‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ – Everything We Know So Far
Everything we know about the upcoming High Republic-based streaming series The Acolyte.
Andor has done a really good job of getting us excited for more high-quality Star Wars content. And the upcoming streaming series The Acolyte may just be the answer. New casting announcements and behind-the-scenes peaks have us more excited for what looks like it could be a very interesting and unique look at the galaxy far far away. While we still don’t know much, here’s what we know so far.
The series is created by Leslye Headland, who is known for Russian Doll. It went into development in April 2020, and the title was announced in December 2022. Filming took place between October 2022 and June 2023; the show is currently listed as being in post-production. The Acolyte has been given a 2024 release window and will consist of 8 episodes.
The Cast
We’ve known for a while that Amandla Stenberg would be playing the lead character in this show. But the first big cast announcement on Starwars.com gave the show quite a bit of star power. Joining the cast are Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Anne Boleyn), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones). But perhaps two of the biggest names are Emy Award Winning star of Squid Games, Lee Jung-jae and Carrie-Anne Moss who we all know from The Matrix.
We don’t know who any of these people could be playing, and even if we did there’s a good chance that most of them are entirely new characters for The Acolyte. But the casting quality alone has a ton of potential for the next chapter in Star Wars.
The Plot
The Acolyte takes place 100 years before Episode 1, an era when the dark powers start to gather in the shadows. When a Star Wars story focuses on a force user leaving the Jedi Order in preference of the Sith—or even in preference of nothing at all—it never paints the Jedi in a complimentary light. And often rightfully so.
The official synopsis:
“A mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”
– StarWars.com
We’ve been getting more looks at the High Republic as of late with a whole bunch of novels dedicated to the era. A time when the Jedi Order was at its prime but was making many of the same bad decisions and engaging in many of the same practices that would eventually lead to their downfall has the potential to be a fascinating time in galactic history. The Dark-Side spin is especially something many of us are curious to know to hear more about.
Showrunner Headland talked about the difficulties of telling this sort of story with Collider.
“I think it’s difficult to do a show that is critical in any way of the Jedi. And I think that you saw that with [Rian Johnson’s] film. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think that, especially in that moment, people were very nervous about saying this particular institution may not be the light and perfect, stunning group of heroes that are totally nobly intentioned. And one thing that I think Dave would say is that they are fallible. That’s really the story that George told with the prequels, right? The fall of this particular group.”
The Trailers
So far two trailers for the Acolyte have come out showcasing the cast and setting. While they don’t give a ton more information than that official synopsis they do a great job of showing off the actual show. What’s clear is that someone is killing Jedi and a group of Jedi are trying to figure out who, or what. It all looks pretty Star Wars but for the first time in live-action, we are getting a ton of Jedi doing their thing which is pretty cool.
We’ve all been very excited about the Acolyte based on the trailers and pre-release info. The show looks very good and like it will be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, some bigots have attacked the show for featuring a diverse cast with a number of women. They remain a minority though they have caused some disruption online. This is seemingly now an escapable part of the Star Wars fandom and that is quite unfortunate.
When Does it Release?
The Acolyte will launch with a 2 episode premiere on June 4th. This puts it less than a month out. Time to start firing up your lightsabers and getting out your converted Sarlacc Pit Popcorn buckets!
Are you excited for The Acolyte? Do you think more Star Wars stories should take place during the High Republic era? Which adds to the cast are you most excited to see join the galaxy far far away and what parts do you think they’ll play? Let us know in the comments!
May the Force be with you, Adventurers!
