Leslye Headland Discusses ‘Acolyte’ Inspiration: “My Elevator Pitch Was ‘Frozen’ Meets ‘Kill Bill’”

Yesterday, a trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ came out, giving us our initial glimpse of the characters and the High Republic backdrop. This series marks the first live-action portrayal set in this era and the second overall (following ‘Young Jedi Adventures’). Headland, a long-time Star Wars enthusiast since her teenage years, eagerly seized the chance to contribute fresh and distinctive elements to the franchise’s lore. In her recent interview with THR, she delved into her inspirations and offered insights into what viewers can anticipate from the show.

I’m calling Lucasfilm. That’s where I want to work. That’s what I want to do.” So I pitched them. My elevator pitch was Frozen meets Kill Bill, which I said at [Star Wars] Celebration, and I went through what I believed would be a rough season one outline and then an overall series bible, essentially. And Kathleen [Kennedy] bought it in the room and said, “I love it. I want to start working on it.

The trailer featured lots of action, hinting at some exciting Jedi battles. Headland mentioned that Samurai films were her main inspiration for the show.

We were obviously influenced by samurai films and wuxia films, but also films like Rashomon, where you see one story and then you see it done a different way. So, what separates [Star Wars: The Acolyte] from some of the other Star Wars series is that it’s told in that particular way.

Aas you can see from the trailer, a lot of martial arts. So we had an incredible stunt team that did some incredible wire work, and the talent did a lot of their own action. A lot of them had either done it before, like Carrie-Anne Moss, Lee Jung-jae and Dafne Keen. And then Amandla [Stenberg] just threw herself into training and did incredible work in a short amount of time. It got to the point where we started calling her Bruce Lee because she was too fast. We were like, “You have to slow down because we can’t tell that it’s your face. You look like your stunt double because you’re going so quickly. We have to actually catch the move

Leslye clarified that ‘Acolyte’ will tell its story in a unique way compared to other similar shows.

One thing to know about the show is that we’ve been talking about it as a mystery-thriller. It is a serialized story, so each episode gives you more information about the story.

In earlier interviews, Headland mentioned choosing the High Republic era deliberately to portray the Jedi at their strongest, as a respected institution. Unlike the usual Star Wars setup of the underdog challenging authority, ‘Acolyte’ will flip the script, presenting the Jedi Order as the established power facing challenges from lesser forces. It sounds like a compelling premise, and I’m eager to see how Headland develops it. The show debuts on June 4 on Disney+ with its first two episodes. Any thoughts to share? Feel free to comment below!