Star Wars: The Acolyte, the next live-action series from Lucasfilm, is reportedly set to be released in mid-2024.
According to Collider, the highly-anticipated TV show will draw its lightsaber on Disney Plus sometime this summer (that's winter for Australian readers). Collider hasn't stated how it learned of the High Republic era-set series' release window, but it's likely one of the outlet's sources passed the information on to its editorial team.
If true, Star Wars: The Acolyte will be the sci-fi franchise's first live-action show to debut on one of the world's best streaming services this year. The Bad Batch season 3, the final entry in the beloved animated show's run, is leading Star Wars' streaming charge with its forthcoming February 21 launch. The Acolyte, then, will seemingly be the next show to leave the Lucasfilm production line and possible take its place on our best Disney Plus shows list. You know, if it lives up to our lofty expectations.
This isn't the only potentially good news we've received recently about The Acolyte, either. According to prominent industry leaker Daniel RPK (as spotted by Taverna Geek on X, and later Reddit), the show's trailer is reportedly ready to be released publicly. It's unclear if this teaser will be the same one that was exclusively shown to Star Wars Celebration 2023 attendees in May 2023, or if it'll be an entirely new cut for us to pore over. Fingers crossed The Acolyte's first teaser will Force-push its way online very soon and give us our first glimpse at one of the legendary galaxy far, far away's most notable history-making events.
Supporting the Sith cause
The Acolyte is a show shrouded in mystery, but we have some firm ideas of when it's set, who's involved, and what its plot will entail.
As we alluded to earlier, it'll be the first Star Wars project to be set during the High Republic era – the time period that ran 500 to 100 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga. Little was known about this age, but it's one that's recently explored heavily in comic book form. The Acolyte, then, is sure to draw inspiration from its now wide-ranging literature.
Per StarWars.com, it's a mystery thriller that'll "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". Not much to go on story-wise, then, but one of its stars Dafne Keen exclusively told TechRadar that The Acolyte will show "how the Sith infiltrated the Jedi" and that "it's a Sith-led story, which has never been done before."
Joining Keen on the cast list are burgeoning stars, fan-favorite actors, and even a smattering of A-listers. Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies) was confirmed as The Acolyte's first big star in December 2021, and it was another 11 months before Lucasfilm and Disney confirmed who would be joining Stenberg on the show's roster.
The wait, though, was worth it. Among The Acolyte's many talented actors are Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Jessica Jones), Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Jodie-Turner Smith (The Witcher: Blood Origin), Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones), and Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers) among others. Hey, we did say it was a stacked cast.
Leslye Headland, the brainchild behind Netflix's superb Russian Doll TV show, is on show-running duties. If you needed any indication that the self-confessed Star Wars super fan was the right person for the job, just know she pitched The Acolyte as Frozen meet Kill Bill. Yep, you're really on board now, aren't you? We thought so.
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