According to The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, her Star Wars Disney+ TV show will show the humanity behind the Sith. The key to Star Wars‘ future lies in the past, with one upcoming Star Wars TV show – The Acolyte – set to introduce viewers to the tail-end of the High Republic Era. This was an age when the light of the Jedi and the Republic shone brightly across the galaxy; but The Acolyte will tell the story of its twilight, and how that light began to dim.
Speaking in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland revealed she’ll be following her traditional approach – in focusing on the villains. “I was driven to write a story that essential was from the perspective of the bad guys,” she confirmed. “I write that way my other work. I am always attracted to amoral – or immoral – characters, and finding the humanity within the villains.” It’s a perspective that can be seen in Sleeping With Other People and Russian Doll, and it continues to inform Headland’s work.
There is a danger in telling such a story, of course. Not every villain needs to be relatable, a truth George Lucas understood very well indeed; he fashioned Palpatine as the quintessential Sith, and there is no reason for Palpatine’s malevolence, no hint of a justification for his evil. Rather, he is an archetype enfleshed, bad to the bone. The danger is that, by humanizing the Sith, it is possible they will be robbed of their very malevolence.
For all that’s the case, though, Star Wars history demonstrates that it is indeed possible to humanize Sith without stripping them of their evilness. The best example is in Star Wars Legends, in Drew Karpshyn’s excellent trilogy centered on Darth Bane – founder of the Rule of Two. That trilogy worked well to get inside Darth Bane’s head, revealing the reason an ordinary being would use the Force to such cruel ends, charting his rise through the ranks of the Sith Order as it was – and his decision to reform them.
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The Acolyte promises to strike a careful balance. Headland consistently describes it as a mystery more than anything else, which likely means the true identity of the Sith acolyte at its heart will be carefully concealed – at least at first. If that is the case, then skillful writing should mean viewers get a shock when the truth is revealed, and they are forced to reinterpret everything they’ve watched to date. Far from robbing the Sith of their impact, this has the potential to leave viewers chilled with the realization they were rooting for a Sith all along.
Source: Empire Magazine