Charlie Barnett and Amandla Stenberg in “The Sidekick”.
Courtesy of Disney+/Lucasfilm LTD.
In 2019, Leslye Headland, freshly nominated for an Emmy Award as co-creator of Russian dollwalked on the blue carpet Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker first when asked if she had any Star Wars ideas of his own.
Headland replied that she had Star Wars stories in his head since childhood and, in an Oscar-worthy performance, urged Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy to give him a chance. Well, the truth is that she was already hard at work on what would later be known as Star Wars: The Sidekickthus becoming the first openly queer person to create a live-action project set in a galaxy far, far away.
Headland – whose first TV script was produced for the critically acclaimed but short-lived 2010 series, Terriers, was led by the future Star Wars: The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson – has ensured that the LGBTQ+ community is well represented in her new Disney+ series. She immediately imagined The hate you give star Amandla Stenberg in The Acolytethe dual lead role of identical twins Osha and Mae Aniseya. She even created concept art with Stenberg in mind before approaching him about the role.
Stenberg, who identifies as non-binary and gay, is joined by Russian doll‘s Charlie Barnett (who said he came out as gay at age 13) as the tedious Jedi Knight Yord Fandar. And Barnett is actually one of the two Russian doll actors to play a Jedi The Acolyteas Headland’s wife, Rebecca Henderson, plays the film’s Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project. Headland married Henderson in 2016.
Headland is thrilled and relieved by the early reactions to her mystery thriller series set 100 years ago. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, chronicling the emergence of the dark side during the era of the Jedi-controlled High Republic of peace. It was well received by critics, and the two-episode premiere on June 4 is also Disney+’s strongest debut in 2024, with 11.1 million viewers over five days.
Leslye Headland attends Disney+ and Cinema Society hosts a screening of “The Acolyte” at the Whitby Hotel on June 3, 2024 in New York.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
However, as someone who generally pushes back against the idea that queer artists are capable of only creating queer or queer-coded art, Headland remains perplexed by a recent viral moment from his Los Angeles show. A reporter told him and Stenberg that The Acolyte is “undoubtedly the gayest Star Wars by a considerable margin. The writer-director and her star had fun with this line of inquiry, but now that the exchange has generated a multitude of responses, the question of what makes a piece of mass entertainment “gay” is a question to be answered. which the queer artist continues to seriously consider. . “I was surprised by the question. Amandla and I burst out laughing because that’s our knee-jerk reaction when we’re asked that question, but to be honest, I don’t know what the term ‘gay’ means in that sense,” Headland admits, adding : ” I don’t know. I don’t believe I’ve created queer content, with a capital Q.
Perhaps the strangest story is that the 24-year-old Aniseya twins were born to two moms, Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva), who many internet commenters refer to as lesbian couple. . The two led a group of witches exiled to the planet Brendok, where they practiced their own interpretation of the Force, known as the Thread.
It is ultimately implied, unconfirmed, that Aniseya used her Force powers to impregnate Koril with the twins, but for Headland their relationship is more circumstantial. “They live in a matriarchal society. As a gay woman, I knew their sexuality would be queer, but there are no men in their community either,” she explains. “A proximity between them would therefore be natural. It seemed plot driven. She adds: “I would say it’s really reductive to call them lesbians. I think that means you’re not really paying attention to this story.
Headland emphasizes that she is in no way shying away from any material that might speak to queer audience members. “I’m proud to be a gay woman who accomplished this feat, and certainly, if my content is characterized as queer, I don’t want to deny the queerness of the show. I would be proud to create something that would inspire queer people,” says Headland.
From left, Leslye Headland, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Amandla Stenberg and Margarita Levieva attend the NY Cinema Society event for Lucasfilm’s new Star Wars series The Acolyte at the Whitby Hotel on June 3, 2024 At New York.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Disney
Like most creators, Headland welcomes constructive criticism on his series. But since Star Wars: The Force Awakens refocused the episodic film franchise on Daisy Ridley’s female Jedi, Rey, scrutinizing Star Wars as any hint of progressivism has become an online cottage industry for combative fans who yearn for the type of representation that was pro forma in the 1970s and 1980s. Inevitably, this contingent of the public has eagerly put The Acolyte in the line of fire and prepared a meal from the aforementioned junket interaction. “Honestly, I’m sad that people think if something was gay it would be bad,” Headland says. “It makes me sad that a group of people on the internet are somehow taking down what I consider to be the most important work of art I have ever made.”
Headland knows that in times of cultural division, polarization comes with the territory, but having the chance to play in the Star Wars the sandbox is worth it: “It exceeded my wildest dreams. »
A version of this story first appeared in the June 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.