Enjoying reading everyone’s thoughts. I know others have already shared similar feelings but love your thorough write-up Acbagel. Definitely think those are all valid thoughts. I feel like when I watch the new movies or shows, I try to have fun with it as someone who just enjoys seeing new Star Wars stuff (especially when I watch something with my dad who also is a life-long casual fan), but also can’t help but be critical a lot of the time too. I want to enjoy it, but also think it’s fair to want the franchise to be as good as it is capable of being.
Wanted to add some thoughts on one of your points. It seems a lot of people agree that Sol is a standout performance in the series so far. I definitely think his ability to express emotion is a highlight, and from what I’ve read in interviews it seems like being able to express his emotions physically was important to him. I think it speaks to the long-time dilemma of how to portray Jedi as stoic monks in control of their emotions, but also get a good performance out of Jedi characters. While I don’t think this is impossible to do it is interesting that this dilemma has come back around in the form of this character.
Actually found some snippets from an interview where Lee Jung-Jae, who plays Sol, speaks on this dilemma.
Kim: What was the hardest part about playing Sol?
Lee: I’d have to say it was successfully pulling off the role of a Jedi. If you take, say, a film like Il Mare, there’s no history behind it since it’s a standalone work. So I can act freely according to my own imagination. But with Star Wars, it’s a franchise with a 50-year history, and we’ve seen many other Jedis during that time, with a number of different actors playing them. So I had to think a lot about how this role and this series ties into the broader Star Wars saga, and also about how to portray a Jedi in a way that’s consistent with the Jedis from previous works, that’s consistent with the image of the Jedi Order. But at the same time, there were also parts about Sol that I had to make up on my own. So there were a lot of things I had to keep in mind while playing Sol in order to successfully convey both aspects—both the traditional image of a Jedi and Sol’s individual personality—simultaneously.
Kim: Sol definitely seems like a character that would be difficult to portray. Is there anything you did in particular to make it easier to play Sol?
Lee: I wouldn’t say I did anything in particular—rather, Director Leslye and I talked a lot on set about how to make Sol’s character more multifaceted and three-dimensional. I also watched how Jedis were portrayed by different actors in previous Star Wars films and shows. As I mentioned before, it was most important for me to figure out how to simultaneously convey the image of a classic Jedi and the image of Sol as a Jedi.
Also, The Acolyte takes place before the other Star Wars shows and films, so that means that Sol is from an older generation of Jedis. So I imagined that Sol became a Jedi at a time when Jedi training was a bit less developed and formalized, and I thought that could translate into Sol having a harder time controlling his human emotions. I thought it could seem more interesting if I were to express his emotions a bit more candidly. So when the situation called for Sol to be friendly, I’d show him as being more openly friendly and warm-hearted. And when Sol was feeling fear, I would try to express his fear more. But as a result, audiences have been saying that this Jedi seems to be rather different. (laughs)
It is sort of a chicken/egg question for me. Did Headland want to portray this Jedi as more emotional from the get-go, or was that decision from Lee’s desire to play a character that could express his emotions, and they found a story way to rationalize it. If I had to guess, the fate of his character will tie into the theme of the Jedi becoming more stoic by the time of the Prequel Era. It’s possible this was inline with Headland’s plans and it conveniently worked out with how Lee wanted to play him, though it also sounds like Headland hand-picked Lee because of his ability to express his feelings.
When The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland saw Lee in Squid Game, she knew she’d found the right person to play Sol. “He just ran the gamut of every single emotion,” she said in a promo video for the show. "And then when I worked with him I was like, ‘this is the best actor I’ve ever worked with,’ " she told IGN.
Anyway, not trying to paint a black or white opinion on the matter, just thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss!