Justice for Kelnacca, The Acolyte’s real hero

[Ed. note: This post discusses events through episode 4 of The Acolyte.]

Men only want to hear one thing, and it’s disgusting: Wookie Jedi. According to my research, so do women, and nonbinary folk. In fact, “Wookie Jedi” is one of the most thrilling Star Wars-related phrases one can utter, a character idea so dope it doesn’t seem legal. Well, in Star Wars’ High Republic era, it is: Burryaga, a young Wookie Jedi, is prominent in the many High Republic novels you can read, and The Acolyte finally gave him an on-screen counterpart. That’s right, I’m talking about Kelnacca, the Wookie with a wicked topknot that the show has done dirty. This cannot stand.

To recap, the narrative spine of The Acolyte thus far has been Mae (Amandla Stenberg) and her mission to kill the Jedi present at the death of the coven that raised her and her lost twin, Osha (also Stenberg). One of those Jedi was Kelnacca, next on Mae’s hit list in The Acolyte’s fourth episode. However, instead of a sick Kelnacca/Mae fight that showcases the sheer prowess of a Force-sensitive Wookie, we get anticlimax. There is no Kelnacca showdown, because Mae’s masked master has rudely beaten her to him. He’s dead.

Hey Lucasfilm: How are you going to do Kelnacca like that? Wookies have been playing second fiddle to their relatively hairless costars for decades now. Does Kelnacca even share a scene with another Wookiee that’s not about a non-Wookie? I don’t think so. You failed the Wookiee Bechdel Test, The Acolyte.

Way back in 2016, when Netflix’s Stranger Things debuted, fans got all in a tizzy over the death of minor character Barb, played by Shannon Purser. “Justice for Barb,” the fans said, rallying online. I didn’t really get it then and I don’t get it now, but I suppose it’s nice to feel part of something, to know that lots of other people seem to care about fringe TV characters you have an affection for.

Such is the case with Kelnacca. I cannot be the only one out here who wants my badass Wookie boy to have his day in the sun, wrecking… whoever the bad guys are at this point in Star Wars history. Tax evaders?

Anyway, justice for Kelnacca! If The Acolyte doesn’t give us a flashback episode starring him, I will be quite cross. Don’t make me write another blog. I’ll do it.