The Witches of The Acolyte
A conversation with Pam about The Thread
In what I would call terrible f*&king news, The Acolyte has reportedly not been renewed for a second season.
Boo hiss.
I certainly hope the man-o-sphere doesn’t take a victory lap, because my guess is, this is more the result of saturation than comments-sections and review-bombing. The Acolyte was the sixth live-action Star Wars series since 2019, and the eighth season of television Lucasfilm has produced in five years. That’s not even counting The Bad Batch or extra Clone Wars or Tales of the Jedi or Visions. That’s a lot of Star Wars. You could tell the general public was less excited about a high-concept, entirely new show with new characters. If this same show was released in 2020 as the first Star Wars series after the Skywalker Saga? It would have been a sensation.
Alas.
But, let’s face it, give it a few years, and they’ll be announcing an Acolyte reunion streaming mini-series or something. It’s Star Wars. Nostalgia will win the day. Somehow, The Acolyte will return.
Anyway, I loved The Acolyte, it was exactly my kind of Star Wars. I think it served up incredible writing, acting, new ideas, and thematic resonance with the original. Truly great Star Wars.
I loved it so much that I had a conversation with my wife on a Patreon-only episode of her podcast, The Witch Wave. She gave me permission to post a free version of our conversation in full, and I hope you enjoy it. It’s about the way Star Wars treats witches and how The Acolyte represents and evolution in how it represents them.
I’d love to know how you receive the conversation!
Enjoy!
I totally agree with you. You are also not alone. I am a '77 SW fan from the ripe old age of 9 and I can never have enough. Ever. I don't care if they stream a new series, old series, extended series , 23 episodes , 52 weeks a year until the day I am One with the Force.
The Acolyte was so deliciously SW and had /has ( we got to keep,hope alive for after all, "Rebellions are built on hope"* are they not? ) that element of a story without a certain conclusion.
I live in the deep rural french countryside. Seeing a SW movie in English requires quite an effort. Ie for Rogue One I had to pay a person to work for me ( farm, not moisture and no droids to help sadly). I had to go by bus and train to Bordeaux just in time to see the screening at 10 am which was the first in the country as the big premiere was held in Paris but in the evening Amd I don't care two continental womprats.
I saw it first ( effects of the competition my twin sister and I had back in the movies days of who could see the movie first and then the most. My mother and grandmother and other innocents were bribed, lied to, cajoled. We bunked school. I even got my self a medical note from our doctor who was a SW fan herself and we went together which resulted in me winning the ESB prize of seeing the movie 17 times before it went off circuit. Not bad for a farm girl at boarding school ( this time it was a tea farm with the nearest drive in back in '77 two hours away tea but also in the middle of nowhere in South Africa ). Living and growing up under the " heel of the Empire/ apartheid system that was no small achievement. The die was cast. In fact we listened to SW over a little LP player with a study book with pictures and only saw the actual movie at the drive in 6 month after international release.
Getting ANY books from the EU /legends was tough and people had to get it mail
Ordered.
Magazines and comics were nigh impossible.
My luck changed when I was sent to the USA to train ( Aggie land ) and do a work exchange with the FDNY , Orlando FL ( free Disneyland access so I saw Jabbas yacht ) and Phoenix with visits to LA County and Chicago FD's. I promise I came back with 100 kg. Half was fire gear and tools which I will get sent to the Spice mines if Kessel for. The other half was books and SA stuff we could not get.
So I am so disappointed and shall write to Lucas Film about this.
Let's all, write write write. The Acolyte is telling an important story. Sol's death still burns and I can't wait to see the dynamic between Osha and Qimir develop and to see who is really behind this.
*Cassian Andor/ Jyn Erso
It makes me sad too. I loved all the High Republic books and was hoping this would lead to a whole generation of new interest in that era. There are some books coming that tie in with Acolyte so I suppose we'll see what happens if enough positive buzz forms. There's so much great material to bring to the screen. I've been a fan since seeing A New Hope in 77 when I was 10 and I can still never get enough.
I hope that something can be done some time soon about review bombing and AI bots trolling comment threads with racism, sexism and just general hate and negativity. It's affecting everything. Media, culture, elections, etc.