The Dark Side thrives in The Acolyte‘s May The Fourth trailer
Manny Jacinto gets all the best lines in The Acolyte's new trailer—but what is the new Star Wars series actually about?
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Hey, be straight with us for a second: Is The Acolyte a Star Wars cop show?
That’s the impression we can’t help but get from the new trailer for the upcoming Disney+ series, which stars Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae as a Jedi master investigating a series of killings of his fellow robe-folk, apparently perpetrated by former student Amandla Stenberg. Admittedly, the new trailer—released in honor of May 4th, which, as we all know, is phonetically similar to the thing—doesn’t have a ton of cop show tropes. But there’s a vibe of seeing all these brown-robed Jedi hanging out together, talking about investigations and “bringing people in,” that makes us suspect this could be the equivalent of the way The Mandalorian treats Westerns.
Or maybe we’re just grasping at straws, because despite running for almost two minutes, it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot to this latest full look at The Acolyte. Sure, the Dark Side is clearly rising, but the Dark Side is always rising in these damn things; it’d be a pretty boring TV show if it took place during a Dark Side recession. The big final reveal, of a helmeted baddie with a red lightsaber, feels close to self-parody. And the show’s biggest conceptual shift—that it’s the first live-action series to take place in the relatively new High Republic era, when Jedi were abundant—feels sorely under-used.
It all looks neat enough, though, with Jodie Turner-Smith looking extremely cool as a “Force witch,” and Manny Jacinto getting to do his version of the Star Wars scoundrel archetype, rolling his eyes at the idea that the Jedi actually provide the galaxy with peace. We’ll know more, of course, when The Acolyte releases on Disney+ next month, prompting that most famous of Star Wars phrases: June the Fourth be with you!
27 Comments
I thought the prequels made it clear (and one of many things people didn’t like about them) was that the Jedi were like space cops before the Galactic Civil War. At just a few hundred years before the fall of the Republic, I would expect that to still be the status quo for this show.it’d be a pretty boring TV show if it took place during a Dark Side recession.Hear me out: maybe there’s a slice of time in the SW Galaxy where the Jedi aren’t stressed out about the Dark Side, but bad things are happening to non-Force users somewhere else?No?Just spitballin’.
why would that be good lol
Because some people are tired of the same Light Side vs Dark Side conflict in every single Star Wars show that gets put out. What’s the point of all the world building Star Wars is obsessed with if they just regurgitate the same story over and over again? lol
What world building are they obsessed with? lol
Hi nerds, 5/4 is Dave Brubeck day.
I always liked Billy Joel’s technique of keeping 5/4 time. For example..
4/4: My Funny Valen-tine. Sweet Comic Valen-tine.
5/4: My Funny Fucken Valen-tine. Sweet Comic Fucken Valen-tine.
Keeping 5/4 time is tough.
Oh, you wanna get weird with time signatures? Let’s get weird, sunshine:
Pretty sure that’s 7/4, which can be simplified to 3/4 4/4. 5/4 can’t really be simplified so is arguably weirder.
How about this gem?
*Maynard sits bolt upright*
“Turn It On Again” switches between 13/4 and 9/4. Mike Rutherford didn’t even realize what meter it was in and he wrote it.
I can’t wait for the 13th of August:
Though due to America’s weird date numbering system, they’d have to play it in 8/13 time which has the potential to tear the fabric of the space-time continuum.
Yeah, but they can fix that by having NASCAR run a race in the opposite direction. Or get the Mexicans to teach them how to play it properly:
Well this is weird. I had no idea but was hearing “Time Out” on a loop in my head all day yesterday. Must have been something in the air.
No idea why I thought this was a feature film. Looks good! Oh well. I’m not getting another subscription to D+ any time soon.
You can’t really tell quality from trailers but a Jedi murder mystery without any of the million characters from the movies in it intrigues more then most of the other offerings so far. I always felt expanding Star Wars would mean telling stories that didn’t involve Luke, Leia, Han and the friends that made along the way. And I’m glad this won’t be a “Hey it’s that guy from Clone Wars” Filoni fest. I’ll give it a shot
But scra-scra-scree women and queer.
By the way, these people seem to be pretty quiet about the non-binary Jedi in Tales of the Empire. Probably because no one told them to be mad about it, and they’re so little able to think for themselves that they couldn’t get there on their own.
Tales might be a bit obscure for a gotcha like that, but ultimately it’s the same deal: They don’t actually know Star Wars (or Star Trek, X-Men, Doctor Who, etc.). They know they don’t likey minoritey, and assume in real time the franchises are all made up of people that don’t make them uncomfortable by existing unless specifically told otherwise, since it’s Made For Them, The Fans.
I didn’t even notice. I wouldn’t even be sure who you meant, but I think there was only one jedi.
Are you joking? It’s getting made fun of all over reddit and twitter. Lynn decided to respect the they/them pronouns after massacring a whole village! 😂
You say that now, but just wait until jae’s jedi character goes into the office to give a bad report on the murder investigation only for a young precinct captain by the name of YODA, who will say something along the lines of, “up my ass, the senate judiciary committee is, sent an intern to oversee the investigation, they did. By the book, you must do this, or your lightsaber and robes, I’ll need.” And then he gestures to a very young Sheev Palpatine in an awkwardly youthful outfit, and the look of someone who got where he did through fraternity connections. I’ll shoot my TV and we’ll all know that we’re stuck with these characters forever until the end of time.
The show’s not out yet, there’s unfortunately plenty of time for “Hey, it’s that guy” cameos to (somehow) rear their familiar heads.
The big final reveal, of a helmeted baddie with a red lightsaber, feels close to self-parody.
OK, Grumpy McGrumperson, if that serial killer helmet at the end didn’t do it for you, this show is not going to be your thing.As for me, I’m looking forward to someone kicking Jedi in the ass. Well, stabbing them in the throat. One or the other.
Amandla Stenberg was hot in Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Hey, be straight with us for a second: Is The Acolyte a Star Wars cop show?It’s been done. In the 1990s no less!