Leslye Headland shares that she only attempts to show Jedi in a new perspective in her series, The Acolyte

Leslye Headland’s The Acolyte dropped its sixth episode this week. After the big reveal in the fifth episode, the sixth episode was pretty uneventful except for Qimir’s interaction with Osha. Many fans believe that the show is trying to desecrate George Lucas’ Star Wars lore by redefining the Jedi, but Headland wants the fans to see her perspective.

Amandla Stenberg in a still from The Acolyte | Disney/LucasFilm Ltd.

Headland promises that she isn’t changing or disrespecting what Lucas had built in the six episodes, particularly in the prequels. Headland believes that her story just adds more layers to the Jedi history, showing how they were different in an earlier time.

Leslye Headland Explains That The Acolyte Is Not Desecrating George Lucas’ Star Wars Lore

In the sixth episode of The Acolyte, Manny Jacinto‘s Qimir is tempting Amandla Stenberg‘s Osha to the Dark Side. Osha and Qimir have a great interaction throughout the episode, where Qimir tries to explain why he wants to destroy the Jedi. Qimir explains that the Jedi want their way of using the Force as the only way to access it.

Osha appears to take Qimir’s words to heart and dons the cortosis helmet by the end of the episode. The Reylo shippers will be happy to see The Acolyte moving along a similar storyline with Osha and Qimir. However, many fans of George Lucas‘ Star Wars may not like the current anti-Jedi direction of the show.

When showrunner Leslye Headland appeared for an interview with Collider, she revealed that she wasn’t trying to change the lore. She shared that she just wanted people to see the Jedi from a new perspective in her show. Headland shared that her show was set at a different timeline from the prequels and the original films.

In that timeline, the Jedi clearly had a lack of oversight and did things very differently from the Jedi portrayed by Lucas. She noted that the proliferation of power among the Jedi was so huge during this era. Headland shared with Collider:

I hope it’s making people look at it from a different point of view. I can understand that fans — especially people who don’t know the High Republic — may feel like I’m criticizing the Jedi as they exist in George Lucas’ oeuvre, meaning the prequels and Episodes 5 through 6, but that’s not the case.

Headland continued:

We’re in that period where the proliferation of power is so huge and far-reaching. Actually, in the next episode, you’re gonna see how far-flung particular missions with Jedi are and the lack of oversight.

It doesn’t appear that Headland’s explanation may have any effect on the fandom. They seemed to have written a ‘bad’ verdict for the series, despite the great things that the series has to offer.

Leslye Headland Further Explains Her Notion of the Jedi

A still from The Acolyte | Disney/LucasFilm Ltd.

Leslye Headland reiterated in the interview that the Jedi in her show and the Jedi in the prequels couldn’t be compared. She shared that her show just put forth the notion that the Jedi were more complex than the straightforward good guys often portrayed. The interviewer suggested that Lucas had already alluded to this complexity in his prequel.

Lucas’ prequels had Jedi deeply involved in political issues and not always making the right choices. In The Acolyte, Headland attempts to explain how the Jedi got there, evolving through the years. Headland shared that the senior Jedi member Vernestra Rwoh was the only one who was concerned about the lack of oversight. Headland shared with Collider:

Yeah, so comparing these Jedi to the Jedi in the prequels is a little difficult because it’s 100-ish years. It’s a century. So you see Vernestra’s like, ‘We cannot let this happen.’
She gets more and more concerned about that at the end of the season, and rightfully so because she, as a very powerful Jedi Master, can sort of see what’s on the horizon, whereas, when we meet the Jedi in the prequels, they’re completely enmeshed at that point.

Headland also added that she could break down Jedi as a concept in her series. However, she makes it clear she has no intention of touching what has been established of the Jedi in Lucas’ Star Wars lore.

The Acolyte Episode 6 is now available for streaming on Disney+.