Even before its debut on Disney+, the series The Acolyte was accused of breaking the chronology of Star Wars and destroy the George Lucas saga. While waiting for a potential season 2, we took stock with a specialist in the universe on this atypical series.
It can hardly be denied: the communities of Star Wars are known to be demanding and to regularly tear each other apart, each time a new film or a new series comes to enhance their favorite universe. After Andor, Ahsoka or The Mandalorian, The Acolyte has therefore joined the productions with lightsaber option, in June 2024, on Disney+.
But this release was not without its challenges: the series was quickly accused of being wokefeaturing a very diverse cast, all directed by a showrunneuse openly lesbian, Leslye Headland. So, beyond these unfair and unfounded criticisms, does the series centered on the Jedi Order destroy the lore of Star Wars as some fans claim ?
Of the “Legends” essential
To fully understand the tensions surrounding The Acolytewe must first explain how the extended universe of Star Wars was built. After the success of the first trilogy, released between 1977 and 1983, many derivative works were published, in the form of novels, comics, and video or board games in particular.
In 2012, Disney bought the franchise Star Wars through Lucasfilm. Two years later, the firm announced that all works created before August 2014, outside of the films and the animated series The Clone Warsstill in progress, will no longer be part of the official canon and will be grouped under the name “Legends”.
Since then, productions Star Wars still regularly call upon characters, designs or powers previously seen in Legendsdespite the somewhat thankless status of this ancient and extensive universe.
Wokeism everywhere, betrayal nowhere
The Acolyte thus navigates between the fans of Star Wars very attached to the universe “Legends”and others, who are not necessarily aware of this universe of the past, and who therefore have the impression that the series completely destroys what the films from the canon had built. Several sequences have thus made the crowds tense. We think in particular of the transformation of Sol’s lightsaber from blue to red, when Osha seizes it in episode 8, but also of the question of the Sith, which supposedly contradicts the Phantom Menace.
But if we take a closer look at the sequences that sparked the anger of fans of Star WarsWe observe that The Acolyte has never betrayed him lore from the saga : the answers are always found either in the universe “Legends”either in the final episode of season 1. So why did such hatred hamper the series, to the point that a review-bombing massive and negative has weighed down his ratings all over the Internet? The accusations of wokisme are unfortunately in the majority, as was already the case for the postlogy, with the harassment suffered by actors John Boyega and Kelly Marie Tran.
“Star Wars is like a football World Cup”
In this context, the smallest detail immediately becomes a pretext for criticism. The Acolyte. “Star Wars is like a football World Cup”analyzes Adrien Débart, doctoral student in information and communication sciences at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne and specialist in the fandom of Star Wars. “Everyone has an opinion on the subject, even without having seen it. We discuss the color of lightsabers like we debate dpositions assigned to certain players on the field. »
The doctoral student thus considers that “Star Wars is a masterpiece of pop culture, which inevitably provokes reactions: we all have a story to tell related to the saga, whether positive or negative. All opinions thus coexist with each other in a sort of paradoxical storm, in which no one listens to each other and everyone is convinced that they have their own truth.”
For the researcher, also co-host of the podcast Faucon Millenialdiscussions around the series “reflect a broader, societal problem around debunking fake news: it’s easy to explain why a particular detail occurs in The Acolytebut does it really convince? Unfortunately, that is not certain.
The Acolyte is a huge sandbox
For Adrien Débart, The Acolyte nevertheless has a somewhat special status, which could unite rather than divide: “The series is completely faithful to the canons of Star Wars and even plays a role of bridge between the two universes since the creator, Leslye Headland, is a huge fan of Legends. She grew up playing role-playing games of the saga, so she borrowed a lot of elements from these works to integrate them into her series, like the cortosis, the metal of the Sith helmet. »
At the same time, the designer “draws from the canon of films, with the presence of Joonas Suotamo in the role of Kelnacca for example, who had played Chewbacca in the postlogy at the cinema. Leslye Headland uses all of this as a huge sandbox”
For the academic, Star Wars thus enters a phase of “transition, where we begin to extend the temporality and to seek out little-known details to integrate them into live action. The Acolyte is the perfect representation: it is not the story ofAhsoka or ofObi-Wan Kenobi as they have been told, but an unpublished story. In fact, Leslye Headland creates a whole new lore in his own way, without ever change the guns. On the contrary: it embraces the Star Wars universe in its entirety.. »
For now, The Acolyte has not yet been renewed for a season 2, despite a massive campaign by fans.
Source: www.numerama.com
