This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: The Acolyte Hype, How Echos Release Plans Could Affect Star Wars, and More

Happy Sunday, and welcome back to 'This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away', as we are still waiting for the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike. No, this isn't a dèja vu from last week, but I'm quite confident a big announcement will be made within the next 24 hours. Maybe even by the time you're reading this, it's finally happened. (As I was putting the final touches to the article, Variety reported that SAG-AFTRA is taking another day to respond. May the Force Be With Us All.) That's not the topic of today's article, though, as we'll be talking about The Acolyte and some streaming developments that may impact Star Wars.



But first, something to keep an eye out for:

• On Wednesday, Bob Iger is hosting Disney's Q4 and full fiscal 2023 results. Why does this matter? Well, it's been a traditionally relevant call for Star Wars. In 2017, it was announced there that there would be a live-action Star Wars series made for Disney Plus (The Mandalorian), in 2021, Bob Chapek announced that Andor would be coming out in the July-September 2022 window, and in 2022, this was the infamous call that eventually got Chapek booted by the Disney board. It seems likely that we'll get some announcement of how the strikes will impact the company in the near future, but whether that means something for Star Wars or not, we'll have to wait and see.

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<h2>There Things That May Have Flown Casual</h2>

• Disney acquires full control of Hulu: We'll get back to this for one of our main topics tonight, but in case you missed it in a week of trailers for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, damning HBO reports, or just a ton of 'Marvel doom' talk, Bob Iger has announced that they will be buying out Comcast's 1/3 stake on Hulu by the end of 2024. The figure: more than twice what they paid for Lucasfilm. Worth it? We'll see.
• Speaking of which, it was the 11th anniversary of the Disney-Lucasfilm deal this past Monday. It was also SWNN's 11th anniversary, so happy birthday to us! Here's to 11 more, with you by our side.
• The developers behind Star Wars: Hunters still want you to believe the game exists.

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<h2>The Acolyte Hype</h2>


I was a bit surprised this Wednesday after we posted a story on the full list of writers for The Acolyte by the response from our readers, both in the comment section and on social media. Most of them were just excited to hear the term 'writers',  in reference to what I think we can agree has been one of the big problems with Star Wars lately: single-writer seasons of TV.



To me, the announcement on the WGA website was just another reminder that every day we're closer and closer to the show's release, and I just can't wait. At this point, the only reason I'm kind of looking forward to Skeleton Crew is the directing lineup, so could we just skip it altogether? Just release the episode from the Daniels as a special or something and let's get to The Acolyte. (I'm kidding, obviously, and I do hope I'm forced to eat my words in a few months.) Lesley Headland's show sounds different, and it doesn't really tie into anything else. It's isolated, so I don't have to convince my friends they actually don't need to watch a four-season animated series to enjoy it.



There are a million reasons for me to be hyped up about The Acolyte, but the main one is that it takes the chance to explore a whole different area of the galaxy. Maybe not geographically, but certainly in the timeline and also in the characters: we're going to the dark side. But we're also gonna have plenty of Jedi. Could we see the corruption of several of our main characters to turn their lightsabers from green to red? Let's see some conflict that is resolved with real stakes; let's kill off half the characters by the end of the first season and bring in new faces from different planets and backgrounds in the second season. Let's do Game of Thrones in Star Wars.



LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: The cast of The Acolyte (L-R) Lee Jung-Jae, Charlie Barnett, Rebecca Henderson, Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg, Leslye Headland, Manny Jacinto, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joonas Suotamo attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)



The potential here is just off the charts; and hey, I don't need to see these particular story beats to be satisfied. But I'm going in with the expectation that this will be different, it won't be tied to the Skywalker Saga and it won't play it safe. And I reserve the right to feel disappointed if it doesn't deliver on those fronts because that's what the whole messaging surrounding the series has been for three years.



And this ties back to Leslye Headland. One of the big surprises to come out of the news on Wednesday was the fact that Headland is only a writer on one episode. But on second thought, it just made perfect sense. She's approaching The Acolyte with the classic TV mentality: the showrunner is there from day one, to assemble the writers' room, establish the tone of the series with the first episode (writing it and/or directing it; she's doing both), and just be there every day during production. Her footprint should be all over the show, but she doesn't have to write every line or direct every scene. And they are not just planning one season, but writing an overall plan for future seasons as well.



Headland is a true geek, as she's openly discussed many times. She has hot takes on Star Wars and a journey of her own, just like every fan. And yet, she felt compelled to bring in more creatives to enhance her idea and run with it. It's what Tony Gilroy did, and honestly, Andor was so well written because of that. Now, I'm not gonna pretend like I've heard of every single person on that list, or that I've watched everything they've worked on. The list is vast and their background, diverse.



LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg and showrunner Leslye Headland attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)



And that's the key: There are two people from House of the Dragon, and they are the writers behind two of the best episodes of that season. There are also staff writers from WandaVision, Mr. Robot, and Better Things, among others. And there are also people there who are taking their first shot at co-writing a script. Which is what shows like The Acolyte should do. They should bring in people with great aspirations who have good ideas, but maybe not necessarily the experience. And now, with the help of people who do have the necessary background, find their voice.



Here's also another reason to be excited about it. From all accounts, they shot a lot of stuff in real locations, but they also used the Volume soundstages at Shinfield Studios near London. So yes, they are using that StageCraft technology as a tool, but they are not over-relying on it. At least, from the sound of things. It's obviously too early to tell if it will work, but I'm optimistic about it.



The only downside here is when we bring up the release date for the show. I really believe that the initial, pre-strike plans were for The Acolyte to come out around May the Fourth, but between Skeleton Crew being pushed into God-knows-when in 2024, and the strike likely pushing Andor season 2 into the fall of 2024, if not early 2025, we might actually be looking into a late summer 2024 window for the Amandla Stenberg-led series.



Speaking of whom, I really hope we get a first look at their character in a month or so, similar to what we got from Ahsoka back in December 2022.



LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae onstage during The Acolyte panel at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)



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<h2>How Marvel's Echo's Release Plans Could Affect Star Wars</h2>


Variety's big 'Crisis at Marvel' article from Wednesday was met with a ton of backlash from the Internet and being called out by people like Michael Starburry for maybe not reporting on accurate facts when it came to Blade scripts. But it was also balanced out by the release of the first look at the Disney Plus series Echo, which shut a lot of mouths. (Personally, I'm still skeptical, but this isn't the place for that.)



The promo was released on Friday, along with the announcement that all five episodes will be streaming on January 10 both on Disney Plus and Hulu. Already, a lot to digest here. First, let's remember that Marvel has previously shaped Star Wars' release plans on Disney Plus, when, after June 2021's Loki season 1 shifted the main Disney Plus release day to Wednesdays, Star Wars followed airing subsequent shows, starting with The Book of Boba Fett, on that weekday.



Interestingly, Loki season 2 (which comes to an end this week) shifted back to Fridays (and the ratings apparently haven't blown off the roof). And it's not like Marvel hasn't learned from Star Wars either. Ahsoka introduced the Tuesday evening release, and the God of Mischief followed up. Now, Echo is going back to Wednesdays. Will this turn into a late Tuesday once again, or stay on Wednesday at midnight PT? Not sure about that, but I really think the Tuesday evening release is here to stay. And for what it's worth, I like it -- as someone living in Europe, this gives me the option to either stay up and watch it live at 3am, or wake up early the next day, watch the episode while I have breakfast, and get to work at a reasonable time. Before, I had to wait until 9am and I wouldn't get to the office until 10.30am or so.



So what about the dumping-all-at-once plan Echo is pulling off? I really don't see this happening for Lucasfilm anytime soon, outside of smaller releases like Young Jedi Adventures (which, by the way, is coming back this week) or Star Wars: Visions. But right now, the studio doesn't have as many shows coming out as Marvel, so they want to maximize the experience for all of them (outside of maybe doing two- or three-episode releases like with Ahsoka or Andor).



LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: (L-R) Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, Genevieve O'Reilly and Andy Serkis during the studio panel for Andor at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)



Also, Echo is five episodes long, which is the shortest live-action season from Marvel or Lucasfilm (unless I'm missing something big here). If Lucasfilm were to ever put together a four-episode arc focused on Ezra's doings in between Rebels and Ahsoka, or a shorter second season of The Book of Boba Fett that could maybe tie into another project, then maybe we'll discuss. But so far, I don't see this happening.



Then, there's the whole Disney-Hulu dual release. And that's something I believe has some potential for Lucasfilm. Andor has already had a short run on Hulu, and that screams like a show that could really appeal to the subscribers of that streaming service. If by the time season 2 comes out Bob Iger hasn't folded Hulu into Disney Plus, I could see that dual release happening. And, sight unseen, I could also see The Acolyte pulling off something similar. If you really sell the Hulu subscribers on the moral ambiguity of that show, as well as the grittier aspects of the story, I think you could find a solid base there.



The merging of both streaming services seems like a real possibility, now that the Mouse House is acquiring full control, but also shooting themselves in the foot -- after all, the name 'Disney' on the service lures in a ton of families, but it's also a huge turn off for a large chunk of the demographic that maybe is more interested in Hulu's offerings. At this point, however, it seems like the future of the streaming wars is bundling, where subscribers interested in both services will just pay slightly more than what solo-platform customers are charged.



But we'll leave that discussion for another day, and perhaps another place too. Keep an eye out for it on Wednesday if you're interested, though.



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<h2>Jocasta Nu's Reading List</h2>

• [COLOR=#f7e028; text-decoration: underline]SWNN[/COLOR]: There's really no other way to start off this list than sharing Nate Manning's glowing review of The Eye of Darkness, which officially kicks off Phase III of The High Republic. Written by George Mann, it comes out on Nov. 14.
• Screen Rant: One of the big plot points of Claudia Gray's Bloodline was how the galaxy reacted to learning Vader was Leia's father. So El Kuiper asks: how will they now react to learning about Rey's lineage when she tries to build the New Jedi Order?
• CBR: Matthew Vaughn may think Star Wars needs a do-over, but Ryden Scarnato really thinks it's the last thing the franchise needs right now. I couldn't agree more with most of his points.
• MovieWeb: Speaking of which, Star Wars was once the pinnacle of storytelling and filmmaking. It's not anymore. Can we just accept it, and move on? Here's that argument from Kyle Kruske.

What did you think of the latest edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”? Let me know your comments, suggestions, and complaints in the comment section. You can also send them to us directly via our Contact page or by emailing us at starwarsnewsnet@gmail.com. Have a good week!



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