The Acolyte is over, and the discourse surrounding it has made social media a hostile place for weeks. There's a constant back-and-forth battle between fans who claim things like fires in space shouldn't happen or that the Jedi are way too overpowered. There are so many conversations about past lore and canon that we can't even be psyched about the massive character shown in the finale. It's finally hit me that Star Wars has become Star Trek, and I think the transition is more painful for some than others.
When I'm not watching Star Wars with my Disney+ subscription, I'm deep in the world of Star Trek and talking to actors and creatives about the small nods to other shows in the latest series. I realized recently that I had no problem with The Acolyte when it seemed some people did was because I was accustomed to the big way Trek has stood apart from its rival franchise for so long, and it has to do with storytelling.
Star Wars Is Making Shows That Require More Than Base Level Knowledge Of The Franchise To Fully Appreciate Them
For decades, Star Wars was relatively easy to follow. If you'd seen the Star Wars movies in order, you could watch or consume almost anything in its comics, games and books and not feel lost. Sure, the addition of the Clone Wars deepened the lore quite a bit, but many of us who grew up with that are now adults and have that knowledge permanently filed away.
Of course, there were always animated shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels that dove deeper into these eras, but it was supplemental at the end of the day. You didn't need to watch those shows ahead of the Sequel Trilogy, and people continued with perhaps the base knowledge of at least six movies to inform their full understanding of the franchise.
The learning curve of Star Wars fans was tested with Ahsoka Tano arriving on The Mandalorian, but with the character having a relative amount of mainstream appeal in pop culture, even those out of the loop understood her significance to the universe. Then we got Ahsoka, which introduced nuanced ideas about The Force that was touched on a lot in Rebels , but not really in any of the movies. People generally tolerated it, but it's safe to say if you weren't someone who watched the animated series, you weren't nearly as jazzed by what you saw as those who did.
Now we're at The Acolyte, which takes place in the High Republic era, has practically nothing to do with the Original Trilogy and is loosely connected to the prequels via some key characters. Suddenly, fans went from treading water to drowning in a sea of new information, and many reacted aggressively toward it. After all, there weren't witches, mind-reading Jedi or lightsaber whips in the movies, so these people must be breaking canon!
The truth is they aren't, but those who haven't read the High Republic books, comics and lore leading up to The Acolyte would have no way of knowing that because they haven't consumed it. They're still stuck on the movies or very old Legends canon that was erased by Disney several years ago. Not everyone is keeping up with the developments in canon, and they are beginning to see that if they don't, they will feel lost watching these shows.
Star Trek Fans Are Used To Lesser Known Callbacks And Deep Cuts, But This Is Newer Territory For Many Star Wars Fans
I believe I took to The Acolyte pretty well as a Star Trek fan, and I've seen many of my mutuals in the Trek community say they liked it too. Of course, in the Trek fandom, it's nothing for an episode to call back to a random creature or storyline first introduced 30 years ago and expand on them in a way we haven't seen before. Hell, Star Trek: Discovery finally established some lore about the mysterious Breen species in its final season, and while there were opinions on how it was executed, there weren't people crying foul and saying that it broke the canon of the series to do so.
As a Star Trek fan, that's my jam. I love seeing a deep-cut reference thrown into an episode and digging into the details or connections that it had. It's hard for writers to pull that off, and more often than not, the creatives hit the mark in delivering those callbacks in a fun way. It helps the universe feel connected and gives me a reason to revisit other past episodes with my Paramount+ subscription and just geek out.
Sean O'Connell, CinemaBlend's Managing Editor, is not like me. I've never known him to be a big Star Trek fan, though I know he enjoys the Kelvin timeline movies, and I think it's fair to say Star Wars is more of his jam. As such, I felt it pertinent to share his perspective on The Acolyte, in which he called it something that never even crossed my mind while watching:
I admire THE ACOLYTE. It had big ideas. The performances were solid. The execution was stodgy. I miss STAR WARS being fun and exciting. There's a ship chase in the finale that actually made me think, "Oh yeah, this used to be really fun!" Not homework. This was a lot of homework. pic.twitter.com/yg0Bv7zhqBJuly 17, 2024
Sean loves Star Wars, but even he felt exhausted by feeling lost by the foreknowledge required of the High Republic for The Acolyte. I can't relate, and honestly, I would rank this show among one of my favorites of the year. Seeing the opinion of someone I admire however has given me a new perspective, and one that helps me empathize with those who didn't like the show a bit more.
As A Star Trek Fan, I Love This New Direction, But I Get Why Some Are Frustrated
If Star Wars is becoming more like Star Trek in terms of storytelling, I'm along for the ride until the wheels fall off. At the same time, I get that there are a lot of readers and people who don't have the luxury of spending their days doing deep dives into lore and watching shows. Some people want to come home, watch the new high-budget Star Wars show, and that's it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and I can't fault anyone who watched it, felt overwhelmed and said, "It's not for me."
At the same time, I can't express how much Star Wars fans will appreciate the High Republic if they have the time to explore it more. The Acolyte seems to set up the beginning of the end of the Jedi Order, but there are other stories from the height of their power that are worth jumping into. CinemaBlend's Dirk Libbey did a brief overview of The High Republic a while back for those wanting an idea of what they're getting into.
For those that still have yet to check it out, The Acolyte is available to stream on Disney+. I do hope the arrival of a big legacy character in the finale will convince those who were on the fence to stick with it should another season happen, but only time will tell!
