The Acolyte is the latest Star Wars project that has made its way to the screens, with director cum screenwriter Leslye Headland taming it at its helm. While the series has garnered some major critical acclaim, the general audiences and most fan views tend to differ, especially because of the controversial storyline it has followed so far — one that fans can’t help but term “woke.”
That said, Headland isn’t the only one for critics to praise and fans to curse for bringing something new like this to the table. As it turns out, one other veteran of the saga, who himself has produced some of the most epic SW projects, was an unsung hero in helping Headland develop this controversial storyline. This was Dave Filoni, who is the current Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm.
Dave Filoni was a “Kind of a Mentor” to Leslye Headland During The Acolyte
As the fandom is already aware, the director cum producer cum screenwriter, Dave Filoni has created some of the most smash-hit shows for George Lucas‘ dazzling space opera, including live-action pieces like The Mandalorian and anima0ted ones like Star Wars Rebels.
And, as it turns out, he seems to have also lent a part of his brains to Headland for The Acolyte.
According to what the showrunner herself admitted during a recent interview with StarWars.com, the current Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm proved to be a major influence for her while she was busy developing the “woke” storyline in this latest SW series.
Explaining how immensely he contributed to the making of the series, Leslye Headland said:
Dave very quickly became kind of a mentor of mine in terms of navigating what this part of the timeline would be like for both the Jedi and then other Force users.
For those who may not know, the script for this latest series has been inspired by Mother Talzin and her coven from the fan-favorite The Clone Wars series. But had it not been for Dave Filoni, Headland may not have gotten to creating her own in-world coven led by Mother Aniseya.
As per what the Sleeping with Other People director herself claimed during the same interview while talking about Filoni:
It was kind of this ‘A-ha!’ moment for me when he told me, ‘You know, not all witches are Nightsisters.’
That said, this most certainly explains where all of those ideas related to the witch coven at the center of this series stemmed from (even though a majority of those ideas are being deemed incredibly controversial by the fans).
However, instead of this news pleasing fans about how someone like Filoni played a major hand in this exclusive SW series and them even giving this show a chance because of the same, fans are now hoping that if the saga continues to go this way, then it might as well be put an end to.
Fans Aren’t Happy with Filoni Contributing to This Controversial Storyline
Despite Headland seemingly trying to desperately save her ship by telling fans that it was Filoni who inspired her to take a turn with this major character arc, it sounds like fans are anything but convinced about this series after reading their reviews on X/Twitter.
In fact, if anything, fans are utterly devastated with how even Filoni contributed to this storyline, with quite a few of them even claiming at this point how “They alllll gotta go” before they further trash the franchise with “so much mediocre storytelling.”
All in all, here’s how they’re reacting to this news on X:
I used to think people like MauLer, Ryan Kinel etc were over the top with their criticisms towards Dave Filoni but it’s getting to the point where Dave IS part of the problem. He’s letting so much mediocre storytelling & BS sneak through the cracks. Which is weird because his…
— 𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑹𝑨/𝑪𝑽𝑳𝑻𝑽𝑹𝑬 (@RON1NSenju) June 13, 2024
They alllll gotta go. 🤦♂️
— Kobe Wan (@ogKOBEWAN) June 13, 2024
Yeah, they all gotta go
— 🥷MidnightFenrir🎮 (@MidnightFenrir_) June 13, 2024
— Mark Zuckerberg – Parody (@MarkZuckss) June 13, 2024
Nobody cares. This isn't Star Wars.
— Melissa Kampers (@MelissaKampers) June 14, 2024
Then we really are lost….
— 7th Seal (@dirtyoldashaman) June 14, 2024
Dave used to be the last great Star Wars writer/creator…how the mighty have fallen.
— Joey Rotella (@ODST_J0NES) June 14, 2024
If this is the future of Star Wars, please let the franchise die.
— Djanyell (@ofToussaint87) June 14, 2024
To put it in a nutshell, critics may have lent their approval to Headland for bringing something so extraordinarily new and never-seen-before stuff to the table, these die-hard SW fans can’t be won over that easily — even after knowing someone like Dave Filoni had a hand in it.
You can stream The Acolyte on Disney+.
