Amandla Stenberg Has Officially Been Cast in STAR WARS: THE ACOLYTE
Lucasfilm has announced that Amandla Stenberg has officially been cast in the lead role of its upcoming live-action Star Wars Disney+ series The Acolyte. We heard at one point that the actress was in the running to join, but now it’s set in stone.
The series is described as “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.” The High Republic is set 200 years before the Skywalker Saga begins. This era has only been explored in a series of books and comics so far. It is the golden age of the Jedi, when the Jedi were at their strongest and the Sith were believed to have been eradicated from the galaxy.
It was also previously explained that the show “specifically explores the rise of the Dark Side in those final days of the High Republic era. The Acolyte has the opportunity to explore the Dark Side in a way the franchise never has on screen before.”
An acolyte in the Star Wars universe refers to “a Sith who has just begun their training under an experienced Sith Lord.” Also, to give you a little context, the High Republic era is said to have ended about 50 years prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. The series is also said to explore some major Sith characters from Star Wars Legends.
The show is being developed by showrunner Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), and she previously revealed that the series was heavily inspired by Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, saying:
"What I can say is the reason it did appeal to me personally is that I was 18 when Phantom Menace came out and I was a very, very big Star Wars fan. I remain a big Star Wars fan, but at that particular time, right after the re-releases and the fact that I was in high school, it just kind of all coincided at a time where I was discovering who I was sexually, I was discovering who I was artistically, I was kind of realizing what I wanted to do with my life, and then this big, huge movie event, cultural event happened that was The Phantom Menace. And I know there were varying reactions to it. And certainly, there were a lot of people that had grown up with the original trilogy who were disappointed by it.
"But I actually was very intrigued by why George Lucas had started us at that particular point. I kind of wondered, but what happened to lead up to this? That’s kind of where my Star Wars fan brain went was like, ‘How did we get here? And why are the Jedi like this?‘ When they are in power, why are they acting this way and how is it that they’re not having the reaction that you would think they would to Anakin’s presence and what Qui-Gon Jinn is saying about how passionately he feels about training him and bringing him into the fold. It’s like, even the discovery of Darth Maul is kind of met with this like, 'Hm, interesting' kind of feeling. So I just think for me, my brain has always buzzed around that area and wondered what’s going on here – or what has been going on here."
There’s no information on the character that Stenberg will be playing in the series, but she’s a wonderful young actress who has appeared in films such as The Hunger Games,The Hate U Give, The Darkest Minds, Everything, Everything, and Dear Evan Hansen. When previously talking about the series, she said:
“We’re taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don’t know much about. My question when watching ‘The Phantom Menace’ was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?”
I’m very curious about the setting of this series because it’s set in such a different era of Star Wars that hasn’t really been explored before. I just hope that it turns out to be a good quality series.