‘The Acolyte’ Reveals First Details and Teaser at ‘Star Wars’ Celebration
Expectations for the upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte, set at the tail-end of the High Republic era, are through the roof, and Star Wars Celebration London has just given us more reasons to be excited for it. New details have been revealed during Lucasfilm’s Studio Showcase panel, and we’re here to tell you all about them.
To start, The Acolyte has a new logo — check out the photo below, taken directly from the boots-on-the-ground Star Wars News Net team:
Kathleen Kennedy confirmed she’s seen four finished episodes and was “blown away.” In pitching The Acolyte, series creator and showrunner Leslye Headland described the show as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” Production is expected to wrap in May, with the show now confirmed to be releasing in 2024.
Headland also walked onstage with Wookiee Jedi Master Kel Naka (spelling to be confirmed later), played by none other than Joonas Suotamo, who played Chewbacca in Solo, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, as well as doubling for Peter Mayhew in some scenes of The Force Awakens. Hopefully, we’ll get more details on this new character soon. Lee Jung-jae was confirmed to be a Jedi Master too. Daphne Keen confirmed that she uses a lightsaber in the show, but said nothing about her being a Jedi.
Footage of The Acolyte was played in the room for the attendees. According to Empire Magazine, there were many exciting bits of scenes shown:
The Acolyte footage just played – and it looks INCREDIBLE! Jedi everywhere. Lightsabers galore. A darker, epic, Andor-like tone. We saw Padawans, plenty of aliens – and a jaw-dropping martial arts Force-fight between Carrie-Anne Moss and Amandla Stenberg’s characters… pic.twitter.com/FYCAYXnVQD
— Empire Magazine (@empiremagazine) April 7, 2023
In addition to these details, we’ve learned that the footage also included High Republic costumes, which comes as no surprise given the show takes place at the end of the High Republic era. Still, this is the first time we’ll be seeing such elements come to life on-screen. The footage included a wide variety of aliens, including Neimoidians. More importantly, they also showed footage of Carrie-Anne Moss and Amandla Stenberg in duel heavily influenced by martial arts, shedding some light on new details for Carrie-Anne Moss’s character that were previously unknown. It now appears that Moss will play a Jedi Master.
Amandla Stenberg plays the lead role in The Acolyte, a mystery thriller set roughly 100 years before The Phantom Menace that will explore the dark side of the Force and how the Jedi were blindsided by an emerging threat in the lead-up to the events of the Skywalker Saga. Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland created the series, is the head writer, serves as executive producer, and is directing at least one episode. The series is set to wrap filming in May, with a release sometime in 2024. Watch this space for more updates on The Acolyte.
When she isn't watching her friends and family's eyes glaze over at the mention of The Clone Wars, she's at the park with her dog, Melvin, or on the couch with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Physically, she lives in Ohio; spiritually, she lives in Naboo.
