A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Those iconic words mean a lot to us. But now, we’re going even further back in time with the upcoming launch of Star Wars: The Acolyte, the trailer for which has just made its way through hyperspace and onto our devices. The show, which will star Amandla Stenberg, is a brand new series from the creator of Russian Doll, Leslye Headland.
The trailer offered fans a glimpse at Lee Jung-Jae as a Jedi Master teaching a class of younglings at the Jedi Temple, and also featured the first look at series star Stenberg as a masked warrior, entering into a scuffle with Carrie Ann Moss‘ Jedi Knight. While the High Republic is an era largely of peace, its clear a conflict is brewing as Jedi throughout the galaxy prepare to face mysterious threats from all around.
The show will be set 100 years prior to the events of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, a time which is known as the High Republic. The era of the High Republic has been documented extensively via Star Wars books, and the era is currently the focus of a publishing initiative which goes by Star Wars: The High Republic. The scope of the expanded Star Wars universe, both in time and space, has been one ripe for exploration, a theme which was touched upon when Collider‘s Maggie Lovitt spoke with Kathleen Kennedy, the current president of Lucasfilm, about the potential of The Acolyte series. Kennedy said:
“We actually were intrigued with that because if that show works, then it really gives us an opportunity to expand on that. And that’s what’s so great about television because it gives us sort of this larger playground for experimenting.”
Who Else Is in the Cast of ‘The Acolyte’?
Stenberg was first attached to lead back in December 2021, but Lucasfilm didn’t confirm their casting until Stenberg was at SDCC last year when she was promoting A24‘s horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies. A few months down the line, a host of names were suddenly linked with the project, with Jodie Turner-Smith in talks to board the project, alongside Squid Game‘s Emmy-winner Lee Jung-Jae joining in a lead role, Manny Jacinto, and Russian Doll’s Charlie Barnett. As production got underway for the series last November, the ever-impressive cast bulked out with more quality after the additions of Carrie-Anne Moss, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Dafne Keen, all of whom boarded the project.
The official synopsis of the show is as follows:
The Acolyte is 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 Acolyte is currently set to be released in June 2024. Watch the trailer above.
via Collider