‘The Acolyte’ Set Photos Reveal First Look at Lee Jung-jae and Dafne Keen’s Characters
Filming for The Acolyte, Leslye Headland’s upcoming live-action Star Wars series, began in early November in the U.K. One month later, the first photos from the set have leaked via The Daily Mail. Their story claims to have spotted Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen, Dean-Charles Chapman, and a few other characters and alien species in costume.
Possible spoilers ahead for The Acolyte
First, we have Lee Jung-jae wearing Jedi robes in the woods. The Emmy-winning actor from Squid Game was reported to be playing the male lead in the series back in early September, and from the looks of it, could be playing Amandla Stenberg’s former Jedi Master. Here are two pictures of him:
Next we have Dafne Keen, who The Daily Mail claims to have spotted on set as the character in the picture below. While the resemblance is there, we haven’t been able to verify her identity yet, and we’ll take the tabloid’s word for now. She is clearly under a lot of makeup:
We also have our first look at Dean-Charles Chapman as a Jedi Padawan (notice the signature braid):
The roster of aliens spotted on set begins with a Wookiee. Apparently, he shot a scene with Chapman in front of the spaceship that is seen in the second image:
Two actresses were also photographed wielding similar weapons to the assumed-to-be Dafne Keen, and walking alongside a woman who we assume is playing a Zabrak:
And last and definitely least, we have a photo of what The Daily Mail calls a “grass-covered speeder bike”, though we don’t have more details about it:
Plot details on The Acolyte are scarce at this point. Actress Dafne Keen recently said that it would be a Sith-centric show, and according to the synopsis revealed by Lucasfilm, it will belong to the mystery thriller genre. It will be set around 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, in the final days of what is known as the High Republic. Here is the official premise:
“The Acolyte is 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.”
The cast is led by Amandla Stenberg, who is likely playing the aforementioned “former Padawan”. Judging from the photos and Deadline‘s description of Lee Jung-jae’s character, the Squid Game actor could be playing the Jedi Master. The rest of the cast includes Dafne Keen, Dean-Charles Chapman, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
The Acolyte will be filming in the U.K. until next May, possibly targeting an early 2024 release on Disney Plus.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
