The Acolyte showrunner defends one of the most controversial aspects of the scrapped Star Wars show, but jokes "I'll take the L"

The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has weighed in on one of the most surprisingly controversial moments in the now-scrapped Star Wars show: a canon debate about the age of a minor prequels character.

You might remember the Ki-Adi-Mundi debate that kicked off after the High Council Jedi had a cameo in The Acolyte episode 4 – all because of a CD-ROM from the '90s. The Star Wars: Episode I Insider's Guide from 1999 puts his age at 60 at the time of the prequels, but The Acolyte is set 100 years before that trilogy.

"I asked Pablo Hidalgo," Headland told The George Lucas Talk Show, referring to Lucasfilm's so-called Star Wars Lore Advisor. "I said, if I put Ki-Adi-Mundi in a small business meeting – not the High Council, in that scene they mention 'we should alert the High Council,' he says that, and because of that you would assume he's not on the High Council – so [Hidalgo] said that if he's not on the high council that [I] can use him. I don't remember what he said about the birth date or the lifespan, but, yeah, Pablo said it was cool. Many, many people read the script and it got through that. But video games are canon, aren't they? I assumed that. I'll take the L."

The Acolyte premiered in June 2024 and was canceled two months later due to "low viewership", but the show was actually the second-most-watched series on Disney Plus that year. It was subject to review bombing before and during release.

Next up from the galaxy far, far away is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which will bring Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and his little green ward to the big screen for the first time. They'll be joined by Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt, Sigourney Weaver as the New Republic's Colonel Ward, and Steve Blum as Zeb Orrelios.

The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on May 22. In the meantime, get up to speed with our guide to the other upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.