Star Wars The Acolyte

The Morality Of It All

June 08, 2025
by Mish'al K. Samman

There’s this specific feeling I chase whenever I sit down to watch anything in the Star Wars universe. Not the hype. Not the lightsabers. Just… that quiet certainty. The knowing. That there’s light. There’s dark. There’s a struggle between them. And you’re somewhere in the middle, holding on to your choice.

But with The Acolyte, something was off, and felt terribly wrong.

I’m not here to bash the show ... it is well documented on the internet why this failed miserably, but nothing that satisfied my reasoning why i just, really really did not like this show. It’s well-made, heck it has a movie budget. Has strong visuals, maybe some lousy makeup. But it’s clearly trying to push things in a new direction. Not just the woke movement, something more. By the end of it, I wasn’t just unsure of where the story was going ... I was unsure of what it even wanted me to believe about the galaxy I’ve loved my whole life.

The Jedi felt… cold. Distant. Like bureaucrats with robes. And the Sith? Romanticized. Mysterious. unnessesarily sexy?! and pushing the erotic agenda? Not in the “come to the dark side, we have cookies” way ... more like, “maybe they had a point? and oh hey, Ill pose half naked in a steaming hot pond.” And that’s what messed with me.

Look, I get that they’re trying to explore complexity. And sure, grey areas can be interesting. But Star Wars has always had those already. We’ve seen Anakin fall. We’ve seen Luke nearly give in. There’s always been tension. But even with all that, you knew where true north was. You knew what the Force stood for.

Here? That compass was broken. Actually they flat out shattered it.

And maybe that’s what hit me the hardest. Not the excessive flashbacks. Not the creative risks. But the way it started messing with the foundation. The Jedi aren’t just flawed or nieve here ... they’re painted almost like villains. The dark side isn’t a temptation anymore ... it’s a lifestyle choice with better lighting.

I’m not saying everything has to stay the same. But there’s a difference between telling new stories and rewriting the whole point. Star Wars has always been about hard choices. Redemption. Sacrifice. It was never just space magic and cool ships, and storm troopers ... it was myth. Morality. A belief in something bigger than yourself.

That belief was missing. Completely erased.

And honestly? It left me feeling kind of sad. Not because the show was different ... but because it felt like it didn’t trust the heart of what made Star Wars meaningful. It wanted to be edgy. Modern. Maybe even subversive. But in doing that, it forgot the soul, and threw it away.

The Force was never meant to be trendy.
It was meant to be timeless.

It didn’t feel like inclusion ... it felt like a parody of it.

Instead of showing strength, it showed naivety.
Instead of showing depth, it gave us confusion.
And instead of real growth or leadership, it gave characters power they didn’t earn ... and never had to.

If you’re going to champion a cause, do it with purpose.
Don’t wrap it in shallow characters with no compass and then act like that’s progress.
That’s not representation. That’s sabotage ... dressed in fake virtue. Not even Yoda's ears could save this trainwreck.

The Force binds us. Guides us. Divides us.
And Star Wars, at its best, never asked us to abandon our sense of right and wrong.
It simply asked us to choose.

Star Wars The Acolyte (2024-2024) – In the final days of the High Republic, a former Jedi Padawan reunites with her master to investigate a string of dark, mysterious crimes.

About the Author
Mish’al Samman is a writer, performer, and lifelong fanboy who began his career covering comics, film, and fandom culture for Fanboy Planet in the early 2000s. With a voice rooted in sincerity, humor, and cultural observation, his work blends personal storytelling with pop-culture insight. Whether he’s reflecting on the soul of Star Wars or exploring identity through genre, Mish’al brings a grounded, human perspective to every galaxy he writes about.