'The Acolyte''s Charlie Barnett Called Out for 'Star Wars' Mistake

The Acolyte actor Charlie Barnett is facing backlash from Star Wars fans online, after appearing to confuse Luke and Anakin Skywalker.

During a press tour for the show, which is the latest installment in the Star Wars universe, the 36-year-old referred to "Anakin blowing up the death star," upsetting die-hard fans of the sci-fi saga.

In the first movie in the series, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977), Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker destroys the super weapon with the help of the Rebel Alliance.

The Death Star is the passion project of the first three film's primary antagonists, Darth Sidious—AKA Chancellor Palpatine—and Darth Vader, who is later revealed to be Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker.

The Death Star arose during a recent press day with Barnett and his co-stars Dafne Keen and Rebecca Henderson, ahead of The Acolyte's June 4 release on Disney Plus. The actor, who plays Jedi Knight Yord Fandar, was discussing the morally ambiguous messaging of the show, which explores the line between good and evil,

In a snippet of one interview to go viral on social media, Barnett said: "Well Anakin just blew up a whole Death star, how many people have done that?"

His response ;ed to confused looks from Keen and Henderson. After being shared to X, formally Twitter, by user Hot Spot (@HotSpotHotSpot) on June 6, the moment went viral, receiving over 3.7 million views.

Barnett then made the mistake a second time during an interview alongside Keen and co-star Manny Jacinto.

Barnett described himself as a fan of franchise while praising The Acolyte's storyline.

"As a fan coming in, that was what was so beautiful and interesting to me," the Emmy nominee said: "Darth Vader is such a bad person, it's very clear, it's very well established from his actions.

"But you can't look and say Anakin blowing up the Death Star, possibly killing millions and millions of people..."

At that point, Keen stops chimes in, telling Barnett "you should just shut up now," while Jacinto bursts into laughter.

Newsweek has reached out to Charlie Barnett for comment via email.

After being shared to TikTok by user Kev (movie.review_man.man.man), the second clip also went viral, racking up 71,000 likes.

A number of fans were annoyed by the mistake, with TikTok user Real writing: "The comment about anakin blowing up the Death Star hurt."

"Thats Disney star wars for you," said fellow TikToker @NovaScarz.

"Get paid all that money & can't watch a movie," commented @Racoon777.

"Give Star Wars back to actual Star Wars fans," wrote @chef1950.

"Imagine if we got actors, directors, and producers who were fans of [Star Wars] and actually cared about the quality of their show or movie," said @mkscode. "I'm sure that show would be AMAZING."

However, others defended Barnett, with one X user asking: "You guys know these are actors right?"

"Passing a geek test is not part of their job. They're there to act," said @iameldiablito.

"Leave them alone," agreed with Mark Twair.

"Actors take jobs without knowing source material all the time. We shouldn't expect them to know the lore or get everything right," wrote @WitAndWiticism.

"I mix up names sometimes," commented @Garret, while @j51rope said: "Now do Alec Guinness and Harrison Ford." The actors played the original Obi-Wan Kenobi and Han Solo, and have both publicly mocked the franchise in the past.