Leslye Headland, the creator of The Acolyte, recently described the series as a success despite it getting scrapped after a single season due to being too expensive for the amount of viewers it attracted.
Following the show’s first and only season, Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman informed Vulture, “So as it relates to Acolyte, we were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.”
Now, in the newly released The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte book, Headland is declaring the show a success. She wrote, “When we set out to make The Acolyte, I hoped to create a new expression of Star Wars, inventing something to expand on the storytelling I have loved since I was a child. And since it premiered in 2024, the fans of the series have affirmed this: We succeeded.”
While it might be easy to dismiss Headland’s comments out of hand given the show was quickly cancelled following its first season, Headland did indeed get to create new Star Wars and on top of that she pocketed a significant chunk of change for the show while also funneling money to her woke buddies in the writing room and on the cast.
The Domes of Calrathia novelist Isaac Young observed this last year, “Disney spent around 200 million on The Acolyte. That money didn’t vanish into thin air. It went into the pockets of their activists—their people.”
“The Acolyte was a smashing success,” he declared. “It was a massive wealth transfer to their clients while inciting mainstream outrage.”
In a subsequent post, he continued, “Why does Hollywood seem so hell-bent on investing in financial failure after financial failure? Well, the point is to give money to their people. Making a profit is a happy accident.”
“Conservatives will point out this is insane and makes zero business sense. Well, too bad,” he wrote.
“Understand that these are not people who plan to be carefully shepherding these institutions for decades to come,” he continued. “They’ve been strip mining every IP and franchise for the past twenty years, making vanity projects while robbing these institutions for everything they’re worth.”
“And when the whole thing finally does crumble, these people are going to be largely fine because they’ve amassed enough personal net worth to outpace the collapsing economy,” he noted. “They won’t have to worry about inflation or paying for a house or a car or any of it.”
To highlight this point he noted that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s net worth is $300 million, “Is Kathleen Kennedy going to worry about the collapse of Lucasfilm? No, she’s going to be fine. Once it’s all said and done, she might walk out of this halfway to being a billionaire.”
Not only was the show a success in being a wealth transfer to Leslye Headland and her cronies, but it also was a success in Lucasfilm’s campaign to hollow out the Star Wars franchise.
The show redefined the Force with Mother Aniseya describing it as the Thread. She explained in the show’s third episode, “All living things are connected by the same Thread. A Thread woven through all of existence. Some call it a Force and claim to use it. But we know the Thread is not a power you wield. Pull the Thread. Change everything. It ties you to your destiny. It binds you to others.”
This is in direct contradiction to how the Force is described by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars film, “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
Yoda also described the Force in Empire Strikes Back, “Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.”
Outside of the films, Lucas defined it in a writers meeting for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “The core of the Force. I mean you got the Dark Side and the Light Side. One is selfless. One is selfish. … The only way to overcome the Dark Side is through discipline. The Dark Side is pleasure, biological, and temporary, and easy to achieve. The Light Side is joy, everlasting, and difficult to achieve. A great challenge. Must overcome laziness, give up quick pleasures, and overcome fear which leads to hate.”
This view aligns with Christian teaching as explained by Archbishop Puhalo in his review of Return of the Jedi, “Surprisingly, delightfully, the real story is one of the immense struggle between the dark and the good side of that universal nature of which man is a part — the fallen nature of man and the universe. In the movie series, this nature is called ‘the force’. In many reviews, ‘the force’ has been interpreted as an unsavoury parody of God. After a careful examination of the real plot of the Star Wars series, however, I was led toward the conclusion that ‘the force’ is that universal nature, and that the whole theme of the movie and the energies of the plot line are directed at the struggle within the fallen nature between co-operation with the dark side of that nature or with its ‘light’ side — that law of contradiction which Apostle Paul speaks of as warring within us, and upon which Orthodox monasticism is based.”
In contrast, Headland moves the Force into the false view of having to balance evil and good rather than having the light side conquer our fallen nature. In fact, she made that clear in an interview with Total Film saying, “Honestly, the way I look at it is, there is no light without darkness. No good without bad. So to me - and this might just be a personal thing - the Force is about balance.”
Additionally, it undercuts The Chosen One prophecy of Anakin Skywalker by having a coven of lesbian witches perform a dark ritual to create the twins Osha and Mae. The prophecy is revealed by mace Windu, “You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force. You believe it’s this boy?”
And George Lucas made it clear that Anakin does indeed fulfill this prophecy. He said in The Making of Revenge of the Sith, “The prophecy was right. Anakin was the Chosen One, and he does bring balance to the Force. He takes the ounce of good still left in him and destroys the Emperor out of compassion for his son.”
He reiterated this in The Chosen One featurette in 2005, “Anakin is the Chosen One, and even when Anakin becomes Darth Vader he is still the Chosen One. The Prophecy is that Anakin will bring balance to the force and destroy the Sith. He becomes Darth Vader. Darth Vader does become the hero. Darth Vader does destroy the Sith, meaning himself and the Emperor. He does it because he is redeemed by his son. So the prophecy is true and by doing that he redeems himself and goes from being Darth Vader back to Anakin Skywalker.”
The show was indeed a success as an act or cultural vandalism. Headland was able to funnel hundreds of millions to herself and her fellow ideologues while also replacing George Lucas’ visions of the Force and eroding the Chosen One prophecy and eroding the moral clarity that once made Star Wars transcendent.
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The Woke Taliban is a smashing success at obliterating Christendom's works of art and walking away rich.
Jokes on them: we can create new beautiful things forever.
If they don't repent they'll be eternal trash
Thanks John, I hadn't heard George Lucas's explanation of Anakin Skywalker bringing balance to the force.