The latest Star Wars series The Acolyte managed to divide fans in a lot of different ways, and there was a big and loud backlash against the series, which was bombarded by negative reviews.
The show’s villainous star, Manny Jacinto, recently spoke to GQ about the series and he shared his thoughts on the backlash and Star Wars fans.
Jacinto explained: “It’s a cycle. With everything that’s come out since the original trilogy, there’s always a very passionate group that doesn’t like change, that wants that same feeling that they experienced when they were kids, only now they’ve grown up and their taste has matured and they’re more critical about art or the world, and then they are just more precious about the things that they experienced when they were younger.”
He believes that more fans will embrace the series several years down the line, though, just like the prequel trilogy films.
He continued: “Looking at it through that lens is really helpful. And it sucks that sometimes you have to wait 10, 20, 30 years to get your flowers. But the fact that a lot of people are enjoying it right now, I think that’s all I can focus on right now.
“It might just take some time to get other people on board, but at the end of the day, I am so proud of what we made.”
Only time will tell if that happens. But, it sounds like Jacinto actually understands the Star Wars fandom and why they feel the way they do about the series.
When previously talking about Star Wars fans, showrunner Leslye Headland said: “Everybody knows what review bombing is like. Truly when the show first came out, my publicist was like, ‘OK, with the review…’ I was like, ‘Does anybody take that seriously anymore?’
“I understand the point of it, which is that the average viewer would look at the site and say, ‘Oh, the user review is really low.’ But I think that, if you’re in the Star Wars fandom, I think you already know what review bombing is.”
She continued, “So I guess if you’re totally new to the fandom and you’re considering watching the show, it could affect you. But I also think that my work in the past has been very word-of-mouth anyway, so I don’t know if it … I think that because, behind the scenes, we all know what it is — it’s not that it’s not concerning — but I think it’s pretty expected. I would say.”
This was one of the Star Wars shows that was a rough watch for me, and like some of the others, I’ll most likely never watch it again.
