An even longer time ago in a galaxy far, far away… the Jedi had to iron their robes, just like the rest of us!
Disney+’s new Star Wars prequel series The Acolyte is here, set roughly 100 years before the events of the “Skywalker Saga” movie series during the “High Republic” era when Jedi Masters helped maintain order and peace with the power of The Force.
And though there are plenty of new characters to meet, and a mystery involving an unknown assailant picking off Jedi one by one, the moment from this week’s two-episode premiere that’s been getting the most chatter (at least in our neck of the woods) is a shirtless scene for Jedi Knight Yord Fandar, played by gay heartthrob Charlie Barnett, of Russian Doll fame.
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Well, alright then! The Force is strong with this one—emphasis on the strong.
The moment comes in episode one, “Lost/Found,” after *spoiler alert* a cloaked attacker who looks an awful lot like Padawan Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) kills Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), leading her former teacher Sol (Lee Jung-jae), his new student Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen), and Barnett’s Yord to search for answers.
When Sol first sees Yord on his ship, he’s shirtless while steaming his Jedi robe. Because, yes, even galactic heroes have to worry about wrinkles!
But the topless moment stands out—and not just because Barnett looks completely jacked: For as storied and expansive as the Star Wars universe is, it’s not exactly one known for showing skin, or any sexy moments for that matter.
That’s something the actor seemed to be acutely aware of:
“I’m not gonna lie,” Barnett tells Decider. “I was dreading [the scene] because I was like, ‘How much is the fandom gonna eat this apart? How much is this necessary? How much of it is just kind of “show”?'”
So what convinced him to bare his chest to the galaxy—and Star Wars‘ notoriously fussy fandom? It was The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, who he’s worked with previously on her Netflix series Russian Doll.
“I’ve said this many, many times: I trust Leslye to the ends of the earth,” he said. “So I invested. I was one hundred percent to be there and it worked.“
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“It was the first time I saw a man who looked like me and he was definitely open about his sexuality.”
In fact, he and Headland felt there were very good reasons for Yord to flash some flesh. One, because the robe steaming provides a nice moment of levity, harkening back to the “fun and humor” of the original film series. And, two, because it serves as a reminder that the seemingly all-powerful Jedi aren’t impervious to imperfections:
“It’s one of those beautiful moments where it’s like Jedi are—I mean, I am a human—and Jedi do human things which means probably taking off their clothes and going to bed,” Barnett shares. “But it’s even more specifically Yord, it wasn’t about the shirtless for me, it was about steaming. It was about preparing my day and being the best-presented Jedi I could possibly be.”
Well, with muscles like that, we’d have to agree that Yord is certainly putting his best pec foot forward.
Amusingly, Barnett’s topless moment in The Acolyte has inspired X user and noted Star Wars fan @ImSkyKid to compile photos of “tiddies” in the expanded universe of the franchise—a surprisingly lengthy (and “safe for work”) list that includes Adam Driver’s beefy pecs, Hayden Christensen’s, and, yes, even Jabba The Hutt’s. You’ve been warned:
Is The Acolyte the gayest Star Wars ever?
A shirtless scene from out actor Charlie Barnett in the first episode really does seem to prove what we’d hoped: The Acolyte is for the queers.
That’s something we’d been wondering since the prequel series was first announced, especially with Headland at the helm, and out lesbian filmmaker whose brought an undeniable queer lens to her other work, like the aforementioned Russian Doll and underrated comedy movies Bachelorette and Sleeping With Other People.
Then the cast started coming together and we were even more certain: There were out queer stars like Barnett and Bodies Bodies Bodies‘s Amandla Stenberg, veritable gay icon Carrie-Anne Moss (who is straight, sure, but c’mon she was so kick-*ss in The Matrix movies), and absolute queer crush allies like The Good Place‘s Manny Jacinto and Queen & Slim‘s Jodie-Turner-Smith.
(Fun fact: that’s headland’s wife Rebecca Henderson playing the green-skinned Jedi Vernestra Rwoh in The Acolyte!)
And while no character on The Acolyte has been directly confirmed as queer yet, some viewers think a romance may be brewing for Stenberg’s Osha and Padawan Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen). Guess we’ll have to keep watching to find out!
Notably, Headland and Stenberg seem to welcome the “gayest Star Wars ever” label with open arms, but are quick to point out that this franchise has been gay long before The Acolyte:
“I think that Star Wars is so gay already,” Stenberg tells The Wrap. “I mean have you seen the ‘fits? We’d be like ‘Look how gay this is’ and send each other reference photos.”
Headland chimes in with a question: “Are you telling me, with a straight face, that C-3PO is straight? I think it’s canon that R2-D2 is a lesbian.”
So, there you have it: The droids are queer, The Jedi are smokin’ hot muscle gays who care about the way they look, and the entire galaxy is very, very queer.
New episodes of The Acolyte premiere every Tuesday on Disney+
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Is this the gayest thing ‘Star Wars’ has ever done?
Celebrate this Star Wars Day—May the Fourth—with this notorious holiday special, featuring Bea Arthur, an alien drag diva, and out-of-this-world campinesss.
Godabed
Get it.