London, ExCeL London, April 7 2023

The Acolyte is an upcoming American television series created by Leslye Headland. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main Star Wars films. Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae star in the leading roles. Headland expressed interest in working on the Star Wars franchise by the end of 2019, and was developing a new series for Lucasfilm by April 2020. The series title was announced in December, and filming began in October 2022. The eight-episode series will be released on Disney+ in 2024.

At the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), television writer Leslye Headland was asked about her interest in the Star Wars franchise and revealed that she was a big fan with many ideas for Star Wars films that she wanted to make if she was asked to by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. By April 2020, Headland was attached to write and serve as showrunner on a new female-centric Star Wars series for the streaming service Disney+. Staffing for the series had begun by then, and it was expected to be set in a different part of the franchise's timeline from other Star Wars projects. Lucasfilm confirmed Headland's series was in development on May 4, 2020, Star Wars Day. At Disney's Investor Day event on December 10, Kennedy announced that the series was titled The Acolyte, and would be set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main Star Wars films. Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts was co-developing the series with Headland, who was influenced by the games and novels of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. The Acolyte consists of eight episodes. In February 2023, Alex Garcia Lopez and Kogonada were hired to direct episodes of the series. In March 2023, Karyn McCarthy sued Lucasfilm over breach of contract following a few weeks of work for the series in April 2022.

Headland assembled a writers room for the series by June 2021, with the group each having different relationships with the franchise such as only being fans of the original trilogy, specifically being fans of Dave Filoni's Star Wars projects, or not being fans of the series at all. Charmaine DeGraté served as a writer, while Cameron Squires was a staff writer on the series. In May 2022, Headland said writing for the series was mostly complete. She said the "female-centric" series would have a female protagonist, but would not exclude male characters or audiences. She also explained that the series would be introducing new characters and canon to the franchise that she hoped would interest existing fans, but she understood that not all fans would like it and felt that was fine due to the large amount of different Star Wars projects being produced.

Casting for the series was underway by the end of June 2021, with Lucasfilm looking to cast a young woman of color in the lead role.By December 2021, Amandla Stenberg was in talks to star in the role,and was confirmed to be cast in July 2022. In September 2022, Jodie Turner-Smith entered final negotiations to join the series and Lee Jung-jae was cast as the male lead, while Manny Jacinto and Charlie Barnett were cast in undisclosed roles.In November, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman and Carrie-Anne Moss joined the cast in undisclosed roles. In December, Margarita Levieva joined the cast in an undisclosed role. In April 2023, Joonas Suotamo was revealed as part of the cast as Wookiee Jedi master Kelnacca. Suotamo previously portrayed Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy films. It was also confirmed that Lee, Keen, Barnett, and Moss were playing Jedi while Henderson was playing Jedi Vernestra Rwoh who previously appeared in the High Republic publishing initiative.

Principal photography began by October 30, 2022, at Shinfield Studios in the United Kingdom, under the working title Paradox, with Headland, Garcia Lopez, and Kogonada directing episodes of the series, using the StageCraft technology.From mid to late March 2023, filming took place on Madeira Island, Portugal. By early April 2023, there were a "few weeks" remaining of filming.

Headland and the cast presented the first footage at Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023.

The Acolyte
Created by Leslye Headland
Based on Star Wars by George Lucas
Starring Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, Carrie-Anne Moss, Margarita Levieva
Executive producers : Leslye Headland, Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, Jason Micallef
Producers : Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson
Production company Lucasfilm

(Source : Wikipedia)

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