Star Wars has been a highly popular franchise from the very beginning. As a result, it has also long been heavily criticized by its fans. Examples of this lurk everywhere in this nearly 50-year history, and they continue to pop up now -- as was the case with Carrie-Anne Moss's premiere appearance in The Acolyte in 2024.
Thanks to the power of non-linear storytelling, Moss's character appears in multiple episodes throughout the series. But her character, Master Indara, dies in the show's very first scene. Star Wars fans had a lot to say about this after the first episode aired on Disney+ -- and Moss was not prepared for that aspect of participating in the marvel that is a galaxy far, far away.
"I didn't think it would be a big deal at all," she told Business Insider. "The reaction to it from the fans ... I serve the writers and the directors. It didn't cross my mind."
Following the first episode and Master Indara's quick death, fans rushed to social media to complain about Moss's all-too-brief stint in the series. Of course, if they had waited a little longer, viewers would have been graced with her presence again across multiple episodes. But why wait for the whole story when you can tweet out your assumptions in exchange for a few hundred imaginary hearts?
The Acolyte told its story over eight episodes, but several of them focused on events from the past. This made it possible for Moss to portray Indara in more than just that first scene despite her death in the present -- I like to call it "backward storytelling magic." It's the reason we got Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi despite his character dying in the first movie decades earlier. I could go on.
Social media and its resulting influx of rushed "content creation" -- of which I am a participant, don't get me wrong -- has only intensified the tendency for Star Wars fans to gain incentives from complaining about things as quickly, and as publicly, as possible. Some of us choose to reserve our judgments until a complete story has been told, but hey, you can't have morals and also go viral. Take your pick.
Plenty of actors and writers are becoming more aware of the pacifies one must make to participate in the active creation of Star Wars, and that's probably why you'll never see some of your favorite celebrities commanding starships in the Unknown Regions. Some of them learn this the hard way, but listen, I'm not here to whine about getting Carrie-Anne Moss in Star Wars. We may never get her on screen in this universe again, but at least Justina Ireland gave us more Indara in her recent Wayseeker book. I'll take it.