Last December, Lucasfilm made a surprise announcement that they would be developing “The Acolyte,” a brand new “Star Wars” series for Disney+. Set during The High Republic, “The Acolyte” would take place within a new era, hundreds of years before The Skywalker Saga, that is central to a whole new line of novels, video games, and comic books.
Created by “Russian Doll” showrunner Leslye Headland, “The Acolyte” was expected to follow a new character to the live-action realm of the franchise. Variety says actress Amandla Stenberg (“Hunger Games,” “The Hate U Give”) is being eyed by the folks over at Lucasfilm for a leading role and is in talks (not for nothing, The Illuminerdi mentioned this first).
Stenberg happens to be openly gay and identifies as non-binary (though uses both ‘she/her/hers’ and ‘they/them/theirs’ pronouns). Headland is also gay, and only came out recently, but it’s unknown if that will have a connection to this “Star Wars” lead character and would-be franchise, though there have been hints that the story would move in this direction.
Not much is known about the show, but in hardcore “Star Wars” lore, an acolyte is generally regarded as a Sith apprentice, and that could mean the series could explore the relationship with a Sith Mentor and focus on the Dark Side for once. For some fans, that means potential characters like Darth Plagueis, Darth Sidious, or the Legends Sith Lord, Darth Talon. Still, creatives could also attempt something more interesting by developing brand new antagonists and protagonists.
There is a possibility that “The Acolyte” could take a page from “The Mandalorian” and tee up several new characters and settings before launching multiple spinoffs, expanding The High Republic corner of the galaxy currently being explored in the novels and comics.
The next big “Star Wars” release will be the Disney+ series “The Book of Boba Fett,” debuting on the streaming service come December 29.