ScreenCrush: The Podcast! - Why ACOLYTE is the MOST CRUCIAL Star Wars Since FORCE AWAKENS

Episode Date: March 29, 2024

ScreenCrush Rewind tackles all the movie and TV hot topics, offering reviews and analysis of Marvel, Star Wars, and everything you care about right now. Hosted by Ryan Arey, and featuring a panel of industry professionals. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the Grandview's shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series.

Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. This is about power and who is allowed to use it. Hey, welcome back to Screen Crush. I'm Ryan Erie, and I think the Star Wars show The Acolyte is going to be the most important Star Wars project since The Force Awakens. The trailer has already broken a Lucasfilm Disney Plus record

with 50 million views in its first 24 hours. But it also has more dislikes than likes, according to this tweet from culture craze. I think that's maybe because there is a certain segment of Star Wars fandom who feel threatened by a show that strays away from the Skywalker Saga. Now, obviously, I'm not talking about you. You're great. A little bit later, I'm going to talk about all of that with Star Wars author Adam Lance Garcia and Colton Ogburn. But first, let me tell you why this show is going to be so important. And before we get rolling, I want to remind you guys,

we have lots of Star Wars-inspired parody merch at our merch store, screencrushmerch.com, where we design all the merch ourselves. We have this prequel apologist, original trilogy. They fly now. Mandu and Grogoo is E.T. and Elliot. And lots more. Shopping our merch store is the best way to directly support our channel. Thank you for watching. Let's dive into this. So this is the first Star Wars live action show to be set in an entirely new era apart from the Skywalker saga. There is no Luke, no Vader, no Emperor Palpatine. Now we have seen this era before in games and comics and novels, but let's face it, the real canon events are in live action. Setting a show during the High Republic is a

remarkable move for Disney. When Disney bought Lucas film, the mandate from the top was that they wanted all original trilogy all the time. They canceled the Clone Wars series and focused on projects with legacy characters that were just steeped in nostalgia. And you know what? That's fine. There are a lot of stories from that era that needed to be told. The excellent Marvel comics filled in the gaps between trilogies. Bad Batch and the Fallen Order games show the rise of the empire and the plight of the remaining Jedi, while rebels, Andor, and Rogue One show the earliest days of the rebellion. The problem is this nostalgia became the core of the Star Wars franchise. And when you say, hey, we're only making projects based around three

40-year-old movies, you're boxing yourself in creatively. Now we're stuck in a box! Like I heard a story once about a person who was developing a smuggler Star Wars game, though it was supposed to be like a whole new story with new characters. But then the game was scrapped when the suits realized that Chewbacca wasn't in it. And the movie Solo was filled with so much nostalgia baiting, it became unbearable. So what's your name anyway? What's nostalgia better than... Well, nostalgia baiting is when you use nostalgia to gain fan interest.

Which is fine, but then your actual story, doesn't really offer anything new. You just read tread stories that have already been done. The Force Awakens tried to ride this line by introducing really interesting new characters, but who were all obsessed with the original trilogy. Luke Skywalker, I thought he was a myth. Show me, grandfather. So instead of giving us new characters in a galaxy far, far away, the sequel trilogy just gave us, us, ourselves, fans of the original trilogy. And then the Last Jedi tried to push Star Wars into

something new and maybe pushed a little too hard for some fans, and then the Rise of Skywalker was just a straight-up remake of Return of the Jedi. These stories relied too heavily on old films and didn't energize creators to expand on this story. Like it's kind of weird how few comics and novels there are that are based around the events of the sequel trilogy. And I think that's because we've already seen the story of a scrappy resistance fighting an evil space government.

That was the original Star Wars trilogy. Heck, my favorite expanded universe from the sequel trilogy was actually the Rise of Resistance Ride. Because look, Star Wars and Disney have been afraid to do anything new. And frankly, I think a lot of us Star Wars fans are afraid of something new as well. The prequels were just such a radical departure from the original trilogy that a lot of you guys really overreacted.

And this is why we need a show like the Acolyte that is going to push us into a new era. Hey, do you guys have any movies that'll make you fall asleep and never wake up? I mean, yeah, we've got the flash. Why? What's wrong with you? Well, you know, my wife and I are having a baby. Oh my God, that's amazing. Congrats. How does that even work? Well, yeah, you know, we had a few drinks to celebrate, and I ended up drinking for two.

And, well, I feel awful. Yeah, man, I too have had a lot of rough mornings. Like, we recently had our very first live show, and afterwards, I over-celebrated. But the next day, I felt fine because I took a Zbiotic, our partner for this video. Zbiotic is a pre-alcohol probiotic that's actually the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. And guys, Zbiotics really works. I have a regular subscription that brings it to my house every month.

Well, how does that even work? Well, here's how it works. When you drink, alcohol gets converted into a toxic byproduct in your gut. Now, it is this toxic byproduct and not dehydration that is to blame for your rough next day. Zbiotics produces an enzyme to break this byproduct down. It is designed to work like your liver, but in your gut where you need it the most. So here's what you do. You take Zbiotics before you start drinking, and of course, drink responsibly and get a good night's sleep.

And guys, I'm not kidding about Zbiotics. I really do have an ongoing monthly subscription, and it makes for a great gift. Like when you go to a wedding, just kind of pass these around to your friends and family, and they'll thank you for it the next day. So trust me, give your friends and family the gift of a better tomorrow with Zbiotics. Go to Zbiotics.com slash screen crush. We're scan the QR code on screen right now to get 15% of your first order when you use the code screen crush at checkout. Zbiotics is backed with a 100% money back guarantee, so if you are unsatisfied for any reason, reason. They're going to refund your money, no questions asked. Remember to head to zbiotics.com

slash screencrush and use the code screencrush at checkout to get 15% off. Thanks again, Zbiotics for sponsoring this video. Now, like I said earlier, we have seen Star Wars and new eras before. There was the Knights of the Old Republic, the Old Republic Comics. Hell, there were even novels about Luke's descendants in the distant future. And of course, there are the excellent High Republic novels and comics. The High Republic is a sprawling story about the Jedi at the height of their power, fighting vicious space pirates called the Nihil. Now, not every single High Republic book is great. Don't get me started on Phase 2's obsession with the single planetary war.

But the High Republic does introduce bold new concepts to the lore. We find out more about the Jedi, their loves, their connection to the dark side. And the Nihil are a truly new type of villain for Star Wars. This story is exhilarating because it's all new, and yet it still feels like Star Wars. And the Acolyte will be the first big step away from the Skywalker saga. There'll be no C3PO, no confusing connections to a Disney XD show you never watch. And a little later, I'm going to tell you guys, why this show is going to be so make or break for Star Wars and why it's going to fix the mistakes that shows like Asoka keep making.

But first, I want to talk about why exactly this show looks so great. So Adam Lance Garcia, you're somebody who I know is excited to see Star Wars be placed in new eras. You're also a Star Wars author, contributor, and Return to the Jedi, a certain point of view. What is it you really loved about this trailer? What's your reaction? I mean, look, I'm a huge fan of the High Republic that's evidenced by its inclusion in my very first Star Wars story, which is a fun sentence to say. I love the idea of the High Republic. It's familiar enough that we have like elements like Yoda

or even potentially Jabba the Hut alive during that period of time. But it's different enough that like they allow to, they allow the galaxy to explore. The thing that I love about Star Wars as a franchise is that you can go in any direction. You can go thousands of years in the past. You can go thousands of years in the future. And then you have millions of planets within the galaxy.

galaxy that you can explore. So you're able to sort of like dig deeper in ways that you really can't with other franchises with maybe the exception of like Star Trek, which has like hundreds of thousands of years of history forward, but it's always tied to Earth. Like there's nothing tying it to like real history. You can do anything. And the High Republic allows you to sort of see these new worlds, these new characters that all feel familiar that we know, it's the jetty that we knew. And I think that's what's quite. cool is by the Akelyte is that we get to see the Jedi at their height in live action. What we, my generation as fans, were like looking forward to seeing when the prequel

trilogy came out. And I think rightly the prequel trilogy showed us the Jedi sort of at their like nadir. And I think just seeing the Jedi at their height, seeing the Sith, like grads are being reborn. It's just, it feels new. That's the thing about the High Republic. It always feels new, familiar, but new. And watching this trailer, that's Star Wars, baby. Yeah, that's Star Wars, exactly. Exactly. You know, there's parts in the High Republic, too, where, like, I'm not going to say that everything the High Republic has put out has been great because there's been a lot of stuff.

And I think Face 2 has been a bit of a mess. And I got really tired of that Civil War, the wars between the planets, all that stuff, et cetera. But there are moments in the High Republic that absolutely gave me goosebumps. Like, there's one moment where there's this Padawan. He's falling through the air, and there's people who are falling through the air because of this crash or whatever. And then he grabs this person, a kid. And the kid, he can feel this kid's fear. in the force. And there's this lovely moment in this book where the

Padawan points to the Jedi crest on his cloak and through the force he feels the fear in this kid melt away because he knows he's safe because the Jedi are there. Yeah. It's an incredible moment in the first book of the High Republic and moments like that to me and also the introduction of concepts like way seekers, you know the Jedi who don't follow the council, they follow the will of the force. There's just so many interesting aspects of this that I feel like as I talked about earlier, the sequel trilogy could have explored, but instead went in for member Barry's

nostalgia baiting. Colton, what about you? What did you think about this trailer? Well, as somebody who is not currently caught up on the High Republic stuff, I know, I'm sorry, I want to be... Not caught up either, by the way. Yeah, how dare you? Just silver clear. All of you. Not to be... Not to be, like, simplistic, but the lightsabers, man, I am so excited for the return of, like, a bunch of lightsabers in a scene together. You know, people love lightsabers and like the epic duels from the prequels and i think there's just like newfound love for that era of star wars that wasn't there like 10 years ago and lucas film and disney you know they

they understandably shied away from like even acknowledging the prequels there for a while but i think now they're like embracing them entirely so i'm really excited for that and i know that this isn't the prequel era but it's the high republic and i think it's still very visually pretty just from what I could tell from the trailer, uh, we're getting to see like the Jedi order and the Republic and like a peacetime prior to the Clone Wars. I think it's going to be really fun to see. I'm also glad that they're embracing like other parts of Star Wars like the planet of Octo, uh, from the last Jedi. And, you know, that film was controversial, but I'm glad that they're sticking with it and making it work hopefully and in telling good stories. I think something

we've learned from Star Wars is that even the stuff. we don't like, give it enough time, we'll accept it into the family. And I think that this series is going to give us something that, one, we've never seen, but to go off what Adam said, you know, it feels new yet familiar at the same time. And I'm also wondering, and I wanted to pose this question to you guys, do you think what we're getting with this series is kind of teasing what Star Wars is going to look like in the Ray movies? Like, I have this feeling that like with Visually look like, you mean? Yeah, visually and in terms of, you know, the mentality of the Republic, the Jedi Order, you know,

they don't need to return to the prequel era. That's what Luke was kind of teaching, you know, is saying that the way that they were running things then is what led to their downfall. So I'm wondering if we're going to see them aspiring to return to an even more peaceful time with the High Republic. And maybe this show is going to show us what that era looked like and what we can expect with future Star Wars. Well, regarding visuals, hold on just a second.

Regarding visuals, I just want to touch on what you said about how great it is to see so many lightsabers. I love seeing that combined with the tactile kind of real feeling that we saw on Andor in the sequel trilogy. So I think we're getting like the best of both worlds visually with what they're able. I think this is a lot of what George Lucas wanted to do, like what they're able to do in the volume

is what he was doing when he was shooting on all green screens and blue screens. And now we're finally, technology's finally caught up to his vision. Sorry, Adam, go ahead. And what I think, yeah, what I'm, most of the acolyte isn't necessarily like a visual or a narrative element that's going to be in the Ray films. I think it does represent what I love about this new era of Star Wars, which is exploration. Going beyond the film earlier, going beyond what we know, I think as much as I love

the original trilogy, as much as I love even the prequel era, I really want to see more Star Wars stories outside this 70-year period. Because again, there's so many worlds to explore thousands of years to explore. And I think the acolyte represents this new mindset, like, let's push and see what we can explore. Let's get beyond nostalgia. Let's deepen our understanding of the story. Like, one thing that I've, I've said to a lot of people about what I love about the High Republic is this idea of like, the more content you get, you get new context to the stories that you know. So seeing the Jedi at their height, for example, is really interesting. But it, and it sort of makes you understanding like, oh, how far they actually fell by the prequel trilogy and how desperate it

feels when Luke comes back as The Last Jedi. And so I feel like it's not necessarily like what we're probably going to see in the Bray film. Again, I don't know from, I don't know. I know as much as anyone else. But I think it does represent this desire to take risks and explore and push the boundaries of what Star Wars could be. It's what I loved about the EU and legends and sort of like seeing what works and what doesn't. I think it's just, for me, it's just, it's exciting because it's new. It's new. And that's the coolest part about it.

So that's what I hope it represents for Star Wars. It's just new ideas that deepen understanding the galaxy, that deepen our understanding of the Jedi that just make us want to keep on exploring. Colton, what about you? Like, you know, you've done some videos we've done here on the channel where we talk about like the Ray Trilogy and how she can be Grogu and we can do all this stuff. I look at like the idea of Ray building a new Jedi order and I've always thought, well, that's kind of what I thought episode seven would be with Luke.

So do you kind of see this, the acolyte and the Ray movie as maybe Star Wars giving us the stories we thought we were already going to get with the prequels and with the sequel trilogy? Yes. And you know, I'm not a sequel trilogy hater, but yeah, it did feel like they kind of rehashed a little bit the original trilogy, you know, with the First Order being the empire and all that, when I would have liked to have seen them moving forward, rebuilding the Jedi Order and stuff, like you said with Luke. So, yes, I think that the Ray trilogy, or, you know, whether it ends up being episode 10, 11 and 12, I think that that movie could be like this fresh new start for Star Wars, incorporating

all of the different themes and stories that we've seen with, you know, with the prequels, with the original trilogy. And I really do think that what we're seeing with Ackleite and the High Republic and live action, I think that could be a sneak peek, like a preview of what we're going to see those movies and that era of Star Wars aspire to be, aspire to rebuild. Like I said, a second ago, you don't want to go back to how things were in the prequels in terms of like in canon in the story. It was a corrupt time. It was wartime. It led to their downfall. So yeah, I do think that with the Ray movie, we are going to get to see, hopefully, like Adam was saying,

a new and bright future. The thing that even with the acolyte that is holding me back a little bit is we know where it goes. We know what ends up happening. We know the Sith return. We know the Republic Falls. So as excited as I am for the acolyte and how I feel about the new and all the possibilities coming, it makes me even more excited for what Star Wars and Lucasfilm can do in the future with brand new stories and an unwritten future. I don't know that, like, Better Call Saul is a prequel. We know how it turns out, but we don't know how it turns out for those characters, you know, like how they got there.

So I think that's what is promising to me about the acolyte. Going back to- I was going to say the same thing, because I was going to say the same thing, right? Because, like, that's been my favorite thing about the High Republic as, again, I'm a huge EU fan. I grew up on legends. Like, you can see some books behind me. It's like literally a fraction of my collection of EU books.

and canon novels what was so exciting about those books what I was growing up was this idea that like kind of anything can happen but what always kind of held me back and like

which I was kind of frustrated me reading those was that because Luke Han and Leah were like the core you knew that they were always safe so as weird and as wonderful as you got you kind of lost sometimes

like well I know they're going to be safe I know they're going to be okay what's great of the High Republic is that because it's set you know, basically 300 to 100 years or even, I think, a little bit further like 500 years before the prequel trilogy, yeah, we know the Sith are going to come back, but we don't know how these heroes are going to survive or if they're going to survive. There's a sense of danger in everything. If you read, like, Light of the Jedi by Charles Sol, like, there are

characters that are introduced and killed within the first three chapters. You fall in love with them, and then they're dead. There's a Y-A novel at the start of phase two that I won't spoil that has a pretty shocking character death as well. I mean, the phase one ends with the major character. We're not used to seeing this in Star Wars, like you said. Yeah, and that's kind of the thing.

It's like, yeah, it's a prequel, but we don't know what's going to happen to these characters. And yeah, like in broad strokes, we know where it's going. I don't know how the Sith operate in this era. You know, I don't know how they, stay hidden and how they are allowed to like the rule two to keep on going there's a sense of danger and everything uh to again to hammer home ryan's point it's very much like a better call

so yeah we know where he ends so but we don't know where everything else goes and i think that's like that's the thing about the accolade we we we all we know honestly yoda survives true and that's it that's it that's all we know we know so yoda yaddle and Dexter Jester as spelled out in the wonderful Star Wars Canon of short story, The Veteran, which you can find now written by Adam Lance Garcia.

Adam, I think you make a good point. You know, we're talking a lot about the Jedi Order and stuff. But in the prequels, we're kind of seeing the tail end of the Sith rising to power and taking over. So I think you make a good point that in this century leading up to the Phantom Menace,

we're going to get to see a lot of explanation and story for exactly how the Sith got to where they are. Because there's tons of lore there that, you know, I guess it's been told in, you know, the expanded universe and legends and stuff. But I am excited to see how that story finally told in canon through the act like. In speaking of legends in EU, like the thing that, one of the things that really makes me excited about this series is how big a fan Leslie Headland is of Star Wars. The showrunner Leslie Hadland, who also did Russian Doll.

Sure, right, and Leslie Headland. Yeah. What I, I mean, look, I both as someone who's had the privilege of working in Star Wars, but also as someone whose day job is interviewing celebrities and but also as a fan, I really want to sit down and talk with Leslie Headlin and just talk about the EU and legends because I admire her so much for being this, like, fan, like me, who read these books and was so inspired and loving to explore this universe. and now she has this chance to sort of like insert that uh that canon into the canon um i want to know

what stories inspired her like did she read like darth placas and how is that informing how she's talking with the high republic in this era did she read uh like the old republic books and darth revin how is that being put in or is it like some crazy thing like the glove of darth vater that introduces is like the most absurd things in the world. And putting that into like, it's a crazy book. It's like, if you ever read the Jedi Prince trilogy, it's one of those, actually, it's six books. It's a really interesting, it is, I kid you not,

about Luke training a young Jedi who turns out to be Palpatine's grandchild. It's really interesting. And it's one of those like, you never expected that to be relevant again. but I so yeah like I'm I think it's really interesting that she is someone who is a real true fan and is coming into this with such passion and such excitement that she can look at the EU and like all right this is what I want to bring in she goes look at canon like this is what I want to bring in

and again like I just want to talk to her about Star Wars books like I don't like I'm so enthusiastic about this idea that I can just talk to a producer of a Star Wars show and like just nerd out about the era of the Empire trilogy or like the Jedi Academy trilogy or let's just talk about the New Jedi Order and they use en Vong. Like I just, that is so cool. Like, are there going to be used in Vong

in the Acklate? That'd be awesome. I don't know if it would work, but it'd be cool. Like, Zonimo Sakat. Like, that shows up. Like, sorry. Adam, you're going down a deep rabbit hole and I'm going to have to cut you off.

I'm going down a deep rabbit hole because there's, no, there's so much you can do in this era. Like, that's what's so exciting about the accolite. Like, we don't know. We just don't know. So let's pivot over. in just a little bit I'm going to talk to you guys

about why I think this show is like make or break for Star Wars like if it succeeds it's going to push us into a whole new era if it fails we're going to be doomed to nostalgia baiting for the rest of the franchise's existence but first I want to do some speculating with you guys about this like one interesting shot in the trailer Colton you alluded to it was when we see a dark figure on Acto which we presume you know from the trailer in context

that's the Sith like the Jedi didn't know where this temple was it was lost, and now we see this dark-cloaked figure at the same obsidian cave entrance it looks like that Ray went into. So let's wildly speculate on this for a second. What do we think is going on here? Were the Sith hiding out on Acto this whole time? Well, as you mentioned in our Easter Egg breakdown, not only did Acto have a Jedi temple, but there was also the dark side cave that we saw Ray Venture into. So yes, I'm leaning toward that the Sith definitely inhabited Octo it sometime. And I don't know if you want me to get into this just yet, but I have a theory. It's kind of out there of who that person standing on that cliff might be.

One second. Sorry. You know what? You're working on a script for that video. We're going to put out next week. So let's just say that as a tease. You can give us a small hint right now who you think it could be? It's a dark lord of the Sith that is of one species in legends, but his species has never been confirmed again.

Adam, what about you? Do you think that the Sith were hiding out on Acto the whole time? And what would that mean narratively for this story? I don't know if it's Acto, necessarily, but I do like the idea that it could be. I like the idea, and I'm seeing this more and more, this yes ending of

established canon. Colton, you kind of touch upon it. this idea that it could, like, you know, like, even if, like, there are story elements that we don't necessarily love, whether that be, for example, like, on Doctor Who, you know, this, the idea, like, of the timeless child, that, like, Russell T. Davies is, yes, ending that in his current run. I like seeing, or even, like, the Calvin universe in Star Trek, when the destruction of Rhymanus becomes a big part of the Bacard seasons. I think it's important that franchises, yes, and things. So, like, could it be Acto?

Possibly. And if it isn't, that's fine. But I like the idea that's like, they're like, yeah, that exists. We're going to keep on, we're going to hammer down on it and explore that. Because, you know, it just deepens things. Like, I remember, like, I think it's a good example of, like, what makes the Clone Wars my favorite animated series in the entire Star Wars franchise is the fact that it, yes, and the prequels, you know, I think it's hard to remember, but when the prequels came out, they were lambasted. I was called a George Lucas Apologist growing up because I liked the

prequels. And the Clone Wars not only just introduced the franchise to a new audience, but it sort of deepened our understanding of the characters, it explored new things, and a yes and everything around it. So is it Octo? I don't know, but I like, the idea that it could be. Well, I think that there's another piece of evidence in the trailer that it's Octo, apart from the fact that if you just look at it visually, it looks like Octo. I was looking yesterday comparing shots from Last Jedi in this trailer. It looks like the same place.

But another thing, there's a line in the trailer where a character says this isn't about good and bad. It's about power. And I think that could be a direct reference to, you know, the origins of the Force, the prime Jedi. Ryan, you talked about the ying and yang of that prime Jedi symbol. You've got the dark in the light. So I think apart from the fact that it visually looks like Octo, there's a lot of thematic reasoning to believe that this is Octo as well. And also the idea that the Sith were actually hiding out at the first Jedi temple, which in some ways would be their first temple since

the Sith broke off from the Jedi. The fact they were hiding there for a thousand years and the Jedi had no idea because the Jedi had lost sight of their own origins to me is very poetic. And the idea of like you said Adam, bringing it back, bringing it full circle is what Star Wars needs to do. It needs to honor what's come before while taking those tools and using them to tell a new story. So Adam Colton, thank you guys for joining me. You can find their social links below. And now I'm going to tell you guys why this show is make or break for Star Wars. If this show succeeds and it's going to emboldened Lucasfilm to keep telling new stories, like Adam said, the theme seems to now be exploration, going into new areas of the galaxy, new time

period. Star Wars will now be looking forward instead of looking backward. Now, we already talked about the upcoming Ray movie trilogy, but I'm also very excited for James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi movie. I mean, think about it. The guy who gave us the gift of Logan wants to create a new corner of the Star Wars story, where we can see the origins of the Jedi order. Literally, anything can happen. There are very few constraints on continuity, like the Sith won't exist yet, but there can be other evil force users. We'll see the birth of the lightsaber of hyperspace travel, a galaxy trapped in darkness years away from other planets until the Jedi bring everyone together. But if the Acolyte fails, if the trolls wreck it because there's no Chewbacca,

then that could mean the end of Star Wars. The whole point of Star Wars is that it's adaptable to every generation. The original movies drew from Vietnam. The prequels were about the rise with special interest corrupting a good republic. Even the sequel trilogy is about how we are shaped by our mistakes and can learn from them. I mean, that's Kyla Wren's entire arc in the films. So, what's our story for today? I mean, we live in really interesting, very divisive times.

So what kind of stories could creators tell today that kids will be nostalgic for in the future? Shows like The Acolyte can give great artists like James Mangold a blank canvas to paint these new stories. And if we fans listen, if we show up for good Star Wars, then we will keep getting quality, engaging stories like Andor. And if we don't, we're going to be stuck with Asoka. Or what's wrong with Asoka?

Nothing's wrong with Asoka, but Asoka's like aggressively fine. It's a sequel to a low-rated animated show and excludes new fans from watching. It's just more of the same. It's the same characters over and over who frankly really should have died at the end of the Clone Wars. But, you know, guys, the problem with IP is that, well, no one's ever really gone. Shows like the Acolyte can be the Star Wars Game of Thrones. They can rip our guts out, toy with our emotions, and reinvent this saga.

But if we fans just dismiss anything new, that we're going to keep getting shows where a Jedi stabs a fart in the volume. By the way, I stole that fart in the woods joke line from Pitchmeeting. Love that channel. So, what do you guys think? Are you excited about Ackolite? Do you think Star Wars is on the brink of greatness or failure? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below or at me on Twitter. And if it's your first time here, please subscribe and smash that bell for alerts.

For Screen Crush, I'm Ryan Erie.