It appears that Leslye Headland, showrunner for Star Wars: The Acolyte, will be running off of a particular character’s command style for inspiration. Specifically: Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek fame.

Jean-Luc Picard cracking up.
Well, someone seems pleased about all of this.

In a recent interview on AV Club (actually about Star Wars for once), Leslye Headland talked primarily about Star Wars: Acolyte and Star Wars in general. During said interview, she actually talked about her plans for the show. Specifically: how she was going to run it. Apparently she is taking inspiration from Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. She wants a style of command where she gets input from the people around her, complete with debates in a sort of “Socratic conversation” kind of way.

Leslye Headland also wants to hire people who “are not necessarily the die-hard, cutthroat fan that I am when it comes to Star Wars stuff”. Apparently, she think it’s weird for her to be constantly sending links to her writers about Star Wars trivia. However, she seems to be okay with it if she wants to hire writers who are not “die-hard” Star Wars fans.

Leslye Headland: The Picard of Star Wars?

Star Wars: The Acolyte logo.
Does insurance cover lightsaber damage?

Honestly, I’m not sure what to make of Leslye Headland’s remarks about her process for creating Star Wars: The Acolyte. On one hand, it sounds like she’s got a good workplace environment there. With a bunch of people pitching in to the writing process, it could result in something interesting.

On the other hand though, the lack of a central direction to follow could potentially result in a confused story for Star Wars: The Acolyte. (In the one instance, she even hired a writer that’s never seen Star Wars.) I guess it could work if they all agree on a compromise to the story. However, the same thing could still happen in that case. This sounds like one of those “Make it or break it” kind of deals. This could either result in a really great show, or a really confused one. I guess we’ll just have to see when it comes out.

Conclusion

Leslye Headland wants to have a Picard-style command style for creating Star Wars: The Acolyte. She wants everyone to contribute to it, and she doesn’t mind having non-Star Wars fans on the writing team. This could either be a good thing, or a bad thing. We’ll just have to see whenever that particular Star Wars show released on Disney+, whenever that will be.

Source: AV Club