I’ve been largely unwilling to watch 𓆉new Star Wars media over the past decade, simply because I found the sequel trilogy underwhelming. My friends have been watching The Mandalorian since it first came out, hurrying to catch new episodes on release, and until recently, I was severely uninterested – then I watched Andor and saw the light.
I am now, once again, interested in Star Wars. In particular, The Acolyte caught my attention this week after its reveal at Star Wars Celebration. Though we haven’t had any footage released💜 online yet, people at the event were treated to a first look at the series, which stars Amandla⛎ Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae, and also features Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, and more. It’s likely focusing on the rise of the Sith, some 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. Most importantly, it was created by Leslye Headland, who’s best known for co-creating the excellent and critically acclaimed Russian Doll.
The fact that I can still get excited about new, creative, talented showrunners working on Star Wars spin-offs is a good sign for the series. I’ve watched far more Marvel Cinematic Universe content than I have Star Wars – not because I enjoy Marvel, mind you, but because I wanted to understand what other people were so invested in. I do not feel that excitement anymore, no matter whose💛 name is attached.
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The MCU is particularly good at hiring incredible talents and flattening their work. Chloe Zhao was fresh off the incredible Nomadland when she was selected to direct Eternals, and it didn’t work. Sam Raimi brought a certain campy, B-movie horror sensibility to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it still felt like a Marvel movie with a slight change in tone. Taika Waititi ꩲprobably has the strongest directorial voice in the MCU right now, but Thor: Love and Thunder lacked much of what makes his work compelling.
The MCU has a specific look and feel to it that defines it. Within it, t🍸here is little diversity – it is tonally homogenous, unwilling to experiment with genre, and seems to be terrified to diverge more than slightly from the formula that’s worked for over a decade now. That’s not the case with Star Wars. Because of the expanse of its canon, playing with different time periods, perspectives, themes and genres are all feasible. Andor is a spy thriller, and The Mandalorian is a western. Some shows are lighter in tone, while others are serious examinations 🍎of fascism and oppression. Chronology doesn’t tie the franchise down, and different periods in the canon allow directors to examine different themes.
Quite literally, Star Wars is far more diverse than the MCU. While the MCU has been making m💞oves towards increasing its racial diversity, Star Wars is far ahead of them and has been for a while. The Acolyte has plenty of people of colour in its cast, as does The Mandalorian, Andor, and the upcoming Ahsoka. It regularly h🅷as people of colour leading its major shows, whereas the MCU is still fighting an uphill battle.
Sure, Moon Knight was okay, and Ms. Marvel was well-received, but neither ha🐎s had the same level of cultural impact as the Star Wars shows. The Black Panther movies are their biggest successes in this area, but we haven’t seen people of colour ♉playing roles as big as Thor’s or Iron Man’s – this could still change, but it hasn’t yet. In comparison, the sequel trilogy had a female lead and several people of colour in its main cast.
I’ve talked about how huge franchises have largely turned into money grabs for studios, and that’s still true for Star Wars. After all, it was bought by Disney for a reason. But Star Wars actually does it well, creating content that people are excited to watch, while the constant churn of mediocre MCU movies and television shows has left audiences burned out. I have no desire to watch most Marvel shows or movies, because of the lack of care and creativity put into them, but I will be watching the hell out of what Star Wars has next for us. Marvel wishes.