“I can’t believe he got away with it”: ‘Andor’ Sets an Impossible Bar for Star Wars’ Future, Shows Where ‘The Acolyte’ Went Wrong With Its Prequel Storyline
- Fans compare Star Wars: Andor to ongoing Star Wars: The Acolyte.
- Andor set standards very high for the following Star Wars shows.
- Showrunner Leslye Headland says she is a fan of Andor but her show is not like it.
Created by Tony Gilroy, Star Wars: Andor is a prequel to 2016’s Rogue One, which was the prequel to 1977’s Star Wars. Andor follows Cassian Andor, exploring how he becomes radicalized against the Galactic Empire during the five years that lead to the events of the movie. The series also showcases how the Rebel Alliance was formed.
Diego Luna returns as Cassian Andor from Rogue One, along with Adria Arjona, Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, and more. The first season, which premiered in 2022, received critical acclaim from the audience as well as the critics, who dubbed the series the ‘ most complex, mature story’ in Star Wars. Since being part of the Star Wars franchise, Andor has been compared to the ongoing series The Acolyte, created by Leslye Headland.
Why do fans think Star Wars: Andor is better than Star Wars: The Acolyte?
Star Wars: The Acolyte, created by Leslye Headland, follows a Jedi investigation into a series of crimes and is set at the end of the High Republic era. The events took place before the events of the Skywalker Saga. Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, and more are part of the ensemble.
The first season of The Acolyte has received positive comments from critics, with the series managing to score about 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. But the reports from CBR suggest that the series has not been able to impress ardent Star Wars fans and would probably land in the miss category of the shows in the Star Wars franchise.
The Acolyte is in similar shoes as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, just like Andor. Fans fell in love with the characters of Andor, which also went on to show that Star Wars can be a success without a Jedi-led story. Where as, The Acolyte, which is a Jedi-led story focusing on the fantastical elements of the franchise, which according to fans feels a bit overdone. Some pointed out that the series feels tone deaf to reality or what fans expected the show to be.
According to Collider, Andor took the risk of exploring a story of covert espionage, gritty warfare, and politics. The series went on to showcase the hierarchies within the Empire, along with the message of the show reflecting the current political state of the world. This take on a Star Wars story made a huge impact on the audience, which not only believes that it is the need of the hour but also appreciated the honest portrayal of the society. The second season of Andor is also expected to continue to have a political plot line.
An X user (@metaplexmovies) explained in their tweet that they cannot believe that Disney gave a green signal to make a series so fiercely anti-cop, anti-prison industrial complex while being skeptical of the government. They added,
Gilroy made a series depicting how close space fascism is to our reality, and I can’t believe he got away with it.
The user mentioned in another tweet that Andor dimensionalizes the issues presents shades of gray and dives deeper into diagnosing why and how these ideologies take hold. The Acolyte, according to a review on IMDB, lacks a compelling narrative, strong character, and captivating visuals.
Show-runner Leslye Headland addresses comparisons of The Acolyte to Andor
The show-runner, Leslye Headland, according to Radio Times, addressed the comparisons made between Andor and her show, The Acolyte. She said that Andor was on when they were in physical production, and her wife told her that she was going to love Andor. To which she said,
I cannot watch this; I’m going to get too intimidated. All I’m going to do is think about how my show is not at all like Andor. So I didn’t get to watch it until we wrapped, and I absolutely adored it.
Headland added that she is shocked that people have said that there are similarities between the two shows, but she’ll take it as a huge compliment. In another interview, she noted that she was always interested in the storyline where the Jedi were at the height of their power because, at that point, there was a Sith Lord in the Senate that they were not picking up on.
CBR noted that fans consider Andor one of the best Star Wars projects, and if The Acolyte had focused more on the politics of a time when Jedi was at the height of its power, fans would have been able to relate to it more.
Star Wars’ The Acolyte and Andor are streaming on Disney+.
