The Star Wars universe has a unique characteristic, where it leaves you shocked when you least expected it. So has happened with its newest ‘stand-alone’ series, The Acolyte. Opening with a bang that one least predicted, the series is certainly one that fans should watch out for, even though its reception pre-release was one of the worst ones that a Star Wars project has ever received.
Created by Leslye Headland, the showrunner recently got candid about what inspired her to create the cold open scene at the start of the show featuring Carrie-Ann Moss’ Master Indra. Revealing her thought process behind the scenes, Headland revealed she was inspired by the drug drama, Breaking Bad.
Leslye Headland on Carrie-Ann Moss’ Cold Opening Scene in The Acolyte
While we were certainly excited to see Master Indra showing off her Jedi moves, she was struck down by Mae. In the first and possibly her last scene in the show, no one was expecting that Carrie-Ann Moss’ journey in The Acolyte would end before it could even begin.
In an interview with Games Radar, Leslye Headland revealed her reasoning behind such a powerful and brutal opening of The Acolyte.
From a filmmaker perspective, I just felt like with the cold open, especially with a new story, that you just have to go hard. You have to say the Jedi are going to take some Ls; you’re not going to know who the good guys and the bad guys are. And it’s going to feel very visceral.
Well if that is the case, we know one thing for sure this isn’t going to be just another Star Wars show. And seeing how well the first two episodes of the series have fared, one can hardly wait to see what Leslye has cooked for her Star Wars debut.
Leslye Headland Took Inspiration from Breaking Bad to Create the Cold Open Scene
Although the two shows have little in common, the showrunner revealed she fashioned her infamous cold open scene, featuring Carrie-Ann Moss, on the show’s opening scenes. In her interview with Entertainment Weekly, Headland remarked,
Not to compare myself at all to Vince Gilligan, but the cold open to Breaking Bad is one of the best cold opens ever. So whenever I sit down to write anything, I’m like, ‘Well, I won’t be able to top that, but in my show, what’s the version of that?’ And it felt like the best I could come up with was killing Carrie-Anne Moss. It was icing Trinity and just having everyone go, ‘I’m sorry. What’s happening in this?’
While Leslye Headland is happy with her results, and the critics so far are loving the show as well (see Rotten Tomatoes), Headland just needs to do one thing more, aka convince the loyal fans of Star Wars as well. For instead of celebrating a stand-alone Star Wars series, fans still are not convinced the show is worth watching (see X).
The Acolyte can be streamed on Disney+.
