The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has spoken up about some of the recent controversies, insisting she doesn’t believe the Star Wars TV show is “Queer with a capital Q.” The Star Wars fandom has always been divided and divisive, but The Acolyte seems to have ignited a firestorm of debate online. Discussions on everything from the Chosen One to the age of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi are generating rather more heat than light, but underneath much of the discourse is a reaction against showrunner Leslye Headland.

Speaking to THR, Headland addressed the elephant in the room; whether the show is “gay.” Asked about this at a recent interview, she gave a pretty strong answer, but she admits that response was ill-considered.

“I was surprised by the question. Amandla and I just burst out laughing because that’s our knee-jerk reaction to being asked that, but to be honest, I don’t know what the term ‘gay’ means in that sense. I don’t believe that I’ve created queer, with a capital Q, content.”

Headland has watched the debate online with a strong sense of concern. “Honestly, I feel sad that people would think that if something were gay, that that would be bad,” she adds. “It makes me feel sad that a bunch of people on the internet would somehow dismantle what I consider to be the most important piece of art that I’ve ever made.”

Leslye Headland Addresses The Acolyte’s Witch Coven

In truth, there’s only one element of The Acolyte that can be considered “queer” at this stage – the witches of Brendok, an enigmatic Force cult featured in The Acolyte episode 3. “They’re in a matriarchal society,” Headland observes. “As a gay woman, I knew it would read that their sexuality is queer, but there also aren’t any men in their community. So a closeness between the two of them would be natural. It seemed plot-driven.”

Headland isn’t even convinced the witches of Brendok should be called lesbians, considering that reductive. “I think it means you’re not really paying attention to this story,” she adds. To be fair, there’s absolutely no reason different Force traditions in the Star Wars galaxy should mirror relationships in the real world. Headland’s view appears to be that people are reading a little too much into a handful of scenes – or, perhaps, a little too little.

Although Headland defends The Acolyte from accusations of “wokeness,” she nevertheless treads a careful, balanced path. “I’m proud of being a gay woman who’s accomplished this feat [of making a Star Wars show],” she observes, “and certainly, if my content is called queer, I don’t want to disown whatever queerness is in the show. I would be proud to create something that inspired queer people.” It’s a nuanced position, but it makes sense.