'Star Wars: The Acolyte' On Disney+ Will Bring Back The Martian Arts Magic Of The Originals With A Female Lead
Disney+'s next Star Wars series set to begin production, The Acoltye, will begin shooting later in 2022, but what makes the series so interesting is that it will be the first of the shows to not be affiliated with The Skywalker Saga, as per the announcement made by Kathleen Kennedy in a recent Vanity Fair article.
Kennedy made it clear that she plans to start stepping away from the original canon of Star Wars that was heavily focused on the Era of Luke, Leia, and Rey - a decision that feels like a good idea, given that well has been running a bit dry lately, what with the mediocre reviews for the last three films in the series.
What makes Acoltye so exciting is the fact that the creators have now instead gone back to the well from which George Lucas pulled many of his ideas for the Jedi and Sith - Namely, martial arts and samurai films - only now with a female lead.
The showrunner of Russian Doll Leslye Headland, had this to say in an interview with Fantastic Frankey of Comicbook.com:
"Just because my show is technically, yes, 'female-centric', meaning it centers around a female protagonist, I don't think that necessarily excludes men from that space. I relate to male characters all the time. I root for Mando. I root for Luke.
"An inclusive space means an inclusive space. But at the same time, I think that just because something has a female protagonist doesn't necessarily mean it's only for women.
"I like to think of my show as a tent revival. You can come over if you want to. We're going to be talking about some cool stuff. There's going to be some things we haven't discussed in the canon yet. There are going to be some characters you don't know about. I would love you to join us. I would love you to be interested in it. If it's not your thing -- the cool thing about Star Wars right now is there's so much you can align yourself with and get invested in, but if you don't like it, that's fine."
It is good to see inclusivity in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and as of late Star Wars has been bringing female characters to the forefront, with newer faces like Rey, Ashoka, and Fennic Shand (one of the shining lights of the abysmal Book of Boba Fett).
And for all the fanboys worried about it becoming a girls club, remember, Leia was holding her own for years and nobody had a problem with it.