The STAR WARS Series THE ACOLYTE to Cast Amandla Stenberg in Lead Role

Lucasfilm is looking to cast Amandla Stenberg in the lead role of its upcoming live-action Star Wars Disney+ series The Acolyte. She is currently in talks to join the project. There’s not a lot of information on this series, and there’s no information regarding the character that she’ll play.

What we do know about the series is that it’s “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.

It was also previously explained that the show “specifically explore 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.

Stenberg’s break out role was playing Rue in the 2012 feature adaptation of The Hunger Games. Stenberg has since appeared in films such as The Hate U Give, The Darkest Minds, Everything, Everything, and the recent feature version of Dear Evan Hansen.

The show is being developed by showrunner Leslye Headland, 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."

I’m excited about this show, and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of story it tells and what kind of new characters that it will introduce us to.

Source: Variety