THE ACOLYTE’s Leslye Headland Fought to Include an Iconic STAR WARS Line

In The Acolyte‘s second episode Jedi Knight Yord uttered one of the most iconic lines in all of Star Wars: “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” But Charlie Barnett almost didn’t get to to say that oft-repeated worry. Neither did anyone else in the cast. Showrunner Leslye Headland told Entertainment Weekly she had to fight to keep that famous line in the show.

Jedi Knight Yord holds a com at night on the Acolyte
Lucasfilm

Unlike Vanestra Rwoh saying, “May the Force be with you,” Headland said Yord’s talk of having a bad feeling was “hard to get that in.” The fear among some at Lucasfilm was the line could “either take viewers out of the moment, or fail to live up” the impact of the line itself.

Whether it landed or not is up to each individual audience member, but Headland said she simply had to include this Star Wars line. “I just feel like when you get the opportunity to do Star Wars, you’re just going to shoot your shot,” she said to EW. As long as she shot first no one can begrudge her that.