Amandla Stenberg Calls ‘The Acolyte’ Series “The Prequel to The Prequels”, New Image Drops
Amandla Stenberg spoke to Total Film about The Acolyte for their upcoming magazine issue. Despite the series being set over 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, the cast and creators feel it links in with the prequels tonally and thematically. This makes sense, considering one of the first things we were told about the series was that it would show us how the Jedi became the strict and monastic order we see in Episode I.
Stenberg went into a little more detail on this point in their interview with Total Film, which has been shared on their sister site GamesRadar.
“We are the prequel to the prequels. And the prequels have this kind of prestige to them, this monarchical vibe. So one of my main questions going in was: are we going to maintain that sensibility? And yes, in many ways we do, while also incorporating elements that feel really contemporary and relatable. When I watched [the finished episodes] I was really struck by how universal the story was.”
Total Film also shared an exclusive image of Charlie Barnett’s Yorn Fandar and Lee Jung-jae’s Sol wearing their customary Jedi robes in the series, which you can see above. They definitely look like High Republic-era robes, but with the brown cloaks that we recognize of Jedi from the prequels.
It seems that the Jedi in The Acolyte will be just as stoic as they are in the prequels, though perhaps Stenberg’s comments about the show feeling “contemporary and relatable” mean that some of them will display a little more of the personality possessed by the Jedi in the High Republic era. A little less Mace Windu, a little more Elzar Mann, perhaps.
Of course, Amandla Stenberg is likely to referring to the overall tone and themes of the show rather than just the Jedi characters. We’ll be able to see exactly what she means on June 4 when The Acolyte debuts on Disney Plus with its first two episodes.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
