‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Pitch Reportedly Moved Everyone to Tears with its Excellence, Including Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ is an upcoming Disney+ series set in the expansive Star Wars universe. The concept for the show emerged in 2019 after the premiere of ‘The Rise of Skywalker,’ with creator Leslye Headland expressing her passion for the franchise.

In April 2020, it was officially announced that Headland would be writing and show running a new Star Wars series focused on female characters for Disney+. Staffing for the series had already begun, and it was expected to delve into a unique era within the Star Wars universe, distinct from other projects.

Initially, Headland described her pitch for the show as a blend of “Frozen meets Kill Bill,” drawing from various influences. Recently, producer Rayne Roberts detailed the pitch for SFX Magazine, disclosing that it resonated deeply with everyone present to the extent that tears were shed throughout the room.

Leslye said it was Frozen meets Kill Bill in Star Wars. It immediately communicated a kind of emotional entanglement and also high-octane action. It was like, ‘I think I understand what that is,’ and it started a conversation that led to me elevating her pitch, ultimately up to Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president]. Leslye is an amazing storyteller and when she finally pitched Kathy, everyone was crying. It was that kind of meeting.

Producer Simon Emanuel reiterated the significance of action in the show, a point emphasized by both the stars and creator Leslye Headland. Dafne Keen and Amandla Stenberg boasted about weeks of training, refining moves and action sequences that would rival some of the franchise’s best fights. Emanuel simply affirmed these rumors:

The thing I picked up on and got very excited about was Kill Bill. One of the things we talked about really early on was action, and I really believe that, in these kinds of shows, action has to be a character. It can’t just be, ‘Give me a punch, give me a lightsaber fight…’ So I introduced Leslye to a guy called Chris Clark Cowan, who was our action designer, and part of the team who worked on the Darth Vader sequence in Rogue One. Leslye and Chris completely fell in love, and action became such a component of this story. For me, it’s the best action the franchise has seen – and there’s so much of it.

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