\n<\/p>\n
Leslye Headland has been telling \u201cStar Wars\u201d stories onscreen since she was a teenager. Ostracized at school for being different, she retreated inward, making stop-motion films starring her action figures.<\/p>\n
So when she found success as an adult in Hollywood \u2014 Headland helped create \u201cRussian Doll,\u201d the 2019 Netflix comedy starring Natasha Lyonne \u2014 and got the chance to create an actual \u201cStar Wars\u201d show, it was the realization of a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n
And a chance for humiliating failure. On a galactic scale.<\/p>\n
\u201cI essentially cold-called Lucasfilm and, after a lot of conversations, found myself pitching a show \u2014 utterly elated, my ultimate career goal, the culmination of my fandom,\u201d Headland said. \u201cAt the same time, I would be lying if I said I wasn\u2019t scared. There is so much pressure. It\u2019s extreme. I had never done anything this big before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Headland\u2019s show, \u201cThe Acolyte<\/a>,\u201d will debut on Disney+ on June 4. Costing roughly $180 million (for eight episodes) and taking four years to make, it attempts two feats at once: pleasing old-school \u201cStar Wars\u201d fans \u2014 who can seem unpleasable \u2014 while telling an entirely new story, one that requires no prior knowledge of \u201cStar Wars\u201d and that showcases women and people of color.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n For the faithful, \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d serves up scads of Jedi, a franchise fundamental that the other live-action \u201cStar Wars\u201d TV shows have depicted sparingly or not at all. The opening scene in \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d takes place in an eatery crowded with colorful aliens, a callback to the Mos Eisley cantina from the first \u201cStar Wars\u201d movie, in 1977.<\/p>\n Other shout-outs to core fans \u2014 we see you, we haven\u2019t forgotten about you \u2014 are sprinkled into the dialogue: \u201cMay the force be with you\u201d and \u201cI have a bad feeling about this\u201d makes an early appearance.<\/p>\n At the same time, \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d embraces what some people call \u201cNew Star Wars,\u201d an era defined by diversity and expansion beyond the Skywalker saga, which started with Disney\u2019s purchase of the franchise in 2012.<\/p>\n Amandla Stenberg<\/a> stars as a dreadlocked warrior who has a complicated relationship with a Jedi master played by Lee Jung-jae<\/a> from \u201cSquid Game,\u201d in his first English-speaking role. Jodie Turner-Smith (\u201cQueen & Slim\u201d) plays the lesbian leader of a regal coven of witches, while the Filipino-Canadian actor Manny Jacinto (\u201cThe Good Place\u201d) appears as a shadowy trader. In one of her most action-oriented roles since \u201cThe Matrix,\u201d Carrie-Anne Moss plays a steely Jedi named Master Indara.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d also breaks new ground behind the camera: While women have directed episodes of shows like \u201cThe Mandalorian<\/a>\u201d and \u201cObi-Wan Kenobi,<\/a>\u201d Headland, 43, is the first to create a \u201cStar Wars\u201d series.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt was like working on a razor\u2019s edge,\u201d she said during a Zoom interview, pushing her oversize glasses higher on her nose. \u201cYou\u2019re thinking, \u2018This is what people want from \u201cStar Wars.\u201d This is what people don\u2019t<\/em> want.\u2019 It can mess with your head.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the creative process,\u201d she continued, \u201cI had to give myself the forgiveness, as an artist, to fall off the razor \u2014 as long as I got back up. That was my promise to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n From the second that any new \u201cStar Wars\u201d project comes into public view \u2014 Disney announced \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d in 2020 \u2014 fans claw for information and pick apart what they find. It\u2019s part of what makes \u201cStar Wars\u201d so powerful: People care. But the attention also creates problems.<\/p>\n Rumors can solidify into facts. Some \u201cStar Wars\u201d obsessives, for instance, have worried that Headland\u2019s show<\/a> \u201cbreaks canon,\u201d or tinkers with already-established story lines in the franchise \u2014 the ultimate \u201cStar Wars\u201d crime. It does not.<\/p>\n In fact, Headland chose to place \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d at the very beginning of the \u201cStar Wars\u201d timeline so canonical issues would be minimal. The show is a mystery-thriller \u2014 someone is killing Jedis \u2014 set at a time when the Jedi are at their peak, the pre-\u201cPhantom Menace\u201d era that has been explored in \u201cStar Wars\u201d novels but never onscreen. The only character in \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d that previously existed anywhere in the franchise is a Jedi Master from novels named Vernestra Rwoh. (Headland cast her wife, Rebecca Henderson, in the role, giving her a lightsaber that can transform into a whip<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cLeslye wanted this show to be accessible \u2014 no homework needed before watching,\u201d said Jocelyn Bioh<\/a>, the Ghanaian-American writer. Headland added Bioh to the writing team for \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d specifically because Bioh was not a \u201cStar Wars\u201d devotee.<\/p>\n \u201cShe asked me what I knew about \u2018Star Wars,\u2019 and my answer was, \u2018Harrison Ford runs around space with a giant dog?\u2019\u201d Bioh recalled, laughing. \u201cAnd Leslye said, \u2018You\u2019re hired.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe wanted to potentially invite in new fans \u2014 people like me,\u201d Bioh said.<\/p>\n The first \u201cAcolyte\u201d trailer, released in March, racked up 51.3 million views in its first 24 hours, a record for any live-action \u201cStar Wars\u201d series<\/a>, including \u201cThe Mandalorian,\u201d according to Lucasfilm. Sneak-peek \u201cAcolyte\u201d footage, released in theaters in early May, highlighted the show\u2019s unique martial arts sequences; fan sites instantly deemed the fighting style Force Fu<\/a>.<\/p>\n But a loud, primordial part of the \u201cStar Wars\u201d fandom has pushed back in predictable fashion.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are there so many women, girls and minority characters increasingly dominating the ranks of Jedi?\u201d reads a comment on \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d trailer, with others expressing a similar worldview.<\/p>\n It is a version of the same misogyny and racism that greeted Rey, the female Jedi (played by Daisy Ridley) who made her debut in \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d in 2015, and that drove Kelly Marie Tran<\/a> off social media when she appeared in \u201cThe Last Jedi\u201d (2017). Kathleen Kennedy, who runs Lucasfilm, has also experienced it, with \u201cSouth Park\u201d harshly attacking<\/a> her in an episode last year. The cartoon depicted Kennedy giving the same feedback to \u201cStar Wars\u201d creators over and over: \u201cPut a chick in it! Make her lame and gay!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some trolls have nicknamed Headland\u2019s series \u201cThe Wokelyte.\u201d<\/p>\n In a brief telephone interview, Kennedy\u2019s support for \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d was steadfast. \u201cMy belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s an easy decision for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOperating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation \u2014 it\u2019s terrifying,\u201d Kennedy continued. \u201cI think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of the women who step into \u2018Star Wars\u2019 struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.\u201d<\/p>\n Headland has tried to limit her exposure to the online conversation, both good and bad, instead relying on friends for \u201cweather reports.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a fan myself, I know how frustrating some \u2018Star Wars\u2019 storytelling in the past has been,\u201d Headland said, declining to cite specific examples. \u201cI\u2019ve felt it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n She followed up with a text message. \u201cI stand by my empathy for \u2018Star Wars\u2019 fans,\u201d she wrote. \u201cBut I want to be clear. Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism or hate speech \u2026 I don\u2019t consider a fan.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStar Wars\u201d projects aren\u2019t known for personal or idiosyncratic filmmaking. The production and marketing budgets are simply too high; the storytelling must appeal to the widest possible audience to make the numbers work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Rian Johnson, who directed \u201cThe Last Jedi,\u201d told The New York Times<\/a> in 2017 that he didn\u2019t even try to put his own stamp on the franchise. \u201cIt would be bad news if you came into this saying, \u2018How do I make this mine?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kennedy, however, pushed Headland to do just that with \u201cThe Acolyte.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve written a great \u2018Star Wars\u2019 show,\u201d Kennedy told her in 2019 in response to early scripts. \u201cNow go write a Leslye Headland show.\u201d<\/p>\n Kennedy had read one of Headland\u2019s plays, \u201cCult of Love<\/a>,\u201d which explores a complicated relationship between siblings. \u201cIt\u2019s about her personal experience,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cAnd it was just so well done and incredibly emotional. I remember reading that and saying, \u2018Leslye, this is exactly what you should tap into as you write this story for us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Explaining exactly how Headland took Kennedy\u2019s advice would spoil a major plot point in \u201cAcolyte.\u201d Let\u2019s just say that Headland heightened a clash between characters.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a very strained relationship with my youngest sister, and I feel like one of the reasons it is strained is that we both see each other as the bad guy,\u201d Headland said. \u201cAnd if I was going to tell a story about bad guys, it seemed to me that the place to start should be a familial relationship where one person is adamantly convinced of her correctness and the other person is also adamantly convinced of her correctness.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t speak,\u201d Headland added. \u201cI think this will be a surprise to her.\u201d<\/p>\n She wouldn\u2019t say anything more on the topic, except to emphasize that she has a good relationship with her other sister, who helped make a visual presentation that Headland used to pitch \u201cThe Acolyte\u201d to Lucasfilm. (Headland described her concept in the meeting as \u201c\u2018Frozen\u2019 meets \u2018Kill Bill.\u2019\u201d Kennedy bought it on the spot.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Stenberg, the show\u2019s star, said \u201cLeslye really is driven by emotion and heart and relationships. So even though our show is within the \u2018Star Wars\u2019 universe and set in outer space, in a galaxy far, far away, it\u2019s really a family drama.\u201d<\/p>\n Headland had directed indie films (\u201cBachelorette<\/a>,\u201d \u201cSleeping With Other People<\/a>\u201d) and served as showrunner for \u201cRussian Doll,\u201d the hit Netflix comedy about a New Yorker (Natasha Lyonne) caught in a reincarnation loop. But she had never managed a big-budget production.<\/p>\n What she lacked in experience, she made up for with \u201cStar Wars\u201d geekdom. Headland became a \u201cStar Wars\u201d superfan as a teenager. It was an apocalyptic period of her life, or at least it felt that way.<\/p>\n \u201cI had no friends,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI ate my lunch in the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n She found solace among the misfits in George Lucas\u2019s space operas, discovering books like Timothy Zahn\u2019s \u201cHeir to the Empire\u201d (1991) and collecting action figures. When Lucas released the \u201cspecial editions\u201d of his first three \u201cStar Wars\u201d movies, Headland lined up at her local theater on opening night. A few years ago, she had Ralph McQuarrie\u2019s concept art for Princess Leia tattooed on her right hand.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Star Wars\u2019 has been a part of my personality since I can remember,\u201d Headland said. \u201cSo working on this show has been a dream. I had to take my shot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n She paused for a moment. \u201cIf it doesn\u2019t succeed, it\u2019s because of me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s really scary to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no \u2014 I\u2019m not going to go there,\u201d she said, climbing back on that razor\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n