A new rumor claims that Leslye Headland’s upcoming Star Wars: The Acolyte series will change the Force into being a female entity.
(L-R, front row): Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett), Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) and Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
This rumor comes from scooper WDW Pro, who detailed in a recent video upload, “According to a source that I have, Lorn, Kathleen Kennedy and Leslye Headland are going to do something in The Acolyte that is going to essentially end what remaining fans they have. And that is they are literally going to change the Force, the Force itself, into being literally female, gender female Force.”
Later in the video, Pro detailed, “The source who has relayed to me some stuff, they believe this will be so bad that there’s nothing left to do except reboot Star Wars. They think Kathleen Kennedy cannot continue or Star Wars cannot.”
Film Threat writer Alan Ng has made similar comments. He posted on X, “The third episode of The Acolyte will finally kill Star Wars for the vast majority of Pre-Disney Star Wars Fans. Based on LucasFilm comments of late, they are OK with that.
FINAL VERDICT: The third episode of The Acolyte will finally kill Star Wars for the vast majority of Pre-Disney Star Wars Fans. Based on LucasFilm comments of late, they are OK with that. https://t.co/AVlVcbzH3V
— Alan Ng @ Film Threat (@mypalal) June 1, 2024
In an appearance on the Renegade Online show, Ng, who has watched the first four episodes of the show, also appeared to confirm Pro’s rumor that the Force is female. He said, “The Force is female. The Force is legitimately female.”
He went on to state that what happens in the third episode “fundamentally changes the future of Star Wars. Now in terms of does it negate the originals and the prequels not necessarily. I think we’re just going to be more upset with what we were presented and the knowledge that this is the direction that Disney Star Wars is gonna go from now on.
As far as the idea that the show is so terrible it will necessitate a reboot, Ng said, “I’m not that cynical about it. I’ll say this though: watching that third episode I immediately leapt back into the 10-year-old me who saw A New Hope for the first time, Star Wars for the first time, and I don’t recognize this world anymore.”
He added, “I’ll also say this: the line that we all quote, ‘It’s not about good and evil, but it’s about who possesses the power. It makes a little more sense in context. So when you see when it happens or when it’s said you kind of understand why it was said and the context behind it. It’s not as bad as we’re making it out to be.”
Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
When asked if the backlash will be worse than The Last Jedi, he declared, “I think so. For us pre-Disney Star Wars fans, I don’t know how we could accept this as Star Wars and move forward with it.”
He elaborated, “In a blanket sense this is worse than The Last Jedi. At the same time though, millions of people watched The Last Jedi compared to this. Millions of people will not be watching this. They hadn’t burned so many bridges at The Last Jedi versus now. Just to get people to watch this is going to be a feat. And I think people who are original fans and a little jaded will expect this. And my whole point is that third episode slams the door, it’s the final nail in the coffin for OG pre-Disney Star Wars fans.”
Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Interestingly, this rumor comes in the wake of actress Amandla Stenberg informing Empire that the show would be performing an exploration of the Force. She said, “I understood that it was an exploration of the light and dark parts of ourselves, and the rules in the galaxy around how the Force can be used. Which was insane, to experience that.”
Later in the interview she was also asked about how the Light Side and Dark Side dynamic works for her character, Mae, with Empire’s Ben Travis stating, “I’m getting she’s more towards the dark side…” Stenberg responded, “I think it’s a lot more complicated than that, which is the point of the show. Hopefully, if we did our job right, the show makes it an interesting interrogation into what it means to be on the light side or the dark side.
George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson on the red carpet at Cannes via AFP News Agency YouTube
READ: George Lucas Blasts Disney For Not Understanding Star Wars And The Force
This rumor comes in the wake of George Lucas informing a crowd at the Cannes film festival that The Walt Disney Company and current Lucasfilm leadership does not understand Star Wars nor the Force.
He said, “I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was … who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force.”
Lucas added, “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”
Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Following Lucas’ comments, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland launched a pre-emptive attack on potential viewers. Headland declared that if you oppose race-based casting you cannot be a Star Wars fan.
She informed The New York Times, “As a fan myself, I know how frustrating some ‘Star Wars’ storytelling in the past has been. I’ve felt it myself.”
In a follow-up text message she then declared that Star Wars fans who oppose race-based casting are not actually Star Wars fans. She said, “I stand by my empathy for ‘Star Wars’ fans. But I want to be clear. Anyone who engages in” that kind of criticism “…I don’t consider a fan.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 23: (L-R) Leslye Headland, Dave Filoni, Chief Creative Officer, Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy, President, Lucasfilm attend the launch event for Lucasfilm’s new Star Wars series The Acolyte at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on May 23, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
Kennedy also informed the outlet, “My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people. That’s an easy decision for me.”
She continued, “Operating within these giant franchises now, with social media and the level of expectation — it’s terrifying. I think Leslye has struggled a little bit with it. I think a lot of the women who step into ‘Star Wars’ struggle with this a bit more. Because of the fan base being so male dominated, they sometimes get attacked in ways that can be quite personal.”
Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
What do you make of this rumor that the Force will be female in The Acolyte?
NEXT: Leslye Headland Declares People Opposed To Race-Based Casting Are Not Star Wars Fans
At this point they can have it. They’re grinding everything into dust at this point. Hopefully the majority of them will get caught in the machinery as well.
Kennedy is already turning into the media version of a mad tyrant king who destroys the kingdom with completely insane ideas simply because no one can say no to him.
I hate the implication you have to go through a moral purity test to be a fan of something. And people like KK are the judge, jury and executioner about who can be a fan of a series or not. The vast majority of these original fans who don’t like Disney star wars aren’t -ists, they just know crap writing when they see it. (And they don’t like to be vilified, shocking)
Moral purity test? Like what this fandom did to Lucas when he voted for Iger and not Peltz and they “disowned” him because of it?
Really? Good. Do it. Burn it all down and then cry that there’s nothing left for you to play with anymore.
If true, this will be an hilarious irony. George’s the Force was not a deity; it was a supernatural field created by life itself that only some people percieved and could manipulate with their own minds.
If the new Force is a living agent with a mind of her own, is she not now the goddess of Star Wars? Will the Sith pray to her? Does she reproduce sexually, hence the need for a gender designation? What is her name? Are male Jedi raping her when they use the Force against her will? Why did she allow Grand Moff Tarkin to murder billions of innocents on Alderaan?
Introducing theology is just… I think, it is a bad idea.