Leslye Headland Says Adding a Jedi Wookiee Into ‘The Acolyte’ Came From Her Love for ‘Solo’; Cast Talks Unprecedented Levels of Diversity, and More
The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland and lead actors Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae spoke to Entertainment Weekly after the big Studio Showcase panel at Star Wars Celebration, and the conversation just aired on the most recent episode of the Dagobah Dispatch podcast.
In it, Headland speaks about the opportunity to create a new era in live-action that takes place before the prequels, and how the real challenge of the series came from doing a Star Wars series where there is no war. She added that it will feature the most Jedi we’ve ever seen, although we kind of assumed that already, given that of the dozen or so cast members we know of, almost all have been announced as Jedi. And yet, there is one Jedi that stands out in particular.
It was announced during Celebration that Joonas Suotamo, who has appeared in previous Star Wars films as Chewbacca, will be playing a Jedi Wookiee named Kelnacca. As Headland explained, she was immediately captivated by Suotamo’s performance in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and wanted to have him in the show. That’s where the idea of a Jedi Wookiee came from:
“It honestly started with Joonas. We thought it’d be cool to do a Wookiee, obviously they have a Wookiee Jedi in the High Republic, and we thought it’d be cool to have our own version of that and have a very different character design. But honestly, I really loved Solo and I loved Joonas’ performance in it. So I was watching it and I was like, ‘Gosh, it’d be really cool to see him be a Jedi, and actually do some action work and some fighting, and to do not just the side kick role.’ And it kind of started there, and I didn’t think they would let me do it. And I just kept pitching and pitching. And Neil Scanlan really loved the idea. I especially loved the idea of having a Wookiee with the side of his head shaved.
A lot of times these characters come up, even Amandla and [Lee Jung-jae]’s characters, they come up almost from character design first. I can see the way that they look and the costumes that they wear, I’m a very visual person in that sense. So that’s how Kelnacca came to be. I just couldn’t resist being on set with a Wookiee, it was very selfish of me.”
No footage from The Acolyte has been shown to the public yet, so all we have to go from at this stage are descriptions from people who attended the panel at Star Wars Celebration. There, a short teaser was shown to the people in the room, and one of the biggest takeaways was the fight scenes. As Headland explained to Entertainment Weekly, these are fight scenes like we haven’t seen in Star Wars before; she also teased other novelties that the new series will introduce, like morally ambiguous characters:
“I think that what makes this show interesting and different is that it’s from the perspective of the bad guys, or the villains of Star Wars. These are people that are using the Force in their own ways, that are dipping into the darker sides of the Force, and are doing it without being sanctioned by the larger institution, which in this case is the Jedi.
And I think that Star Wars is always some version of the underdog versus the institution, and I just thought it was very interesting to make a show about the bad guys and to set that in that time period would make the most sense. That’s what sets it apart, it’s almost flipped. We have more Jedi than you’ve ever seen in other Star Wars content, but at the same time I think you see more morally-ambiguous characters than in any other Star Wars content. And I think I can say this pretty confidently, I don’t think you’re gonna see action in other shows the way that you see it used and utilized in our show.”
Another aspect of The Acolyte that will be heavily featured in the press junket interviews going into the series’ release next year is the strong effort made by showrunner Leslye Headland and Lucasfilm at large to put together an extremely diverse and talented cast, in unprecedented ways for Star Wars and even Disney at large. The lead of the series is a Black, non-binary queer actor, while their co-star is Korean and has not said a word in English about The Acolyte since he stepped on the Celebration Stage. And the same goes for most of their supporting cast members. Stenberg talked about how this was extremely satisfactory for her:
“When it comes to the world of fantasy and sci-fi in general, it hasn’t felt like a safe space always for people of color. And it’s been a world that I’ve always deeply loved and been invested in. So to be in any way, shape, or form a part of the wave that is ushering in inclusion and safety for Black nerds, it’s my dream come true.”
And she wasn’t the only cast member to express these feelings. Entertainment Weekly also talked to fellow actors Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, and Charlie Barnett in a conversation that hasn’t aired yet, but snippets of which were published on their website. Said the Spanish-born actress Dafne Keen:
“That was definitely a conversation we’ve had on set. It’s really refreshing to walk onto a set as diverse as this one in every sense. We’ve all come from different corners of the world and it’s really great to get so many different people from different backgrounds to create this thing together.”
Jodie Turner-Smith added that this was “one of the reasons that I chose to step into the world”, then saying how special it was for her to see such a big show centered around women:
“I also really loved that that our show was much more woman-centered than what I have previously seen in the Star Wars world. Just from the fact that our incredible showrunner Leslye is a genius woman, and the female producers and having Amandla be the person who’s leading our cast — it was a very cool way into this universe, and a way that I feel that people have never necessarily seen before, other than they’re going see Rosario in an amazing woman-centered show as well.”
Barnett, a Black and homosexual actor who plays a Jedi Knight in The Acolyte, commented:
“I don’t think I could have ever imagined myself as a Jedi. Because I was not reflected for so many times throughout these films in the past. So to see such a diverse group now, I think it’s going be a really impactful. It’s gonna be [a] cool moment for me for sure, I can tell you that.”
Manny Jacinto talked about how Lee Jung-jae playing the first Asian Jedi in the series will be a huge moment in pop culture:
“If I’m being candid, this is the first time you’re getting to see an Asian Jedi. It’s a pretty big responsibility. Getting to see him inspire a new generation of Asian kids to like take up the lightsaber — it’s pretty incredible.”
Production wrapped in May of this year, as planned, and if the SAG-AFTRA strike doesn’t severely affect the post-production process (be it because of pickups or ADR sessions), it should arrive within the first half of 2024 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.
