Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Ahsoka Tano – the Jedi Academy is open to everyone, whether human, Kel’Dor or Togruta. Even the unknown species to which Yoda belonged. But was it really open to everyone?
Apparently not quite, as is now evident in the series The Acolyte, currently running on Disney+. Because it is the first live-action film to break a rule that old master and franchise creator George Lucas established about 50 years ago.
KotOR 2 was also affected by the rule
In episode 4 of The Acolyte, viewers meet the Jedi named Kelnacca (played by Joonas Suotamo) for the first time – a Wookie. And that’s almost a first.
Because according to collider.com Lucas had already decided in the first trilogy that Wookies should not have the same level of control over the Force as Luke Skywalker, for example. Unlike other species in the Star Wars universe, the Wookies were more or less fixed in their role.
This strange rule is said to have been the reason for designing a video game differently. Because according to Wookieepedia The bounty hunter Hanharr in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords was initially conceived as a dark Jedi.
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The Acolyte: Disney already shows how the fights in the new Star Wars series were created
Due to the above rule, Obsidian was forced to abandon these plans. Comic book author Randy Stadley explained in a forum
There are apparently a number of species that either do not have the ability to use the Force or lack the sensitivity required for Jedi training.
In addition to the Wookies, this also affects the Sand People of Tatooine and the Ewoks from the forest moon of Endor. It is not known why these species were particularly affected.
Wookie Jedis in books and comics
However, the rule was not consistently implemented. For example, Lowbacca, a nephew of Chebacca, joins the Jedi Order after the fall of the Empire, described in the book Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
(The Guardians of the Force) by Kevin Anderson.
In the Star Wars series by the comic book publisher Dark Horse from the early 1990s, the Jedi Master Tyvokka appears, who trains the later master Plo Koon.
And there has already been a Wookie Jedi student on the screen: Gungi, who appears in the series The Clone Wars. However, The Acolyte is the first time that a Wookie has appeared on screen in a live-action adaptation of the Star Wars saga – for the first time since the first film, Star Wars, was released in 1977.
Despite this premiere, The Acolyte is not well received by you, as our recent community survey revealed.
A large majority of participants said the series had medium to major flaws. Half of the survey participants did not like the series at all. You can find the link to the survey results in the info box above.