being less than premium?

Or, considering that the two-episode premiere’s 4.8 million viewers earned The Acolyte the biggest Disney+ debut of 2024 (via Variety), it’s possible that the show’s most vocal critics are in the minority, and this perceived negative sentiment is as manufactured as the series’ review-bombed Rotten Tomatoes audience score.

Regardless, The Acolyte still feels premium to me, and I’m looking forward to absorbing this series with an open mind when it resumes this Tuesday night on Disney+.