The Acolyte: Kathleen Kennedy Encouraged a More Personal Star Wars Story

Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy was so impressed by the writing of The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland that she encouraged her to make the upcoming Star Wars series on Disney+ more personal.

In a piece about Headland in The New York Times , the Lucasfilm boss made one important note after reading initial drafts of The Acolyte in 2019. “You’ve written a great Star Wars show,” Kennedy said to Headland. “Now go write a Leslye Headland show.”

Headland recalls Kennedy reading her sibling rivalry play “Cult of Love” and teased its themes as inspiration for a key plot point in The Acolyte.

“I have a very strained relationship with my youngest sister, and I feel like one of the reasons it is strained is that we both see each other as the bad guy,” Headland said. “And if I was going to tell a story about bad guys, it seemed to me that the place to start should be a familial relationship where one person is adamantly convinced of her correctness and the other person is also adamantly convinced of her correctness.”

Known for her work as the co-creator of the Netflix series Russian Doll, Headland was a lifelong Star Wars fan who contacted Lucasfilm directly about producing a series in the universe during the early days of Disney+. “I essentially cold-called Lucasfilm and, after a lot of conversations, found myself pitching a show — utterly elated, my ultimate career goal, the culmination of my fandom,” Headland said. “At the same time, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. There is so much pressure. It’s extreme. I had never done anything this big before.”

What is The Acolyte about?

The official synopsis for The Acolyte reads: “In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems….”

The first two episodes of The Acolyte are scheduled to be released on Disney+ on June 4th.