Star Wars:The Acolytewas announced a long time ago, but fans only now know that Amandla Stenberg has been cast in a lead role for the upcoming Disney Plus series from Leslye Headland.
Scant details aboutThe Acolytehave been trickling out since April 2020, but things are now starting to come together. The news of Stenberg’s attachment to the project was tweeted out by the officialStar Warsaccount during San Diego Comic-Con, which is being held this weekend.
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The tweet shows Stenberg at Comic-Con wearing a Darth Maul t-shirt and standing next to R2-D2, with the text “Join us in welcoming Amandla Stenberg totheStar Warsgalaxy.” Stenberg was rumored to be in the series since last December, but the news is now confirmed. Still not much is known aboutThe Acolyte, but itwill be set during the High Republic era ofStar Wars, about a century beforeEpisode I: The Phantom Menace, making it the earliest entry in the timeline so far. This period in the timeline has the High Republic and the Jedi at the strongest point in their history, with the Sith at its lowest—in fact, they are believed to be completely extinct.
According to showrunner Headland, who also co-created the hit Netflix seriesRussian Doll,The Acolytewill explore the “political and personal and spiritual” aspects of theStar Warsuniverse during this time. It will reportedly be female-centric, a mystery thriller, and have 8 episodes. Based on the fact that Stenberg is wearing a Darth Maul t-shirt in the reveal photo, and based on the name of the show—Acolyte, rather than padawan—it seems that the actress’s role may be assome sort of Sith apprentice. However, at this point, it is only speculation.
In any case, with the news thatThe Acolyteis moving closer to production, Disney proves that it is going full speed ahead with itsStar Warsspinoffs, despite increasingly negative reactions. After the success of its first series,The Mandalorian, which has a 92% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, Disney put the pedal to the metal and started greenlighting so many streamingseries that it’s nearly impossible to keep up. The two most recent shows, however, have been met with a very lukewarm response from fans. 2021’sThe Book of Boba Fettreceived an audience score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, while this year’sObi-Wan Kenobiseriessits at 65%.
At some point one has to question if this is a sustainable business model for Disney, who is clearly pouring tremendous resources into the franchise. There are now more than half a dozen newStar Warsseries in development. However, for the moment Disney is undeterred and pushing forward at light speed with theirlive-actionStar Warsseries.
