Star Wars: The Acolyte writer Claire Kiechel answered numerous complaints about the most recent episode of The Acolyte that she wrote with Kor Adana including why Mae abandoned her quest for revenge against the Jedi, why the show included pronouns, and why the Wookie Jedi Kelnacca was killed off screen.
(L-R): Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) and Qimir (Manny Jacinto) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
First, Kiechel explained that Kelnacca was killed off screen due to budgetary issues and that the episode “broke the POV of the episode.”
She wrote, “Unfortunately not everything gets to be included for budget and story reasons, we had an early draft that showed his fight and death scene but it ultimately broke the POV of the episode in a way that I think wouldn’t have worked as well.”
Claire Kiechel on X
According to The New York Times, the entire series had a budget of $180 million. The New York TImes’ Brooks Barnes reported, “Costing roughly $180 million (for eight episodes) and taking four years to make, it attempts two feats at once: pleasing old-school Star Wars fans — who can seem unpleasable — while telling an entirely new story, one that requires no prior knowledge of Star Wars and that showcases women and people of color.
It’s unclear where the budget for The Acolyte went to. In fact, one person even questioned why the episodes are so short and if Lucasfilm or The Walt Disney Company was mandating short episodes.
Kiechel responded, “We wrote this one and next weeks together and they kind of had a total ballpark limit for the both. For *reasons* next week’s had to be the longer one so this one had to be kept short (I think it’s the shortest of the 8? Don’t quote me tho).”
Claire Kiechel on X
Keichel also addressed why Mae had a complete change in heart regarding her quest to kill the Jedi. In the episode, Mae, out of the blue traps Qimir and then informs him, “You know, after running through that forest for an extremely long time, I realized something. I don’t need to do this anymore. I don’t need to kill a Jedi without a weapon. I don’t need to keep this deal.”
She added, “You were wrong. Osha being alive changes everything. My loyalty is to Osha not your Master.”
Next, she informs him, “What I’m going to do is surrender myself to Kelnacca. And then turn myself into the Jedi.” After Qimir tells her that the Jedi will put her in prison, she retorts, “Not after I tell them who I know.”
Mae Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Kiechel explained this scene claiming, “She’s not ‘good’ in that moment she’s just super tired of this pointless (what she considers pointless) missions and errands her master is making her do. And I think the revenge that really fueled her just isn’t quite the same once she knows osha is alive.”
Claire Kiechel on X
As for the pronouns, the show sees Osha question Jecki regarding the tracker Bazil after Osha’s Pip robot spews liquid at him.
Osha asks, “Who is that?” Jecki responds, “That’s Bazil.” Osha then states, “Is he, or they, with us?”
Before Jecki can answer, Yord interrupts and asks, “Any questions, civilian?”
Disney Star Wars pronouns#Acolyte pic.twitter.com/x8GnpnEUUw
— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) June 19, 2024
As for why this scene was included Kiechel said, “It’s obviously a joke about pronouns because she’s referring to a strange lil animal creature? Not sure the upset on this one.”
Claire Kiechel on X
In another response, she stated, “It was a joke about the pronouns of a large fictional beaver creature? No politics involved.”
Claire Kiechel on X
READ: Forbes Reporter Paul Tassi Seethes As ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Audience Scores Go Even Lower
Still in another response, she simply mocked, “‘you’ is a pronoun.”
Claire Kiechel on X
Kiechel also embraced the idea that she was destroying Star Wars writing, “That’s me a ruiner of worlds.”
Claire Kiechel on X
The show also featured a cameo of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who had not been born at the time The Acolyte takes place. Kiechel was asked why Ki-Adi-Mundi was in the show, but completely avoided the question and instead addressed a question regarding his knowledge of Mae.
She said, “He doesn’t know anything about the Sith? Why would he? And we offered the part to Yoda but he wasn’t tech avail so a young Ki Adi Mundi stepped in for the part.”
Claire Kiechel on X
READ: George Lucas Blasts Disney For Not Understanding Star Wars And The Force
As a reminder, ahead of the premiere of The Acolyte, George Lucas made it abundantly clear that the people working at Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company do not understand Star Wars.
He said during an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, “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.”
He 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.”
George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson on the red carpet at Cannes via AFP News Agency YouTube
What do you make of Kiechel’s explanations and answers regarding the fourth episode of The Acolyte?
What a disaster. But this tells you something about the mindset of the left: they don’t understand how “they” is an issue. They’ve already accepted, implicitly, pronoun requests are a matter of public manners, and that “they” has officially replaced “he or she”.
If it were a joke, then have the other girl look at her like she’s crazy for asking.
Ki Adi Mundi had no Canon birth year and his birth year in Legends is still the same. Qui Gon also had different birth years as well.