‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Casts Amandla Stenberg in Lead Role
The Disney Plus series Star Wars: The Acolyte has reportedly just took a major step forward by casting Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, Sleepy Hollow) as the lead character of the series.
Stenberg’s casting represents a first for Lucasfilm, as they are the first nonbinary actor to lead a Star Wars project. Variety has confirmed a recent scoop from The Illuminerdi claiming Amandla Stenberg would be playing the lead character of The Acolyte (who they have reported might be named or codenamed “Aura”). The Disney Plus series written by Russian Doll scribe Leslye Headland is tied to the end of the time period known as the High Republic era, which represented a golden age for the galaxy long before the events of the Skywalker Saga, when the Force fell out of balance. Word is that filming on The Acolyte is set to begin in May 2022, so casting a lead about five months out from the start of production seems par the course.
Relatively little is known about The Acolyte aside from the basic premise, which indicates that the show will be “a mystery thriller that will take us into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging Dark Side powers in the final days of the High Republic era”, a period of time that is believed to have ended 50 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. It’s been noted that the series will have a focus on female characters, martial arts, and it is heavily speculated to involve the Sith, who have been in hiding during the time it takes place. It remains to be seen if characters tied to the movies – like Darth Plagueis, the Sith Lord who would one day teach the man who would become Emperor Sheev Palpatine – may appear.
Aside from The Acolyte, Lucasfilm’s current slate of Disney Plus projects include the animated movie A Droid Story, the forthcoming shows Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, and Lando, the ongoing shows The Mandalorian and The Bad Batch, and apparently a number of other things that have yet to be announced.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
