New 'Star Wars' show ‘The Acolyte’ is already a woke disaster months before its debut

This summer, a new "Star Wars" production called “The Acolyte” will drop on Disney+, and like most Disney productions, this series will likely push political propaganda and alienate the original fanbase.

“It looks like this series is going to be the worst that Disney 'Star Wars' has ever seen,” sighs Lauren Chen.

Unfortunately, the premise of the series appears quite strong, making it a missed opportunity to connect with longtime "Star Wars" fans.

According to Comic Book Resources, “‘The Acolyte’ is set approximately 100 years before the first prequel trilogy film, ‘Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.’ The story will primarily follow Stenberg's former Padawan as she reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes.”

“Maybe it's just me and my love of mystery thrillers, but that as a premise sounds kind of interesting,” says Lauren.

But the compelling premise is where the good news ends, unfortunately.

“The people involved with the project” are why the series will likely take a nosedive. For starters, the creator of the series is Leslye Headland, who Lauren says is “fully unprepared and unqualified to be heading up a 'Star Wars' project” granted her previous work almost exclusively revolves around “shows that are about female promiscuity.”

“[Disney] keeps throwing creatives at these huge, blockbuster, sci-fi projects who have absolutely no experience with huge, blockbuster, sci-fi projects,” she laments, adding that “there are executives at Disney who are obsessed with DEI and who know nothing about actually making films and TV shows.”

Further, Comic Book Resources reported that Headland revealed “‘The Acolyte’ would approach the Jedi from a different perspective, proving that they were wrong in ‘The Phantom Menace.”’

"When you're doing something completely original like we are, you want to question the status quo of the era that you live in," Headland stated.

“Why does everything now have to be subversive? Why does everything new have to undermine what came before?” asks Lauren.

To make matters worse, the star of the series, Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in “The Hunger Games,” is well known for her “LGBTQ+, BLM activism on social media.”

“She is certainly one of those celebrities who makes her political and social positions the headline no matter what she does, so her involvement in this series, I think, is concerning in and of itself,” says Lauren.

But it seems like that’s exactly what Headland was looking for, as she’s made it known that she created “The Acolyte” with Stenberg in mind for the lead role.

In Stenberg’s interview with C Magazine, she said, “In the context of the Star Wars universe, it’s a time of great peace, theoretically. It’s also a time of an institution, and it’s a time in which conceptions around the Force are very strict. And I think what we’re trying to explore within our show is when an institution has a singular conception of how power can be used…We try to provide a lot of different perspectives and answers to that question. The idea is to kind of honor the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force and also challenge them, hopefully harmoniously.”

“Why can't these shows be character- and lore-driven rather than thematically driven?” asks Lauren, adding that the answer is “because anybody, including these DEI hires, can appreciate the themes of 'Star Wars,' but it actually takes a 'Star Wars' fan to engage with the characters as they have been written and the lore as it has been presented.”

Stenberg also took time to blast Hollywood as a “white institution” on a recent podcast:

“I was not fully cognizant of Hollywood as a white institution ... I was aware in terms of the direct experiences I had, you know, being a little brown girl and only getting particular kinds of role submissions ... Representations within Hollywood are going to be extensions of white supremacy," she said.

Lauren is shocked that “this girl can call Hollywood white supremacist when most Hollywood institutions are actively pushing DEI and saying, ‘We need things to be queerer, blacker, more female.”’

“It seems like [Stenberg] and [Headland] are of the same mind, where 'Star Wars' needs to tell a message, and that message is not actually 'Star Wars'; it's social justice.”

Want more from Lauren Chen?

To enjoy more of Lauren’s pro-liberty, pro-logic, and pro-market commentary on social and political issues, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.