This article contains spoilers for the opening episodes of The Acolyte.
The Acolyteis bringing the High Republic era of theStar Warsfranchise to live-action for the first time, and the opening episodes released on Disney+ have brought something familiar and a shocking death to kick off the latest addition to the franchise. Set100 years before the eventsof The Phantom Menace, the series is delivering a new story, in a new time period that has previously been untapped in the on-screen side of the franchise, but that doesn’t mean series creatorLeslye Headlandhas not incorporated something familiar for fans.
The Acolyte
Star Wars series that take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
One such moment is the inclusion of one of the franchise’s most well-worn lines,“I have a bad feeling about this.”Spoken originally by Luke Skywalker inA New Hope, the line, or a variation on it, has appeared in some form in everyStar Warsmovie by various characters.The Acolytesees Charlie Barnett’s character, Yord Fandar, saying the line early in the series, and Headland was adamant she wanted to use the line despite some resistance. Speaking toEntertainment Weekly, Headland explained:
“That was hard to get that in. I’m going to be honest. I got a lot of feedback that I shouldn’t put that in. But I just feel like when you get the opportunity to do Star Wars, you’re just going to shoot your shot. And ‘I have a bad feeling about this’ is incredibly iconic. It’s such an iconic line that I think there was some concern of, ‘Well, we don’t want to just drop it in there and have everyone go, ‘Oh, I see.’ But I think we found a good way to justify it and make it feel natural and still be an homage.”
The line “I got a bad feeling about this” was also carried into another Lucasfilm franchise, with Han Solo star Harrison Ford also saying it inIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulland in other Indiana Jones media projects.
The Acolyte Shocked Fans with a Major Death in the Opening Episode
While there are many predictable stories told within theStar Warsuniverse after more than 45 years since its debut,The Acolyteis doing things its own way, and that includes a number of unexpected twists, such as a major death that surprised many fans in the premiere episode.
Big franchises are not renowned for delivering high-stakes deaths straight out of the traps, butThe Acolytedid exactly that by killing off Jedi Master Indara during the debut of the series. What made this demise more shocking and unexpected than most, is that the character isplayed byThe Matrixstar Carrie-Anne Moss, whose presence in the series has been a major part of the show’s marketing. In another interview withGamesRadar+, Headland explained why the death was necessary so early in the story. She said:
“From a filmmaker perspective, I just felt like with the cold open, especially with a new story, that you just have to go hard. You have to say the Jedi are going to take some Ls; you’re not going to know who the good guys and the bad guys are. And it’s going to feel very visceral. Even if you already know it’s going to happen, it doesn’t have to be a big gotcha moment. It just has to be a moment where the emotional and the physical – meaning the fights – melt together. Carrie-Anne, not just being an action legend, is also a phenomenal actress. She was able to play all those beats within the fight as well as, of course, her death scene”
The Acolyte Continues to Break a Major Rule George Lucas Had for Jedi
The Acolyte’s introduction of a Wookie Jedi is a major departure from a rule George Lucas established for Star Wars in the 2000s.
The opening ofThe Acolyteis one that Headland openly compares to that ofBreaking Bad, and while that kind of comparison will not come without some strong opinions from fans of both franchises, it has certainly captured the attention of a large section of theStar Warsfandom, for better or worse.The Acolytewill release its next new episode on July 11.
