It feels like an embarrassment of riches for Star Wars fans at the moment, with multiple animated series such as Young Jedi Adventures due to drop in the new year and new films such as Rogue Squadron already on the drawing board.

But although Star Wars: Andor is already wowing audiences and critics alike since its premiere in September, and Skeleton Crew is shaping up for a 2023 release, no one at Disney+ is resting on their laurels. Straight out of the blocks this fall is Star Wars: The Acolyte, which began filming in the United Kingdom last month, and which Disney will hope becomes another entry in the increasing list of successful spinoff series populating the Star Wars universe.

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The latest addition to the mythos takes a rather different approach to the others, not only being placed in a much earlier part of the timeline but featuring brand-new characters, as well as a fresh take on the mystery thriller, with Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland overseeing all. Here’s what we know so far.

The Acolyte: The Plot

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What we know of the plot of The Acolyte derives from a succession of leaks and snippets released to fandom and the press since the show began development back in 2020. The central conceit of the series is that it will be set early in the timeline before even the prequels take place. This proximity to the trilogy of films that began with The Phantom Menace (1999) may account for what would appear to be a fairly heavy reliance on some of the tropes and lore associated with the prequel films, such as the idea of the Padawan/Master dynamic that dominated the plots of all three.

The Acolyte will follow the story of a Padawan who is reunited with her Jedi master in order to investigate a series of crimes, all against a background of the emerging dark side.

The Acolyte: The Cast

The star of The Acolyte is Amandla Stenberg. Stenberg’s breakout role was Rue in The Hunger Games (2012). The actor has since pursued roles in film and TV, including last year’s musical Dear Evan Hansen and Bodies Bodies Bodies, a comedy slasher film also featuring Pete Davidson from A24 that garnered excellent reviews on its release earlier this year.

Two of the other big names attached to The Acolyte are Lee Jung-jae and Carrie-Anne Moss. Jung-jae is a stalwart of Korean television and cinema but achieved worldwide stardom last year for his remarkable performance as Seong Gi-hun in Squid Game (a second series is currently in the works). Moss’ recent work has included several turns in American and Canadian independent dramas, such as Bernard Rose’s 2015 adaptation of Frankenstein and the supernatural horror flick The Bye Bye Man (2017). Still, her sci-fi bona fides were well and truly established by her turns as Trinity in the Matrix quadrilogy and her more recent work in Marvel’s Jessica Jones TV series.

Also starring is Manny Jacinto. After having come to prominence as the kind-hearted but empty-headed Floridian Jason Mendoza in The Good Place, Jacinto has stayed firmly in the limelight, with a starring role in Netflix’s horror series Brand New Cherry Flavor last year and a supporting role opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. Jacinto’s stock continues to rise at Disney, too, with a lead voice role in the upcoming animated series Hailey’s On It!, also featuring Moana star Auli’i Cravalho, due to premiere next year.

Other cast members include British actors Jodie Turner-Smith (The Last Ship, White Noise), currently seen on Peacock playing the lead opposite Brian Cox and John Cena in the new political thriller The Independent; and Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials); Rebecca Henderson (Orange Is The New Black, Single Drunk Female); and Charlie Barnett (Chicago Fire, Armistead Maupin’s Tales Of The City), who is familiar with Headland through his work as Alan Zaveri in Russian Doll.

Release Date

Disney+’s schedule for new Star Wars releases has yet to be announced, but the powers that be would be well advised not to flood audiences with too much content and inure them against future releases. A sort of Star Wars fatigue seemed to set in after the box-office failure of Solo in 2018. If Donald Glover is finally convinced to reprise his role as Lando Calrissian in the mooted spinoff series devoted to the character, the question of scheduling will become even more pressing.

With shooting on the eight-episode series having just commenced in the past month, it’s safe to say The Acolyte will not see the light of day until the late summer or fall of next year. Patience, young Padawans!