“Star Wars: The Acolyte” showrunner Leslye Headland recently revealed that she brought a unique process to her show — opening it up to multiple ideas from different people, including non-”Star Wars” fans.
What is ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ about?
Headland recently spoke with AV Club about her upcoming “Star Wars” series, which will debut on Disney+ sometime down the road (though we’re not sure when).
The show is expected to be a female-centric story on a follower of the Sith. There’s been speculation it will take place in the time period before the prequel trilogy.
What is the writing room for ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ like?
Headland said she wanted “an active conversation between my writers and myself, and not so much a room full of people that would kind of just automatically agree with what I say.”
- She told AV Club that “sometimes it’s nice to have everybody love my pitch. It’s not Star Wars, but I think a lot about (Jean-Luc) Picard, and the way that he would utilize his crew and say, ‘What do you guys think? Any suggestions? What should we do next?’”
She added that there’s also a benefit to not having hardcore fans deciding everything, according to ComicBook.com.
- “And kind of hearing the debates and the sort of Socratic conversation that would result. I wanted to put the room together in that way,” Headland added. “That also means hiring people that are not necessarily the die-hard, cutthroat fan that I am when it comes to Star Wars stuff. It is weird to be the person who’s going, ‘Well, in 325 BBY,’ and everyone’s like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘Hold on, I’ll send you a link.’ Everyone’s like, ‘Should that be another person that’s doing that? Why is the showrunner doing that?’ And I’m like, ‘Here’s a picture, this is what he looks like.’”
More details on ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’
Disney first announced the new “Star Wars” series in December 2020 at Investors Day, which I wrote about for the Deseret News. The series was described as “a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.”
Some speculation suggests that the show will feature Darth Plagueis and the rise of Darth Sidious — who later becomes Emperor Palpatine, as I described for the Deseret News.
As for the timeline, there’s the belief that the show will take place during the High Republic era, which is about 200 years before the prequel trilogy, as I wrote for the Deseret News. Specifically, the show has been rumored to take place 20 to 30 years before the prequel trilogy, which would still put it in the High Republic era.