The Acolyte showrunner defends highly divisive decision

Star Wars: The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland defended her divisive decision to hire some non-Star Wars fans as writers.

The Star Wars galaxy is expanding once again as its latest mini series — The Acolyte — recently dropped its first trailer.

While the series is the first completely original live-action project, the trailer is full of homages to old school Star Wars as the plot will follow the Jedi Order as they try to combat the rise of the dangerous Sith Lords.

The Acolyte’s storyline isn’t the only original thing about it as showrunner Leslye Headland has recently come out to defend her divisive decision to include non-Star Wars fans in her writers’ room.

 “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,” Headland told The Hollywood Reporter, “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. 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 is not the first Star Wars creator to turn to non-fans for help with a major project as Andor creator Tony Gilroy admitted he was “not a fan fan” of the franchise, but both were met by some pushback as Star Wars fans are incredibly territorial about the media inside the world.

As one Twitter user explained, “The only people that dislike [Headland’s] approach are those who think Star Wars should be confined to the four walls of George Lucas and Dave Filoni’s mind. Star Wars benefits from diverse storytelling, Andor being case in point.”

But, Andor is now considered one of the best projects from the modern Star Wars era as it currently sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, so Headland’s decision could spell success for The Acolyte.