Leslye Headland Says ‘The Acolyte’ is “Arguably the Gayest Star Wars” to Date

After a series of major announcements, Disney’s new Star Wars project, The Acolyte, quickly gained attention and was on track to become the most controversial Star Wars project of all time, even before its official premiere. The series premiered on Disney+ on June 4, 2024, with two episodes, and critics and fans can now finally share their opinions on the much-discussed show.

While we’ll cover the reviews in a separate article, the show’s controversial showrunner, Leslye Headland, recently described The Acolyte as “the gayest Star Wars” to date, a statement that might upset some fans.

Headland has faced fan outrage for a while, as many believe her approach to the Star Wars universe is completely off. Her own admission that she wasn’t a fan of the franchise and had very little prior knowledge hasn’t helped her case.

This “revelation” came during an interview with The Wrap, where Headland and the series’ star, Amandla Stenberg, discussed the show. Naturally, the series was the main topic of conversation. Here is a video of the key moment:

If you can’t open the video, here’s what happened: The interviewer asked Headland if she was aware that “this is arguably the gayest Star Wars by a considerable margin. Are you excited about that, embracing that? Are you excited about this being a talking point?” Headland first responded, “[It’s] not the gayest Star Wars,” but then asked, “Is it going to be a talking point?“

Amandla Stenberg then told Headland that it would definitely be a talking point “because nerds are gay!” The interviewer added, “Well, some nerds are very not gay and feel very threatened by gay stuff.” Stenberg acknowledged this, saying, “Well, that’s true, but in my world, nerds are gay.”

The conversation shifted back to Headland, who finally responded to the original question: “No, I don’t think so! But people have told me that it’s the gayest Star Wars. And frankly, I’m into it.” Stenberg added, “I think Star Wars is already so gay. I mean, have you seen the outfits? We often say, ‘look how gay this is,’ and then send each other a reference photo.”

Headland continued with an anecdote that brought laughter: “And are you telling me with a straight face that C-3PO is straight? I think it’s canon that R2-D2 is a lesbian.”

We’ll have to wait for the season to see just how true this all is, but Headland has previously confirmed that her series will feature many LGBTQ+ themes, which will be a significant part of the story: “When I was a young queer girl, I was just hanging out with Ursula the sea witch [from The Little Mermaid]. As a queer girl growing up, if you don’t identify with the heroes, and the villains show up and they’re all queer-coded, you’re like — yes, that’s me! As a queer filmmaker, you’re gonna see some camp. Inevitably! But I would say that tonally, our references are darker.”

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