The Acolytecreator renders apositive corruption arc and faces her past in a galaxy far, far away.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Spoilers ahead for theseason-one finaleofThe Acolyte.
So many times Ive watched mainstream media and just thought,Why cant this female character be evil?
says Leslye Headland, writer-director-creator of Disney+Star WarsseriesThe Acolyte.
Sometimes, that character gets tempted but then nobly goes right back to being good.
InThe Acolyte, however, she does not resist.
(George made it political!
Its calledStar Wars wars are political!)
I couldnt be prouder.
In the finale, Osha kills Sol right as hes trying to say that he loves her.
Luke throws away his lightsaber and embraces the destruction of that generational lineage with forgiveness and compassion.
She needed to destroy that generational lineage.
I know the Jedi wouldnt use the wordlove,but thats what she was seeking.
It was a talisman I would always touch, like,This is what its about.
What if Im the bad guy?
Do I feel like the bad guy, but Im not?
Am I being villainized by the people I love most?
My dad died in September.
Kathleen said, George wrote about his father.
you oughta write about your sister.
you should probably write about your father.
Of course Im going to lean toward the other side, the dark side, the otherness.
Osha has to destroy her father to keep moving.
I dont know what it means, but for father-son relationships inStar Wars, theres reconciliation.
For father-daughter, there isnt.
You should question his philosophy because it is just another philosophy.
But hes telling her his truth and she can ascribe to it or not.
He can see in her and she can see in him the reflection of losing something.
Shes being offered a different way.
Or do you accept it because its already there inside you?
I have to challenge myself emotionally and dig into the things that scare me.
You tend to write characters who are emotionally scarred and dont easily heal and keep returning to that wound.
InBachelorette,its the wedding-industrial complex.
Its about being stuck in institutions and expectations.
Thatslifted from Tyler Durden.
These two are going to burn the world down.
The pitch was alwaysKill BillmeetsFrozen.The Mandalorianwas absolutely nailing the western influences.
It felt likeAhsokawas nailing the samurai influences.
Pulling it into kung fu andwuxiafelt like, genre-wise, how we could separate ourselves from otherStar WarsDisney+ shows.
It also has this romantic feel to it.
There are emotional entanglements, like inCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
A lot of the time, you see female protagonists, like inCome Drink With Me.
We talked about the cave flashback inCrouching Tigerso much in the writers room.
but How are these people going to deal with each other?
Crouching Tigeris a lot about Jen being tempted by different teachers, whether Jade Fox or Li Mu Bai.
When youre related to someone like that, is there any middle ground?
Is there any reconciliation?
It was actually Kathleen Kennedy who suggested they be twins because shes a twin.
And then I was like, We just have to find an actor who can do that.
I do feel, however, that we had to tell a complete story.
In the streaming era, a lot of first seasons are essentially the first act of a story.
I wanted to tell a whole story.
I learned that onTerriers.
Shawn Ryan and Ted Griffin were like, Weve gotta throw it all in there.
In the finale, you introduce a cameo from Darth Plagueis watching over Mae and the Stranger.
Anakin is a virgin creation, too and is himself avergenceof the force.
It would be like tapping into oil.
The Jedi are seeing these women tap into this vergence like theyre tapping into a natural resource.
It wouldnt fit into the Jedis idea for that to be left unregulated.
I like to call it paternal rather than patriarchal because it feels like its coming from a good place.
It felt new and different to introduce the threat, essentially, of women being able to create life.
That would concern the Jedi.
But their concern doesnt have anything to do with gender.
You have a play,Cult of Love,coming to Broadwaythis fall.
Its about a Christian family gathering for the holidays.
Its inspired by your own experiences with your family.
You were working on it at the same time asThe Acolyte, from what I can tell.
Even Jim Jones started out trying to desegregate Indianapolis.
I was raised Christian.
Christianity is the ultimate dream.
Its a beautiful concept that God becomes human so that love you more.
Then you look at what Christianity has done to the world: colonization, genocide.
It was a beautiful dream that doesnt justify the human action that comes along.
The Jedi also live in a dream, a dream they believe everybody has.
InThe Acolyte,the pilotends with the line An acolyte kills the dream.
The drama is to wake up to the fact that the dream doesnt exist.
Theyve known that, subconsciously or not, for a long time.
What theyre mad about is revealing a secret.
That dynamic is also driving Vernestra.
She understands Sol was emotionally compromised when she looked around at what happened with these four Jedi.
Does he deserve to take the fall completely?
Of course not, but she has to protect her institution.
People get caught up in heroes and villains and get distracted by whats actually going on.
Its how the people in power stay in power.
Its how we have a country where corporations are considered human beings.
Now that the show is out, Im reaching my breaking point of people saying Youre makingStar Warspolitical.
First of all, George started that.
He spent three of his films about the conflict between the senate, the Jedi, and the separatists.
And overall, art is political.
Im referencing the things I like, just as George or Rian Johnson or J.J. Abrams did.
And also fan-cams of Manny Jacinto.One thing Ive noticed since fiveand sixis the female response to the show.
Its been my experience that the most disrespected demographic is young women, not inStar Wars, but everywhere.
Because something like Marvel is a brilliant, four-quadrant initiative, women continue to be fans of those things.
But withThe Acolyte, they could be like,Hold on a second, this feelsspecificallyfor me.
Thats what makes the Stranger different.
Mannys character is explicitly sensual.
That is a bit wish fulfillment to me, in the fan fiction of my girlhood.
But Id argue part of my fandom is that!
As Osha turns toward the dark side, Mae has her memory wiped and ends up with Vernestra.
Now Maes had her catharsis because Osha avenged their mothers death and controls the weapon that killed her.
Whats the Jason Bourneness of what she might end up becoming?
Its just an aesthetically pleasing thing.
And then I liked the idea that all the major players switch either side or personality.
The Stranger starts out as a murderer and then by the end, hes super-gentle.
You see his feelings about Osha are about making himself vulnerable.
Sol starts out one way and then its revealed that hes a different person.
And now he belongs to Mae.
Even this guy has switched sides.
