Lucasfilm’s upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte is going to be a mystery-thriller that will take fans into “a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.” This is an era that has not been explored before in TV and or film, and I’ve been pretty curious about what this show is actually going to deliver.
Well, thanks to showrunner Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), we have some new details to share with you about some things we can expect from the show, its tone, and style. She told Vanity Fair:
“[The Mandalorian creator] Jon Favreau said that when you’re working in this world, you want to go back to what George [Lucas] was inspired by. There were westerns and then of course, Akira Kurosawa samurai films, and the fact that he originally offered [the role of] Obi-Wan Kenobi to Toshiro Mifune.”
The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett drew heavily from western and samurai genre films, but The Acolyte is going to take a slightly different approach. She is looking at Chinese martial arts movies, specifically, wuxia movies, for inspiration.
Wuxia films are martial arts movies that also incorporate fantasy elements. They also tell stories of working-class warriors who follow a code of chivalry in which they fight for social equality and righteousness, redress wrongs, remove oppressors, and bring retribution for past misdeeds.
Headland is hoping that this set The Acolyte apart from the other Star Wars projects that have been made. She also says that the story is more on a personal level for the characters:
“So I actually went more toward martial arts films, and storylines that are a little bit more personal and less global and galactic. Those warriors were on missions that were deeply personal, with people feeling wronged and having to make it right. Wuxia films and martial arts films from King Hu and the Shaw Brothers, like ‘Come Drink With Me’ and ‘[A] Touch Of Zen.’ They’re monks that are also martial arts heroes.”
This is a great approach to tackling a Star Wars story and I’m sure it will pay off in the end. The Acolyte takes place roughly 100 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. It was also previously explained that the show “specifically explores the rise of the Dark Side in those final days of the High Republic era.” When talking about why she wanted to set the series during this time, she said:
“The truth is that I, as a major mega fan, came to them with this idea. And I said, ‘I think the best place to put this is in an era you guys have not quite explored yet.’ They were very enthusiastic. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to explore that [existing] world, but I think that they already were because ‘The Mandalorian’ and a lot of the other television projects were really relying on legacy characters.”
An acolyte in the Star Wars universe refers to “a Sith who has just begun their training under an experienced Sith Lord.” Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give, The Darkest Minds) is set to star in the series, and I’m excited about watching it!