STAR WARS: THE ACOLYTE Star Amandla Stenberg Discusses Series Setting and How It Honors The Force
The next live-action Star Wars series that will be coming to Disney+ is The Acolyte, which is set in the High Republic era. During a recent interview with C Magazine, series star Amandla Stenberg offered some additional insight into the project saying:
“In the context of the Star Wars universe, it’s a time of great peace, theoretically. It’s also a time of an institution, and it’s a time in which conceptions around the Force are very strict.”
When talking about The Force, which is one of the most important aspects of any Star Wars story, Stenberg explained how The Acolyte is looking to “honor” and “challenge” The Force. She said:
“I think what we’re trying to explore within our show is when an institution has a singular conception of how power can be used… we try to provide a lot of different perspectives and answers to that question. The idea is to kind of honor the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force and also challenge them, hopefully harmoniously.”
This story is set in the High Republic era, and the story 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. 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 series takes place 100 years before the franchise’s prequel trilogy. The High Republic era is known as the Golden Age of the Jedi, a time when the ancient order was at its peak.
The series was also previously described as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” It's been explained that Stenberg will be playing Force-sensitive twins and both are of Sith origin. One of the twins will remain with the Sith, while the other will be taken by and trained by the Jedi.
The story is said to follow the “evil sister” as she becomes a Sith Assassin, who is tasked with taking out a Jedi Master, who is played by Carrie Anne Moss. Moss’s character is a Jedi warrior who is known to defeat her enemies without using her Lightsaber, so the Sith assassin vows to learn martial arts and kill the Jedi Master only using her hand-to-hand combat skills.
Other cast members include Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae as a Jedi Master, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Margarita Levieva.
The Acolyte is created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll). The eight-episode series is expected to arrive this summer, with a rumored release date of June 5th.