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In thisFandomWireVideo Essay, we explore why the internet is wrong aboutThe Acolyte.
Check out the video below:
The Internet Is Wrong About The Acolyte
THIS… deserves a lot more credit than it’s been getting.The Acolyte, the latest television series in the ever-expandingStar Warsuniverse, has been intensely polarizing since its announcement; with certain fans decrying the “female-centric” description used to sell the series, attacking the cast, creator, and nearly everyone else involved for “pushing an agenda” or not having enough prior knowledge of the largerStar Warsuniverse, and seemingly finding some new thing in each episode to use as evidence of the show supposedly killing the entire franchise.
But you know what most of the vitriolic complaints aboutThe Acolytehaven’t talked about? The actual show: the story, the characters, the deeper and substantive elements that make any work of art meaningful; but the show’s defenders most certainly have. Critical reception to the series has been mostly positive; withObserver’s Dylan Roth praising the show’s ability to “tell its own story” compared to the other, often nostalgia-focused previousStar Warsshows andMovie Files’ Elliott Collins calling it “a welcoming addition to theStar Warsuniverse, giving us new and complex characters to explore a new way to view the Jedi outside of the Skywalker era.”
And despite the backlash, it’s obvious that many fans have also embraced this new take on the beloved sci-fi series. Since its premiere,The Acolytehas consistently been one of, if not the most viewed streaming show across all major platforms; and it raked in 11.1 million views in its first five days, the biggest Disney Plus series premiere of 2024 so far, even beating the likes ofX-Men 97. And things like the viral “Yord Horde” hashtag, centered on Charlie Barnett’s character, show that the series does have a positive online community surrounding it.
So, why the backlash then? What is it about this one show that has so manyStar Warsfans ready to burn its creators at the stake while also having so many others willing to die on the hill defending it? What doesThe Acolytehave to offer that its detractors either can’t see or don’t care about? And how has the backlash gotten so out of control so quickly? Well, ready your lightsaber and let the Force flow through you as we explore why the Internet is WRONG aboutThe Acolyte.
As mentioned previously, most ofThe Acolyte’s biggest detractors tend not to discuss the show’s more substantial elements, so if you’re only aware of the series through the loudest segments of the discourse, you may be confused as to what this show is actually about. So, here’s a quick overview. Set a hundred years prior toThe Phantom Menace, the story centers on two twins both played by Amandla Stenberg; Mae, a Dark Side warrior on a quest to kill multiple Jedi, and Osha,the former Padawan of Master Sol, played by Lee Jung-jae who left the Jedi Order and started work as a live-in starship mechanic prior to the start of the series. The major hook here is that the Jedi that Mae is killing are all connected to the fire that killed the twins’ mothers and that each twin believes to have killed the other; hence why Osha is initially framed for the murders and why Sol brings her in to aid the investigation.
Right off the bat, the show is delivering on both intrigue and personal stakes. Twin sisters on opposite sides of a fatal yet personal conflict that aren’t even initially aware that the other one is alive is fertile ground for compelling character drama and the show absolutely delivers on that potential, thanks in no small part to Stenberg’s stellar performance as both characters. And while some of the show’s mysteries are a tad predictable, others are very much not and the series is more than capable of surprising its audience and leaving them constantly wondering what could happen next.
That sense of mystery and wonder is further aided by the aforementioned time period keeping the events ofThe Acolytefar removed from previousStar Warsmovies and shows and placing them firmly in the franchise’s High Republic era, previously unexplored in live-action; as shown by the generally sleeker design sensibilities of various ships and buildings, reminiscent of the prequel trilogy, as well as the white and gold robes worn by the Jedi themselves, featured prominently in the cover art for most of the High Republic novels and contrasting sharply with the brown Jedi robes seen in the films. By divorcing the series from much of the mainStar Warstimeline,The Acolytesimultaneously frees itself to tell its own unique story, since it’s so far removed from everything else as to not impact canon too dramatically; and forces itself to not use legacy cameos as a crutch like otherStar Warsshows have, as most of the franchise’s recognizable characters haven’t even been born yet during the events of the series. And unlike many other prestige streaming series, including previousStar WarsandMarvel, shows likeObi-Wan KenobiorThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier,The Acolyteis actually paced like a TV show, rather than a six to eight-hour movie split into chunks; with each episode having a distinct beginning, middle, and end that allow them to feel like satisfying stories in their own right while also serving the larger season-long narrative arc.
And this is without even touching on the show’s excellent action sequences. In an interview withVanity Fair, showrunner Leslye Headland confirmed that she took inspiration from wuxiaand other classic martial arts movies, in much the same way that George Lucas was inspired by Akira Kurosawa films for the original trilogy, to create fight scenes that were “a little bit more personal and less global and galactic.” The so-called “Force-Fu” approach givesThe Acolytea unique visual sensibility that makes both lightsaber combat and Force abilities feel fresh and exciting in a way they haven’t been since arguably the introduction of the dual-bladed lightsaber inThe Phantom Menace.
Given the show’s clever visual storytelling, strong character drama, and epic action, what exactly are its detractors so mad about? Sadly, if you’re even passably familiar with the state of Internet discourse today, you need only take one look atThe Acolyte’s diverse cast and crew to see why it has toxicStar Warsfans so riled up. If you look at the over 25,000 audience reviews for the series on Rotten Tomatoes, nearly all of which are negative, most of them don’t actually comment on the show’s storytelling or character progression and instead complain about it being “too woke” or “LGBT propaganda” or other such buzzwords. This disingenuous act of review bombing becomes even more apparent when you see how many negative audience reviews have recently shown up for an unrelated and otherwise forgotten 2008 film titledAcolytesand how all of said negative reviews have actually been aboutStar Wars.
And discourse on social media has been just as bad, with toxic fans attacking series star Charlie Barnett for saying “Anakin Skywalker blew up the Death Star,” which while technically incorrect is not something he would need to know to put in a good performance; or demanding Amandla Stenberg be fired not for anything related to their acting ability, but because she’s an openly gay woman of color who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns. And wheneverThe Acolyte’s detractors do attempt more genuine criticism, it’s always nonsensical surface-level nitpicks like how having fire in space in the first episode supposedly makes no sense despite that being shown as possible in theStar Warsuniverse as early as the original film’s Death Star explosion; or how Ki-Adi-Mundi’s appearance is “lore-breaking” despite the character’s age never being established canon and multiple alien species inStar Warshaving been previously established to live significantly longer lives than humans.
This disconnect between toxic fan criticism and the actual content of the show is best exemplified by the reaction toThe Acolyte’s third episode. Toxic fans claimed that the introduction of a coven of Force witches completely disconnected from the pre-established Nightsisters disrespected the vision of George Lucas and Dave Filoni, despite the fact that, as confirmed by Leslye Headland in an interview with Star Wars.com, Filoni himself was the one that encouraged her to do that, telling her “Not all witches are Nightsisters.” They argue that the episode and show in general’s depiction of the Jedi as a flawed, borderline cult-like, organization that takes children away from their families betrays the heroic ideal of them established by Lucas when Lucas himself was depicting the flaws of the Jedi Order as early asReturn of the Jediand leaned into that even further in the prequel trilogy. And last but certainly not least, they complain that Osha and Mae’s mothers conceiving them through the Force makes Anakin Skywalker “not special,” when not only has Anakin never been stated to be the only child conceived by the Force, he was also never meant to be special. The Jedi Order THINKS he’s special, which in turn gives him a hyper-inflated sense of self-importance that eventually leads him down the path to becoming Darth Vader, but he’s ultimately no different than any other Jedi and that’s the point. The show is very clearly carrying on the themes of the prequel trilogy, all of which were directed BY George Lucas, and if its detractors who so frequently shout that “Lucas Deserved Better” can’t see that, then maybe they weren’t paying enough attention.
The Acolytemay not be a perfect series, nor is it for everyone. Its pacing can sometimes be slow, its early episodes are arguably too exposition-heavy, and its more nuanced take on the mythology of the Jedi might not be what you’re looking for inStar Wars, but the vitriolic backlash against it is without a doubt overblown. The action scenes are engaging and remarkably well-choreographed, the design work is impressive, and the character drama is clearly crafted with thought and passion for the material, performed by actors consistently giving it their all. By contrast, the negative criticism of the series outright refuses to engage with the material on any substantial level and frequently devolves into personal attacks on the cast and creator not because of anything they actually did wrong, but because they didn’t know a piece of irrelevant trivia or because they dared to exist openly as who they are. Given how much the writers, designers, and the cast brought to bringing this story to life, and how little effort the toxic naysayers have put into meaningfully criticizing it, it’s abundantly clear that the Internet is WRONG aboutThe Acolyte.
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Reilly Johnson
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Reilly Johnson is a businessman and a staple in the online entertainment community contributing to some of the largest entertainment pages in the world. Currently, Reilly is the President of FandomWire.
