Lucasfilm Vows to Resist Any Acolyte Backlash

Lucasfilm has had what can, charitably, be described as a rocky history with the way it has handled Star Wars frequently finding themselves the target of ever-evolving reactionary culture war. In fits and starts, the studio has struggled to defend the stars and crew against harassment and baseless accusations, with John Boyega’s faux outrage being portrayed as a black Stormtrooper In the force awakensuntil his Rey’s next film. But things have improved, to a point, and with his latest show, The Acolytethe company is at least willing to acknowledge that it is willing to defend its work against bad faith bigotry.

“I believe storytelling should be representative of everyone,” Lucasfilm executive Kathleen Kennedy said recently. New York Timesdiscussing a backlash from some corners of the internet against the upcoming Disney+ series, decrying the series for highlighting characters of color and women in its casting. “It’s an easy decision for me.”

“Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation, it’s terrifying,” Kennedy added. “I think Leslye (Headland, The Acolyte‘s showrunner) struggled a bit with this. I think a lot of women who come into Star Wars struggle with it a little more. Because the fan base is very male dominated, they are sometimes attacked in quite personal ways.

As simple a statement as the producer may be, it is at least an acknowledgment that Kennedy and Lucasfilm were reluctant to do relentlessly in recent years, while Star Wars project after Star Wars the project had to endure attempts to right-wing crooks center their work within the cultural conflict that has increasingly dominated political discourse over the past decade. Before they rallied wrestler and actress Gina Carano after Lucasfilm dropped her Since The Mandalorian following multiple comments on social media regarding pronoun use, vaccination, and the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, the the same commentators bristled to Carano’s character, a former rebel heavy soldier named Cara Dune, for her appearance in The Mandalorian as a battle-hardened female soldier, capable of facing the series’ protagonist in combat.

Loud abuse and harassment by Kelly Marie Tran for her interpretation of Rose Tico in The Last Jedi– even beyond what this film ultimately became as another major inflection point in this “culture war” – not only did Lucasfilm fail to adequately defend the actress at the time, it apparently responded to this reaction by greatly reducing The role of Rose in its sequel, The Rise of Skywalker. The studio also remained silent earlier this year, when Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the director of the upcoming Rey Skywalker film, faced online abuse for an unrelated comment she made at the Women in the World summit . Star Wars work, where she said part of her process as a filmmaker was making men “uncomfortable”, adding “it’s only when you’re uncomfortable…when you have to have difficult conversations, that you might look at yourself in the mirror and not at the reflection.

There has long been a racial element in the reaction Star Wars also found himself targeted by. As previously mentioned, sequel trilogy star John Boyega openly discussed the lack of support he felt from the studio when he faced racial harassment for playing Finn, as well as his frustrations with the character’s arc. But Boyega also explained how things slowly changed for others in the franchise for the best since he moved away Star Warsas with Lucasfilm’s unwavering support for Moses Ingram, who faced similar abuse for her role as Inquisitor Reva in Obi Wan Kenobi. In Ingram’s case, the studio was quick to publicly support the actresswith a recorded statement from his co-star Ewan McGregor in which he said: “We stand with Moses, we love Moses… and if you send him bullying messages, you are not Star Wars fan in my mind. There is no place for racism in this world. Likewise, The AcolyteShowrunner Leslye Headland was ready to say the same thing to her series’ preemptive detractors.

“As a fan myself, I know how frustrating some people are. Star Wars storytelling in the past has been. I felt it myself,” Headland said in his own comment to the Times. “I maintain my empathy for Star Wars Fans. But I want to be clear. Anyone who engages in bigotry, racism, or hate speech…I don’t consider them a fan.

Time will tell how The Acolyte stands up to this kind of bad faith criticism – after all, part of what has made the backlash about the show so absurd, beyond its obvious bigotry, is that it’s based on a show that most people haven’t seen beyond a trailer yet (what’s it worth, people who to have I saw it seems to take full advantage of it). But on the eve of his arrival next week, Kennedy and Headland publicly denouncing bigoted abuse is a positive step in the right direction: and a sign that Lucasfilm, at least this time, knows what it’s getting into whether the series discovers itself in the face of the unyielding nature of the right-wing culture war.

Star Wars: The Sidekick begins streaming June 4 on Disney+.

(This post was originally published on Gizmodo.)