Leslye Headland, who serves as showrunner on the upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte, has defended her controversial decision to hire writers who are not fans of the franchise.
The Star Wars universe will soon expand once again with its next series, titled The Acolyte. A new Disney+ series of which fans were recently able to get a unique glimpse, thanks to a first trailer shared a little earlier in the week.
This project is eagerly awaited by many, starting with fans of the franchise, since the live-action series will explore the era of the High Republic, a period which is still unknown to most. It is also eagerly awaited by fans of Squid Game, given that we can find one of the stars of the Netflix series there.
And if the series The Acolyte has recently been talked about again, it is partly because of a controversial decision taken by showrunner Leslye Headland, who recently wanted to defend her choice regarding the Star Wars series.
Headland steps up to defend his controversial decision
Leslye Headland recently defended her positions following her controversial decision to include people unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe on her writing team.
“I just thought it would be nice to have the perspective of someone who had literally never seen Star Wars until she was in the theater,” Headland told The Hollywood Reporter, “And She said to me, ‘Why do you want me here? I’ve never seen Star Wars. I do not know anything about it’.”
“And I said, ‘First of all, you’re an incredible writer, but that’s why I want you here. I want you to question the story. As a lifelong fan, I don’t want to rely solely on specific references to create emotional moments. I want these emotional moments to be earned and verified by someone who isn’t super familiar with the universe.'”
Headland isn’t the first Star Wars creator to turn to “non-fans”for help on a major project, as Andor series creator Tony Gilroy admitted that he was “not really a fan” of the franchise. This is why both were faced with certain reluctance from fans, the latter being particularly attentive to the smallest stories taking place in the universe imagined by George Lucas.
As one user on and Dave Filoni. Star Wars benefits from diverse storytelling, with Andor being concrete proof.”
A choice that isn’t necessarily detrimental, as Andor is now considered one of the best projects of the modern era of Star Wars, boasting a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. We can therefore hope that Headland’s decision could portend similar success for The Acolyte.
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