Leslye Headland, the former personal assistant to Harvey Weinstein and the showrunner of Star Wars: The Acolyte, claimed she is sad because her show is being dismantled.
(L-R): Amandla Stenberg , set PA Taylor Young, director Leslye Headland and director of photography Chris Teague on the set of Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Headland stated, “Honestly, I feel sad that people would think that if something were gay, that that would be bad.”
She added, “It makes me feel sad that a bunch of people on the internet would somehow dismantle what I consider to be the most important piece of art that I’ve ever made.”
(L): Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
The showrunner would also address her interview with TheWrap where she said she was “into” The Acolyte being the gayest Star Wars ever made. In the original interview (seen below) Headland feigned surprise that making Star Wars gay would not be a talking point. She said, “Is it going to be a talking point?”
We are happy to report that #TheAcolyte is “arguably the gayest #StarWars” yet. 🌈 Happy Pride Month! 😉 pic.twitter.com/3oJSykc4Kq
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) June 4, 2024
Actress Amandla Stenberg then chimed in saying, “Because nerds are gay.” When TheWrap’s interviewer stated, “Well, some nerds are very not gay and are very threatened by gay stuff.” Stenberg responded, “Well, that’s true. But in my world nerds are gay.”
When asked if this was the fun element, Headland responded, “No, I don’t think so and yet people have told me it’s the gayest Star Wars and I am frankly … into it.”
(L-R): Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Koril (Margarita Levieva) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Next, Amandla Stenberg declared, “I think Star Wars is so gay already. I mean have you seen the ‘fits. We’d be like look how gay this is and send each other a reference photo.”
Headland then said, “And are you telling me with a straight face that C-3PO is straight?” TheWrap interviewer responded, “They’re a couple. That’s what I think.” Headland then declared, “I think it’s canon that R2-D2 is a lesbian.”
(L-R): Little Osha (Lauren Brady), Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Little Mae (Leah Brady) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
READ: Actress Dafne Keen Confirms ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Is Promoting “A Queer Agenda”
Now, Headland tells The Hollywood Reporter, “I was surprised by the question. Amandla and I just burst out laughing because that’s our knee-jerk reaction to being asked that, but to be honest, I don’t know what the term ‘gay’ means in that sense.”
She added, “I don’t believe that I’ve created queer, with a capital Q, content.”
(L-R): Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Headland would also address the lesbian space witches she introduced in the third episode of the show. In fact, the witches were confirmed to be lesbian in a puff piece by Brooks Barnes in The New York Times before an episode of the show even aired. He reported, “Jodie Turner-Smith plays the lesbian leader of a regal coven of witches.”
Despite the show marketing the space witches as lesbians, Headland now tells THR, “They’re in a matriarchal society. As a gay woman, I knew it would read that their sexuality is queer, but there also aren’t any men in their community. So a closeness between the two of them would be natural. It seemed plot-driven.”
She then stated, “I would say it’s really reductive to call them lesbians. I think it means you’re not really paying attention to this story.”
(L-R): Koril (Margarita Levieva) and Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
The show has a scene where Mother Aniseya suggestively caresses Koril’s face. Later in the same episode it’s revealed that Aniseya created the twins of Mae and Osha through the power of the Thread while Koril carried them.
Lesbian conception#Acolyte pic.twitter.com/w7ZKqUpNce
— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) June 12, 2024
It’s likely that Leslye Headland is going to be “sad” for quite some time as viewers of the show have made it clear they do not like it. The show’s Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at 14%.
Star Wars: The Acolyte Rotten Tomatoes scores
On IMDb, the show has a 3.4 rating with a 3.0 unweighted mean and a majority of all reviewers (57.6%) giving the show a 1 out of 10.
The Acolyte review scores on IMDb
What do you make of Headland’s comments?
