ReportWire

Tag: Leslye Headland

  • ‘The Acolyte’ Had a Fascinating Plan to Link the Stranger to Kylo Ren

    [ad_1]

    The fact that The Acolyte won’t return to the world of Star Wars has many downsides, but few are as painful as the story of the Stranger. Season one’s main villain, played by Manny Jacinto, was a fascinating, complex character whose views on the Force, the Jedi, and the Sith were poised to change everything we knew about Star Wars and more. And while we are now unlikely to ever see it, there was a loose, tentative plan to keep his legacy around for a long, long time.

    Early next year, Abrams Books is publishing The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte by Kristin Baver, and this weekend, a few pages came to light that revealed some of Acolyte creator Leslye Headland’s plans for the character. “[The design of the mask] felt like it foreshadowed a possible connection to the Knights of Ren with the Kylo Ren shape we landed on,” Headland said. “We just started to go in that direction.”

    It gets better. “It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice,” she continued. “Following the Rule of Two—a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice—one way to keep it going is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives.”

    Headland even hinted at the eventual connection by having some of John Williams’ Kylo Ren music in Michael Abels’ score for the show. “And since we never name him, you don’t know,” she said. “Does he have a first name, and then his last name is Ren? It’s a good way to nod to it without having to give away too much information.”

    Of course, all the hinting in the world no longer matters because the show is done and, most likely, so is our chance to explore the character. But it does make sense. The Sith are usually few due to their evil ways, but what about other Force users that embrace the Dark Side? Wouldn’t they have someone to follow? And maybe, that was the original Knight of Ren.

    You can see the images from the book in the tweet below. The book itself is out in January and can be pre-ordered here.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    [ad_2]

    Germain Lussier

    Source link

  • ‘The Acolyte’s Lee Jung-jae Says He “Was Quite Surprised” By The Series Cancellation

    ‘The Acolyte’s Lee Jung-jae Says He “Was Quite Surprised” By The Series Cancellation

    [ad_1]

    Lee Jung-jae, who portrayed Master Sol, in Disney+’s The Acolyte, is speaking out about the recent cancellation of the series after one season.

    In an interview with EW, Lee says he had expected to see a Season 2 and was disappointed and “quite surprised personally” when he heard the news.

    “As you know, my character had died already in the first season,” Lee told the publication. “So I wouldn’t have appeared in the second season if there was one anyway. But personally speaking, I really loved Leslye’s [Headland] writing. I thought that she was a great writer and director who was very talented in the storytelling, as well as creating characters and creating meaningful structures within the story. So I was actually personally really looking forward to watching a season 2 with her at the helm.”

    Lee, however, is not giving up on seeing more of The Acolyte. “Honestly, I am hoping that maybe there could be changes in the future,” Lee says. “Because you never know what’s going to happen. So on a personal level, I really hope we could get to see further stories of Leslye’s second season.”

    Word on Monday, August 19, that Lucasfilm had opted not to proceed with a second season came more than a month after the eight-episode first season of the series from creator, director, executive producer and showrunner Headland wrapped its run on Disney+.

    The Star Wars offshoot, starring Amandla Stenberg, was a mystery-thriller that took viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

    In addition to Stenberg and Lee, the cast included Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman and Carrie-Anne Moss.

    [ad_2]

    Denise Petski

    Source link

  • The Acolyte Won’t Return for Season 2

    The Acolyte Won’t Return for Season 2

    [ad_1]

    It’s a sad day in a galaxy far, far, away. Deadline reports that the Star Wars Disney+ show The Acolyte has been canceled after its first season. Lucasfilm confirmed to io9 it won’t be moving ahead with a season two, which had never been officially greenlit.

    Set during the era of the High Republic, The Acolyte told the story of two sisters, Mae and Osha, whose mysterious existence raised a number of questions for the Jedi and Sith of the time. In the end, the pair switched roles, with the former Jedi apprentice Osha siding with the evil Sith, the Stranger, and former Sith apprentice Mae ending up with the Jedi. It was a fantastic show that told a bold, exciting new Star Wars story. Which is probably why audiences rejected it.

    After a debut that put up very good numbers, those numbers dwindled as the series went on so news of its cancelation isn’t a total surprise. However, fans like myself certainly hoped that the exciting direction season two was teeing up, as well as the inclusion of a fan-favorite character at the end, may have given it a second chance. But it seems there’s no luck.

    The move also makes The Acolyte the first Disney+ Star Wars show to be out-and-out canceled. While shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett have not returned for second seasons, there has yet to be any official word on either. (Plus, in the case of Kenobi, a second season doesn’t make much sense.)

    Next up for live-action Star Wars on Disney+ is Skeleton Crew, which similarly to The Acolyte faces an uphill battle without any recognizable characters. That’ll be followed by season two of Andor in 2025 and after that… we don’t know. Season two of Ahsoka is in development; the first movie since 2019, The Mandalorian & Grogu, is in production. Any number of other other movies are in various stages of development.

    The Acolyte seemed as if it was going to be a great place to fit new, exciting Star Wars stories. But now, it seems we’ll never find out the tale of Darth Plagueis the Wise, what was next for Osha and the Stranger, and how the Jedi would react to their blatant disregard for decency. See? Doesn’t that all sound awesome? I’m going to go cry now.

    Created by Leslye Headland, The Acolyte starred Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Manny Jacinto, and Joonas Suotamo. You can, at least for now, stream the entire series on Disney+.

    Update 8 p.m. August 19: We added Lucasfilm’s confirmation to the story. 

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    [ad_2]

    Germain Lussier

    Source link