One of the writers for the upcoming Star Wars TV show The Acolyte had never seen the sci-fi series prior to joining the writers room. Series creator Leslye Headland told The Hollywood Reporter that she intentionally hired this person–who only knew the series might have a dog in it–because they could help question some of the decisions that Headland, a lifelong fan, wanted to make.
“I just thought it would be good to have the perspective of a person that had literally never seen Star Wars until she was in the room. And she said to me, ‘Why do you want me in this room? I’ve never seen Star Wars. I have no idea. I think there’s a dog in it, but I don’t know anything.’ And I was like, ‘First of all, you’re an incredible writer, but that’s why I want you here. I want you to be questioning narrative.'”
Headland added: “I don’t want myself, who’s a lifelong fan, to just be relying on particular references in order to create emotional beats. I want those emotional beats to be earned and checked by someone that isn’t super familiar with it.”
Headland said this person, whom she did not name, watched the original trilogy over Christmas break and then the prequels, and was texting Headland about the major reveals like Luke and Vader being related and Luke and Leia being brother and sister.
“All those things that we’ve known forever were blowing her mind. She was like, ‘Luke and Leia are brother and sister!? What the f**k!?’ She was writing all these things to me, and I just thought it was so funny. So she educated herself in order to be in the room, but it was really fun to have somebody like her to help collaborate.”
It’s been widely reported that Rogue One and Andor writer-director Tony Gilroy was not a lifelong fan of Star Wars before joining those projects. In fact, he said he was “not a fan” of the series prior to making Andor, and that he used GameSpot sister site Wookiepedia to learn a lot.
The Acolyte premieres June 4 on Disney+. The show is set during the High Republic and is described as a mystery-thriller that sort of flips the usual Star Wars formula on its head.
“If Star Wars is about the underdog versus the institution, [in The Acolyte] the Jedi are the institution,” Headland said. “Whatever you think The Acolyte is, it’s not that. It’s a drop in the bucket, baby. Just hang in there and check it out.”
