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Posted in: Disney+, Movies, Preview, Star Wars, streaming, TV | Tagged: disney plus, lucasfilm, preview, star wars, The Acolyte
The Acolyte Looks to Honor/Challenge "Star Wars" Ethos: Stenberg
Lucasfilm's The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg on the series looking to honor & challenge "the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force."
Article Summary
- Amandla Stenberg stars in The Acolyte, a Star Wars series looking to challenge the Force's ethos.
- Leslye Headland's The Acolyte to premiere this summer, with an emphasis on diverse Force views.
- Stenberg describes the setting at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire.
- The Acolyte aims to examine the nature of power within the Star Wars universe's peaceful era.
Earlier this month, we learned that Lucasfilm, Disney+ & series creator Leslye Headland's (Russian Bride) Star Wars: The Acolyte would be hitting screens this summer – a release window much sooner than expected. Now, we're learning from series star Amandla Stenberg (The Eddy), who portrays a former padawan opposite Lee Jung-jae's (Squid Game) Jedi master. During an interview with C Magazine, Stenberg shared how Headland pitched to series to her. "All the artwork was conceptualized with my face, and Leslye was like, 'So I've been working on this for about three or four years for you. I don't know what I'm going to do if you don't do it. No pressure," Stenberg revealed. "So I was sent to the moon, of course."
Filmed mostly at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire, England, Stenberg found the experience quite different from past productions. "The crews are so hardcore, they're so hardworking, and it's very kind of hierarchical and competitive, and people work their asses off. It's very different, I think, than what I've experienced on most American sets," she explained. Another big difference between The Acolyte and Stenberg's previous work? "I have a really, really heavy load in this show, an abnormal load," she adds.
While she's understandably under strict "no spoilers" watch, Stenberg was able to discuss the show's thematic goals and the perspective that it's taking. "In the context of the Star Wars universe, it's a time of great peace, theoretically. It's also a time of an institution, and it's a time in which conceptions around the Force are very strict. And I think what we're trying to explore within our show is when an institution has a singular conception of how power can be used…we try to provide a lot of different perspectives and answers to that question," Stenberg explained. "The idea is to kind of honor the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force and also challenge them, hopefully harmoniously."
Disney+, Lucasfilm, and Headland's The Acolyte stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give), Lee Jung Jae (Squid Game), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Margarita Levieva (Revenge, The Deuce), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), and Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo as the Wookie Jedi Kel Naka. The mystery-thriller is set to take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated. Along with Headland, Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef will executive produce (with Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson set to produce).
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