Scant details about The Acolyte have 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 official Star Wars account 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 to the Star Wars galaxy.” Stenberg was rumored to be in the series since last December, but the news is now confirmed. Still not much is known about The Acolyte, but it will be set during the High Republic era of Star Wars, about a century before Episode 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 series Russian Doll, The Acolyte will explore the “political and personal and spiritual” aspects of the Star Wars universe 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 as some sort of Sith apprentice. However, at this point, it is only speculation.
In any case, with the news that The Acolyte is moving closer to production, Disney proves that it is going full speed ahead with its Star Wars spinoffs, 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 streaming series 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’s The Book of Boba Fett received an audience score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, while this year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series sits 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 new Star Wars series in development. However, for the moment Disney is undeterred and pushing forward at light speed with their live-action Star Wars series.
Star Wars: The Acolyte is currently in pre-production.
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Source: Star Wars/Twitter
