Transcription
Life really does come at you fast, and never more so than when you're responsible for blowing a quarter of a billion dollars on the most wildly and hilariously disliked Star Wars project since the Holiday Special. A show so monumentally unpopular that Lucasfilm were forced to take the unprecedented step of announcing its actual cancellation instead of their usual tactic of just never talking about it again and hoping that everyone forgets about it.
And for some people, that kind of god tier failure would probably be a good opportunity for self-reflection. A chance to reconsider the creative decisions that were made and maybe even learn a bit of humility in the process. Not so with the Acolyte showrunner Leslie Hedland, who recently emerged from whatever pit of obscurity she's been hiding in for the past year or so to do a puff piece interview with the rap, where she proceeded to duck all responsibility for the disaster and shift the blame to the latest convenient scapegoat for Hollywood's failures, content creators.
"Right. That's right. Us YouTubers are the reason we never got season two of The Acolyte. You're welcome, world."
"Yes. Yes." [laughter]
"But for the sake of argument and because I could use a good laugh today, let's take a look at Leslie's totally unbiased and reasonable view on the thing. Quote, 'The content that's being put out by the streamers or the studios is being snatched up by these other creators. And so, commentaries, synopsis, live videos, all of the ways that these creators make money through viewer-based ad revenues and their Patreons. There's a lot of money to be made. What can I say?'"
Welcome to the internet, Leslie. Not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's this crazy place where people offer up their opinions about things, especially things they're passionate about, like, oh, I don't know, Star Wars. And other people are free to agree or disagree with those opinions. Sometimes those opinions can be positive with shows like Andor, The Mandalorian, or even Skeleton Crew. Other times they can be negative, like with Ahsoka, Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, or The Acolyte. It just so happens that you made a show the vast majority of people didn't like and so the vast majority of the coverage on it was negative.
Unlike the legacy media outlets such as the one you're talking to right now who only get that sweet sweet access to cast and crew interviews, advanced screenings and studio tours, provided they play ball and give the most positive reviews possible. I bet you're totally fine with those, aren't you? And by the way, have at it. Get your coin 100%. But it revealed to me that there's a misunderstanding between the studios and that engagement. They think of it as fandom. And in ways it is, but studios use it almost like this focus group. It is a focus group. In fact, it's arguably the best and most comprehensive focus group a studio could ask for. Not only does it include literally thousands of creators willing to invest a great deal of time and effort breaking down the strengths and weaknesses of a particular project, often in autistic levels of detail. But each one of those videos also comes with thousands, if not tens of thousands of comments, either agreeing or disagreeing with the sentiments expressed and elaborating on particular points and details. And the best part, it's all completely free and it's made by people with an actual emotional investment in the thing, i.e. the audience, not disinterested normies you pulled off the street for a quick test screening or raid activists who couldn't give a [ __ ] about storytelling or entertainment, as long as your show pushes the political talking points they agree with, but actual fans of the product, the people you're supposed to be appealing to.
Studios would actually be well advised to listen to content creators a bit more. Not one particular creator, but the broad plurality of their opinions because, believe it or not, most of them understand your audience better than you do because they're part of it.
As a result, Hedland predicted a move towards a world where the content being made about Star Wars will be more culturally impactful than actual Star Wars. For once, Leslie and I are in complete agreement, but only because Star Wars made itself culturally irrelevant by becoming a dull, unimaginative corporate product instead of the artistic vision of a passionate creative and a mouthpiece for divisive and tedious identity politics that gradually pushed away its own audience. Instead of being an escape route to a fantastical world of adventure and heroism in a galaxy far, far away, it instead got saddled with all the baggage, gripes, and mundane grievances of modern culture. Instead of inspiring entertainment, Star Wars became just another stick to beat people over the head with the message.
"Yes. Yes." [laughter]
"And funnily enough, that [ __ ] got real old real fast. We tried to warn you. We did for years. In fact, you just didn't want to listen to us. And well, now you're reaping the rewards."
"I award you no points. And may God have mercy on your soul."
"There are some of them that I respect. And there are some of them that I think are absolutely snake oil salesmen, just opportunists. Then of course there are the fascists and racists."
You sure about that? You sure about that? We're still doing this, are we? The old "anyone who disagrees with me is literally Hitler" argument. Like, you know, that became a meme about five years ago, right? It's such a mindlessly dismissive argument that's been used so many times in so many situations where it absolutely doesn't apply that it literally means nothing at this point.
"Am I so out of touch?"
Calling someone a fascist in 2025 is like a Jilty Dex girlfriend telling the world you're crap in bed. It's just something that everyone kind of tunes out now. And all of it is nothing but a deflection from the real issue here that Leslie Hedland made a bad TV show. Not just a bad TV show, but an obnoxiously, hilariously bad TV show. And she had no excuses for why. It wasn't down to studio interference or lack of budget and resources. She was given all the money and talent that a filmmaker could ask for, the full backing of one of the biggest studios in Hollywood, and one of the best sandboxes you could ever hope to play in. She was given a creative and financial blank check and she still managed to [ __ ] it up. Why? Because fundamentally she told a story that resonated with one person only, herself. She wanted characters that reflected her own hang-ups and insecurities, and she got them. She wanted to push messages and themes that she personally agreed with, and she did. She wanted to give her wife a job opportunity, so she cast her as a character with zero personality and no redeeming qualities. She was given someone else's sandbox to play in and she took a big steaming dump in it. And then she wonders why people pushed back against her. The Acolyte failed because it was made for one person and one person only. Leslie Hedland. She can cope and deflect all she wants about the reception it got. But at the end of the day, all the criticism and push back was nothing but a reflection of her own failure. Perhaps in time she'll learn and grow from that failure. But somehow I doubt it. Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Go away now.