We know that in Star Wars that Jedi are supposed to represent a force of good, but slowly the expanded universe has been bouncing around the idea that the Order wasn’t the most perfect system.
With The Acolyte speculated to put the POV in the eyes of the Sith this time, show creator Leslye Headland talks to IGN about how the series defers in its take on Jedi as compared to previous series like Ahsoka and The Mandalorian.
When asked about how The Acolyte would be compared to previous Disney+ Star Wars series, Headland explained:
I’m also not sure how Jedi-centric the other shows are. Obviously Ahsoka is. But we’re looking at the Jedi as an institution, as a concept, as an entity that has amassed a lot of power. And that’s good, I’m not saying that’s wrong. But I do think that when Jodie Turner-Smith has that line at the end of the trailer, when she says, “It’s not about good or bad, this is about power and who’s allowed to use it,” really I think that’s the question we’re asking. That’s really the question. It’s not, “Is somebody good, is somebody bad?” There’s an imbalance. Someone might be imbalanced morally, but if there’s a power imbalance, how does that affect the power of Star Wars? And we’ve never seen the good guys outnumber the bad guys to this extent. I guess that’s how it’s different.
Though the Sith have popularly been the bad guys in the franchise, there have been some stories where the Jedi have been criticized for their own hypocrisy and hubris. Luke Skywalker outright calls this out in The Last Jedi, and Ahsoka herself was kicked out of the Jedi Order around the end of the Clone Wars.
Admittedly, Star Wars is supposed to be a very simplistic franchise for kids, but I do enjoy when it tackles some more mature themes like it did with Andor. I’m just hoping Acolyte leans closer to that as compared to The Mandalorian a.k.a. ‘Jon Favreau’s Action-Figure-Hour’
Two episodes of The Acolyte premiere on Disney+ on June 4.
