What is an acolyte? ‘In Sith lore, there's an apprentice,’ says Leslye Headland. ‘And under the apprentice, there's an acolyte. So it's a job that someone needs to fill…’ Who is that someone in Lucasfilm's new eight-episode show, which features familiar faces (Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi Master, Jodie Turner-Smith as a high-powered witch) but a ton of new characters? The smart money is on Mae (Amandla Stenberg) – a ‘dangerous warrior’ who has history with Jedi Master Sol (Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae). But as the trailer reminds us, appearances can deceive…
Described by creator/showrunner Headland (Russian Doll) as a ‘mystery’, Star Wars: The Acolyte is set in a previously unexplored time: 100-odd years pre-The Phantom Menace, at the tail end of the High Republic era (see overleaf). It's a time of peace, but darkness is on the rise – and Headland is keen to explore the shadows: ‘What I was interested in asking here was, “How do the villains come to think that they're right?”’
MARTIAL ARTISTRY
My original pitch for the show was a fully new story, one that wasn't attached to a legacy character. This was back in 2019, so initially it wasn't attached to the High Republic either, because that was just starting up. The story was a very personal one to me, told through the lens of Star Wars. leaning into westerns – another influence on George – it felt like it would be fun to go in the other direction, into martial arts.
