Production has wrapped on the upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte, and while it is the Star Wars show we know the least about, the cast is amazing and we have a release date for the series! And after the footage shown at Star Wars Celebration 2023, you’ll want to get excitd.
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Set prior to the prequels, The Acolyte brings us into an era of Star Wars we rarely explore, meaning that we’re going to have quite a journey with the new series from Leslye Headland, who serves as creator, showrunner, and executive producer.
For the most part, this is a completely new world for us to dive into, and getting to learn about the story and who we’re going to meet—versus the rest of the Star Wars era on Disney+, where we know most of those characters already—is honestly part of the draw to the series.
When will Star Wars: The Acolyte premiere?
News broke in an exclusive to Collider that the series will have a summer 2024 release date! This marks the first live-action Star Wars show to air on Disney+ this year! Following the release of The Bad Batch‘s third season (which will air until May of 2024), we’ll be shifting our Star Wars gears to the High Republic area!
The Star Wars Celebration 2023 trailer for The Acolyte
There are shows in this world that exist and you think to yourself “Oh yes, that’s for me” and well, that’s the trailer for The Acolyte. The Leslye Headland-created series takes us to a time in the world of the Jedi when they weren’t at the end of their reign and when they weren’t in hiding. We get to see the beginning of their demise, and it is just a look into what Headland and company have planned for us—and one that really just speaks to the prequel kid in all of us.
It’s one of those trailers where the minute you see a little alien you barely know show up, you just know you’re going to die for them. And honestly, I would. Every brief character we get to meet in the teaser for The Acolyte brings us closer to understanding more about the series.
Focusing on Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi, the teaser introduces us to quite a few characters. Including Manny Jacinto and Amandla Stenberg, the look into the series, frankly, brings a lot of hope along with it. It is by far the upcoming Star Wars series that fans know the least about, and it is because we’re diving into unknown territory. We have never leapt into the world before Anakin in live action, and seeing the Jedi before they were completely falling apart is a fascinating time for fans.
Headland presented the trailer with Joonas Suotamo as a new Wookie Jedi Master, as well as most of the cast!!! And it was met with fans of Star Wars excited to see what this new series holds for them. While we don’t know much about the characters we’re meeting in The Acolyte, there is something to get excited about: Trinity as a Jedi. Even if she is seemingly fighting against Rue from The Hunger Games.
Seeing Carrie-Anne Moss in action really does, in a lot of ways, make this teaser so incredibly special. For fans of Moss’ work in both The Matrix franchise as well as her role in Jessica Jones and beyond, seeing her in anything is great. But in Star Wars where she is an absolute badass? It’s something we’ve been waiting to see again on our screens.
And she’s pairing off with Stenberg, who is phenomenal in this trailer. It just all really ties together in a way that makes it so fans can be excited for the future of Star Wars and what The Acolyte has to bring to us, which includes Lee Jung-jae as a Jedi and Jodie Turner-Smith looking like the royalty she is. “This isn’t about good or bad. This is about power and who is allowed to use it,” Turner-Smith’s character says and … it is such an exciting look into where Star Wars is heading!
The Star Wars: The Acolyte cast, though
When we talk about casts in Star Wars properties, they’re usually some of the biggest names in Hollywood, either before or after their appearance in the galaxy far, far away. And The Acolyte is no different. Each new casting announcement brings more talent and brilliance to the show, and I can’t wait!
The press release announced the cast additions as follows:
Joining the previously announced Amandla Stenberg (“The Hate U Give”) are Emmy Award-winner Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”), Manny Jacinto (“Nine Perfect Strangers”), Dafne Keen (“His Dark Materials”), Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”), Rebecca Henderson (“Inventing Anna”), Charlie Barnett (“Russian Doll”), Dean-Charles Chapman (“1917”) and Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix”).”
What is the plot of Star Wars: The Acolyte?
As I said up above, we don’t know much aside from the setting—the High Republic era of the Jedi—so the plot is very much up in the air, which is different from shows like Andor, which has very clear connections to stories we already know and that dictate how it turns out, to an extent. In fact, The Acolyte‘s setting is at the end of the time when the Jedi were at their greatest, and to me, that’s the coolest part about the lead-up to this series. It isn’t something we know a little about; it is all new.
We did get a bit of insight into the show with the press release, which describes the series 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.”
Who is behind Star Wars: The Acolyte?
The Acolyte was created by Leslye Headland, whose previous credits include the indie dark comedy Bachelorette and the highly acclaimed Netflix series Russian Doll. Headland will also be directing episodes of the series, according to Discussing Film. They also broke the news that After Yang director Kogonada and The Witcher director Alex Garcia Lopez will be directing episodes for the series. Nothing is certain as the news came directly from Discussing Film, but both Kogonada and Alex Garcia Lopez would be incredible additions to the Star Wars world!
Until we get to see The Acolyte this summer, we can at least look forward to the story it’s going to tell us!
(featured image: Christian Black, Disney+)
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