''The Acolyte'' is an upcoming American television series created by

Leslye Headland Leslye Headland (born 1980) is an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and playwright. She is known for the play and 2012 film ''Bachelorette'' and 2015 film '' Sleeping with Other People''. She co-created the Netflix se ...

. It is part of the '' Star Wars'' franchise, set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main ''Star Wars'' films.

Amandla Stenberg Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She was included in ''Time''s list of Most Influential Teens in both 2015 and 2016, and has received several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and n ...

and

Lee Jung-jae Lee Jung-jae (; born December 15, 1972) is a South Korean actor and filmmaker. Considered one of the most successful actors in South Korea, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cri ...

star in the leading roles. Headland expressed interest in working on the ''Star Wars'' franchise by the end of 2019, and was developing a new series for Lucasfilm by April 2020. The series title was announced in December, and filming began in October 2022. The eight-episode series will be released on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

in 2024.

Premise

''The Acolyte'' is set at the end of the High Republic era in a world of "shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers", approximately 100 years before '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999). 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.

Cast

as a former padawan *

Manny Jacinto Manuel Luis Jacinto ( ; born August 19, 1987) is a Canadian actor born in the Philippines. After several small roles on television, his breakout role came starring as Jason Mendoza on the NBC sitcom ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020). He has appea ...

Dafne Keen Dafne María Keen Fernández (born 4 January 2005) is a British-Spanish actress. She made her debut starring as Ana "Ani" Cruz Oliver on the television series '' The Refugees'' from 2014 to 2015, before her breakthrough starring as Laura in t ...

Jodie Turner-Smith Jodie Turner-Smith (born 7 September 1986) is a British actress and model. She made her feature film debut in ''The Neon Demon'' (2016) and has since acted in ''Queen & Slim'' (2019), '' After Yang'' (2022), and ''White Noise'' (2022). She's als ...

* Rebecca Henderson * Charlie Barnett *

Dean-Charles Chapman Dean-Charles Chapman (born 7 September 1997) is an English actor known for portraying Billy Elliot in the West End theatre production of ''Billy Elliot the Musical'', Tom Blake in Sam Mendes's film ''1917'', and Tommen Baratheon in the fourth ...

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

Margarita Levieva Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva (russian: Маргари́та Влади́мировна Леви́ева; born 9 February 1980) is a Russian-American actress. Early life Levieva was born in then Leningrad, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, ...

Production

Development

At the premiere of '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' (2019), television writer

was asked about her interest in the '' Star Wars'' franchise and revealed that she was a big fan with many ideas for ''Star Wars'' films that she wanted to make if she was asked to by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. By April 2020, Headland was attached to write and serve as showrunner on a new female-centric ''Star Wars'' series for the streaming service

. Staffing for the series had begun by then, and it was expected to be set in a different part of the franchise's timeline from other ''Star Wars'' projects. Lucasfilm confirmed Headland's series was in development on May 4, 2020, ''Star Wars'' Day. At

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's Investor Day event on December 10, Kennedy announced that the series was titled ''The Acolyte'', and would be set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main ''Star Wars'' films. Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts was co-developing the series with Headland, who was influenced by the games and novels of the ''Star Wars'' Expanded Universe. ''The Acolyte'' consists of eight episodes. In February 2023, Alex Garcia Lopez and

Kogonada Kogonada (sometimes styled :: kogonada) is a South Korean-born American filmmaker. He is known for his video essays that analyze the content, form, and structure of various films and television series. The essays frequently use narration and ed ...

were hired to direct episodes of the series. In March 2023, Karyn McCarthy sued Lucasfilm over breach of contract following a few weeks of work for the series in April 2022.

Writing

Headland assembled a writers room for the series by June 2021, with the group each having different relationships with the franchise such as only being fans of the

original trilogy The original ''Star Wars'' trilogy, formerly marketed as the ''Star Wars'' Trilogy (and colloquially referred to as the 'original trilogy'), is the first set of three films produced in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, an American space opera cre ...

, specifically being fans of

Dave Filoni David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor. He has worked on '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', '' The Mandalorian'', and on the theatrical film and television series of '' Star Wars: The Clon ...

's ''Star Wars'' projects, or not being fans of the series at all. Charmaine DeGraté served as a writer, while Cameron Squires was a staff writer on the series. In May 2022, Headland said writing for the series was mostly complete. She said the "female-centric" series would have a female protagonist, but would not exclude male characters or audiences. She also explained that the series would be introducing new characters and canon to the franchise that she hoped would interest existing fans, but she understood that not all fans would like it and felt that was fine due to the large amount of different ''Star Wars'' projects being produced. Headland's pitch for the series was to explore the franchise from the perspective of the villains, and felt the High Republic era would be the best point in the timeline to do this because "the bad guys are wildly outnumbered t that point and arethe underdogs". Lucasfilm had just launched a new series of books set in the High Republic era, and were interested in exploring it further with the series. The company was also interested in exploring new parts of the ''Star Wars'' timeline away from the films and other series such as ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, beginning five years after the events of '' Retur ...

''. Headland said the series would explore the "political, personal, and spiritual" elements from the High Republic era. This was a way to explain how

Emperor Palpatine Sheev Palpatine, also known by his Sith name Darth Sidious, is a fictional Character (arts), character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. Initially credited as the Emperor in the original trilogy films, ''The Empire Strikes ...

could infiltrate the Galactic Senate during the films, with Headland asking "How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it?

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

went wrong?" She described the High Republic era as "the Renaissance, or the Age of Enlightenment", and noted that the Jedi Order would not yet be the "ascetic monk like figures living selflessly and bravely" that they are seen as in the films, instead wearing "uniforms

are gold and white, and it's almost like they would never get dirty... that's how little they're getting into skirmishes". Headland looked at the original influences on ''Star Wars'' creator George Lucas, including

westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

and

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

samurai films, and decided to take more influence for the series from martial arts films which she felt were "a little bit more personal and less global and galactic". These included

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted ...

films by

King Hu Hu Jinquan (29 April 1932 – 14 January 1997), better known as King Hu, was a Chinese film director and actor based in Hong Kong and Taiwan. He is best known for directing various ''wuxia'' films in the 1960s and 1970s, which brought Cinema of ...

and

Shaw Brothers Studio Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

such as ''

Come Drink with Me ''Come Drink with Me'' ( zh, t=大醉俠, l=Great Drunken Hero, p=Dà Zuì Xiá) is a 1966 Hong Kong ''wuxia'' film produced by Shaw Brothers Studio and directed by King Hu. Set during the Ming Dynasty, it stars Cheng Pei-pei, Yueh Hua and Ch ...

'' (1966) and ''

A Touch of Zen ''A Touch of Zen'' (Chinese: 俠女) is a 1971 ''wuxia'' film co-edited, written, and directed by film maker King Hu. Its screenplay is based on a classic Chinese story "Xianü (short story), Xianü" in the book ''Strange Stories from a Chinese ...

'' (1971).

Casting

Casting for the series was underway by the end of June 2021, with Lucasfilm looking to cast a young woman of color in the lead role. By December 2021,

was in talks to star in the role, and was confirmed to be cast in July 2022. In September 2022,

entered final negotiations to join the series, and

was cast as the male lead, while

and Charlie Barnett were cast in undisclosed roles. In November,

, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett,

and

joined the cast in undisclosed roles. In December,

joined the cast in an undisclosed role.

Design

Discussing the planned aesthetic for the series, Headland noted that Lucas wanted the original trilogy to have "this particular type of decay... this is a lived-in sci-fi fantasy world, not a sleek, well-put-together" one, but he made the

prequel trilogy The ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, colloquially referred to as the prequels, is a series of epic space-opera films written and directed by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The trilogy was re ...

"much sleeker, better-looking, almost advanced". With ''The Acolyte'', Headland wanted to carry on this concept of "the further you go back, the more exciting and new and sleek and interesting things look".

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began by October 30, 2022, at Shinfield Studios in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, under the

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''Paradox'', with Headland, Garcia Lopez, and Kogonada directing episodes of the series, using the StageCraft technology. From mid to late March 2023, filming is taking place on Madeira Island,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Release

The series will consist of eight episodes and be released on Disney+ in 2024.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acolyte (TV series), The 2020s American drama television series 2020s American television series debuts Disney+ original programming English-language television shows Productions using StageCraft Star Wars television series Space adventure television series Upcoming drama television series Upcoming television series Live action television shows based on films