‘Star Wars’ Fans Are Being Weird About ‘The Acolyte’ (2024)

A powerful Sith, a compelling mystery and a thrilling lightsaber battle; The Acolyte is proving to be one of the strongest stories of the Disney Star Wars era, but reactionary fans are being extremely weird about the show.

What Happens In Episode 5 Of ‘The Acolyte’?

Episode 5 of The Acolyte boasts a tense battle, with the masked Sith using his helmet to deflect lightsaber hits, and even short-circuit the deadly weapons.

Despite being outnumbered, the Sith ruthlessly mowed down his opponents; the battle results in a surprisingly high number of fatalities (in a predictable twist, the Sith was revealed to be Qimir, played by Manny Jacinto).

Meanwhile, long-lost twins Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) clash over their value system; Mae attempts to reconcile with her dogmatic sister, but Osha stubbornly clings to the narrative that the Jedi told her, and rejects Mae.

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In frustration, Mae knocks Osha out and switches places with her sister, in order to get closer to Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and presumably get her revenge.

At this point, it’s obvious that Mae has been framed — she lost her temper as a child and burned Osha’s book, but the fiery lantern in Mae’s hand was shattered offscreen, a clear indication that someone else started the fire that killed the witches.

Mae blames the Jedi and Osha blames Mae, but there’s a possibility that Qimir was involved, as Sith tend to provoke in-fighting among the Jedi while hiding in the shadows.

The episode has everything that a good Star Wars story should — a family feud, a powerful, manipulative antagonist, and a tense lightsaber duel that introduces a creative new fighting technique.

Many Star Wars fans are loving the series so far, but a segment of the fanbase has been overly critical, nitpicking minor details and review bombing the show.

Star Wars fans have been angry about Star Wars since the prequel trilogy, but the current split in the fandom is even more petty than usual.

Indeed, some of the criticisms directed at The Acolyte have proved absurd.

The War Over Wookieepedia

The editors of the official Star Wars wiki, Wookieepedia, recently received intense backlash from angry fans after editing the birthday of a Jedi from the prequel trilogy, an alien known as “Ki-Adi-Mundi.”

If you don’t know who Ki-Adi-Mundi is, you’re not alone, as the Jedi is a background character with a handful of lines. The character appears in The Acolyte, a century before his introduction in The Phantom Menace, and his date of birth was changed to reflect the cameo.

Following the edit, Wookieepedia editors were startled by the viciousness of the backlash, with some reportedly receiving death threats.

The absurdity of the “controversy” inspired many memes online, with commentators wondering how any Star Wars fan could possibly get emotional about the birthday of Ki-Adi-Mundi.

The cone-headed character managed to spark controversy again, after his quote about the Sith being “extinct” was brought up in the wake of The Acolyte unveiling Qimir as the masked stranger, with critics viewing the moment as “breaking canon.”

This is far from the first time that Star Wars lore has been altered with a new story.

However, the point of Ki-Adi-Mundi declaring the Sith extinct is that he is wrong. Indeed, one of the biggest plot points of the prequel trilogy is that the Jedi had become too complacent to recognize a Sith in their midst.

Some of the criticisms from reactionary influencers were openly hostile, and clearly made in bad faith. For example, the scene in which Mae cuts her hair with a lightsaber was heavily criticized, for some reason.

The trope of a samurai or knight cutting their long hair with a sword is common, and represents a new beginning — one of the most famous examples can be seen in Disney’s animated adaptation of Mulan.

The show was also criticized for Padawans being too skilled at lightsaber duels (another common Star Wars trope), the fact that the Jedi could not sense the Sith before he revealed himself (this occurs repeatedly in the prequels), and the fact that the Sith helmet could deflect lightsaber blades (the helmet is made of Cortosis, a special metal).

The barrage of bad-faith critiques implies that some Star Wars fans would probably hate the original trilogy if it was released today — all of these films have retcons, mistakes and awkward lines of dialogue.

There has been much to criticize about Disney’s handling of Star Wars — the excessive use of nostalgia, meandering storylines and too many spin-offs — but The Acolyte is an attempt to tell a new story within the Star Wars universe, using familiar tropes.

The show is not for everyone, but it’s far from a disaster — getting upset over the birthday of a background character indicates that some fans are trying (and failing) to find fault with the series.

It might be the case that reactionary influencers have become accustomed to making bitter complaints for the sake of their subscribers, and keep watching the series in order to attract engagement.

Manufactured controversy aside, The Acolyte, I think, is pretty good.

Forbes'The Acolyte' Episode 3 Controversy, ExplainedBy

‘Star Wars’ Fans Are Being Weird About ‘The Acolyte’ (2024)

FAQs

What are critics saying about The Acolyte? ›

“[The Acolyte] doesn't really offer anything new to the universe in the way that Andor did, and ultimately feels a bit forced.” “It's not amazing, but it's not terrible.” “This is not the worst we've seen from Star Wars TV, nor is it the best.”

Is The Acolyte a flop? ›

Despite extremely positive critic reviews overall, The Acolyte has managed to put up the lowest audience scores in the entire history of the Star Wars franchise, save one classic failure.

Why is The Acolyte getting review bombed? ›

Since some reports connected this flood of bad scores to the show's diverse cast and LGBTQ+ themes—er, “lesbian space witches”—there's been debate about whether the poor reviews were coming from homophobic, racist, or misogynist corners of the fandom.

How many dislikes does The Acolyte trailer have? ›

they will go to sand planet and then someone will eat the dirt and say 'pepper'. Agreed, while Disney has been pretty iffy.

Has The Acolyte been cancelled? ›

As of late May, The Acolyte hasn't been canceled. The original rumor came from That Park Place, who claimed that "an alleged insider at Lucasfilm" straight-up told them a second season won't happen.

Will we see Yoda in The Acolyte? ›

"No, there is not [a Yoda cameo]. We are pulling characters from the High Republic and characters from EU [the Expanded Universe, AKA Legends]. That's it." By the sounds of it, then, we won't be seeing Yoda – though, never say never.

Which Sith is The Acolyte? ›

Qimir Was Revealed to be The Acolyte's Sith Lord

The biggest reveal of The Acolyte so far came in Episode 5, "Night," when during a fight with Jecki (Dafne Keen), the Sith lord got his mask knocked off, and, just after stabbing Jecki three times and killing her, his identity revealed.

Are people watching The Acolyte? ›

Nielsen's viewership data shows The Acolyte performing reasonably well but lower than other Star Wars Disney+ shows. The Acolyte's success should not be compared to The Mandalorian, as it needs to expand beyond established names for the franchise's growth.

Will Darth Bane be in The Acolyte? ›

One character we know will not be even mentioned in season 1 is Darth Bane, who is now, in canon, the establisher of the Rule of Two. Headland said that she tried to introduce a brief reference to him in The Acolyte but it didn't work: “I really toyed with utilizing Darth Bane or mentioning Bane.

Is Darth Nihilus in The Acolyte? ›

Darth Nihilus will appear. Dooku will appear. Yoda will appear.

Will Darth Tenebrous be in The Acolyte? ›

Since The Acolyte takes place around 132 BBY, Tenebrous would have been alive and active as a Sith Lord during the show. While it's certainly possible that Tenebrous is in The Acolyte, it also hasn't yet been confirmed at this point.

Is Keanu Reeves in acolyte? ›

What's more, Reeves is still not officially attached to the production. So, for now, Keanu Reeves is not in The Acolyte, although it's possible that the Hollywood icon did indeed shoot a cameo that Lucasfilm is keeping under wraps.

Is The Acolyte about Palpatine? ›

Thanks to Star Wars' new Acolyte series, greater focus has been placed on Palpatine's master Darth Plagueis, who had the alleged power to create life via Force manipulation.

Is The Acolyte worth watching? ›

A full 58% of its 66,000 reviews have given it one star. I've been called a defender of the show for covering this movement against the series, though honestly, I think it's “just okay.” So far, I'd put it above Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, but probably not the others.

Will there be an acolyte season 2? ›

So far, Disney+ has not renewed The Acolyte for a second season. However, there have been “conversations” about continuing the Star Wars prequel for another chapter.

How many people watched The Acolyte? ›

The show is doing fairly well, but not great
TV showEstimated minutes of viewing
Obi-Wan Kenobi513 million
Ahsoka414.5 million
The Book of Boba Fett389 million
The Acolyte244 million
3 more rows
6 days ago

Is The Acolyte about Darth Plagueis? ›

However, based on a recent interview with showrunner Leslye Headland, it sounds like the show might be able to redeem itself in a powerful way if it gets another season. That's because future seasons of The Acolyte would explore more of the Darth Plagueis, the mysterious Sith who trained Emperor Palpatine.

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