Why Leslye Headland Hired A Writer Who Has Not Seen 'Star Wars' For 'The Acolyte'
Star Wars seems to have no end in sight. And as long as the franchise explores new eras, fleshes out new characters, and really tries to innovate, that is a good thing. A far away as it seems, one of the upcoming shows in development, The Acolyte, seems like it may tick these boxes. With Leslye Headland helming the show, we are sure to see more diverse storytelling, one of the reasons being that she hired a writer who had never seen Star Wars before.
Even far away I can hear people shuddering at this decision. A writer who has never seen Star Wars? Would that mean disaster? Well, not necessarily. We have seen what happens when Star Wars fans work on Star Wars projects. J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson were examples of this, and their works were not entirely crowdpleasing. Dave Filoni, also a fan, had his contributions met with negative criticisms initially, though people eventually warmed up to him, to the point where many want him to have a hand in every aspect of the franchise. So there is definitely some mixed success when it comes to hiring Star Wars fans. Having someone who is a fan is not an automatic success. And frankly, it is unfair to assume so, as everyone's fandom is different, as Headland told The A.V. Club last month:
"What I also learned about hiring my room is that everyone’s fandom was very different. No one had the same experience with Star Wars. There were people like myself that were like later-in-life [Dave] Filoni acolytes. I literally had one writer that was like, “I have never seen any of them. I’ve never seen any Star Wars media.” And she’s texting me before we started the room, she’s like, 'Luke and Leia are brother and sister, what the…?' [Laughs.] And it was so great, because I would really love to know from someone who is not fully immersed in this fandom, what do you think about the pitch we just made? So while she did her due diligence and did a lot of background work and research, at the same time, she was somebody that we would kind of talk to and say, 'Okay, so if we take all the kind of signifiers out of it, and this is Star Wars version of X, what does it mean to you?' She would be able to give some feedback: 'Well, I’m kind of wondering what’s going on with this character. And in this scene, I’m wondering why so-and-so isn’t saying this.'"
This is actually a pretty smart strategy. Fans can get so caught up in the excitement of making Star Wars projects and throwing in Easter eggs that it may start to feel like just more of the same. One thing to keep in mind is that Rogue One, arguably the most successful Disney Star Wars movie in terms of reception, had to be reworked under Tony Gilroy, who once came out and said that the movie was a mess before he came along. Gilroy himself did not consider himself a fan of the franchise, and yet he was able to nudge the production in the right direction, making it a smashing success.
So I trust Headland's judgment when she says that she hired a writer who had never watched anything from the franchise prior. Sure, that is easy to say before actually seeing the product, but I think the franchise can get really creative if people who do not want to just emphasize their favorite aspects of the franchise are brought onboard. They can bring in fresh ideas inspired by other sources.
Source(s): The A.V. Club