One of the true unforced errors of the Disney era, particularly the ST itself. I get that they didn't want to be "MCU, Space Opera Division," so they wanted to get a little auteur thing going on and let JJ et al do their own thing, but Lucas et al created literally dozens of aliens and for the most part none of them were in the ST, even in background roles. It made it feel disconnected. "The universe is too small" has also been a fair criticism, but (1) you don't fix that all at once, and (2) they didn't really do that anyway, just made all the aliens into pufferfish or catfish.
I've fallen out of star wars as the recent stuff has been mediocre (or Andor which was "quality television" but felt, to me out of place in a galaxy ruled by space wizards with laser swords) but damn, seeing that wolfman dude and the notion of Urkel... Well, I'm tempted!
The real problem is they are making too much stuff. I stopped getting the comics because they were horrible. I don’t know if I’m going to watch this show or not. It would be better to have one good show tell a story for two or three seasons and then move to the next one.
I agree the trailer looks fun. Goonies in space, plus a Jedi.
There's just been a certain cheap and rushed quality to recent Star Wars outings, both in writing and actual production values, that has made them a lot less enjoyable than they could be. I actually kinda liked the Acolyte and hope in particular that we see Manny Jacinto again, but I can't deny it was mostly just "kinda okay" and definitely seemed to squander its budget on cheap fake beards and fat toy lightsabers.
A breezy, fun story could handle that campy vibe a little better than ponderous end-of-galaxy stories, though. We need an infusion of charisma, too. I dunno. As always, I'm cautiously optimistic.
I'm an editor by trade, and weirdly, I think Acolyte's main problem is editing. When I later heard that the story was supposed to be all about the Sith and was reworked by producers, it clicked. It's cut like someone doing their best to make a story make sense after cornerstones of that story are removed. I've been in that position. It sucks.