The Acolyte (TV series)

The Acolyte, also known as Star Wars: The Acolyte, is an American science fiction television series created by Leslye Headland for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the Skywalker Saga, and follows a Jedi investigation into a series of crimes.

Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Jodie Turner-Smith, Carrie-Anne Moss, Manny Jacinto, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, Margarita Levieva, Lauren Brady, Leah Brady, Harry Trevaldwyn, and David Harewood star in the series. 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 title was announced that December. Filming took place in London and at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire from October 2022 to June 2023, with location filming in Wales and Portugal.

The Acolyte premiered on Disney+ on June 4, 2024, with its first two episodes. The following six episodes were released weekly through July 16. The series received generally positive reviews from critics.

Premise
The Acolyte is set at the end of the Star Wars franchise's High Republic era, approximately 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). It sees a respected Jedi Master investigating a series of crimes that bring him into contact with a former Padawan learner and reveal sinister forces.

Main
Twin sisters who were separated by a tragedy when they were young. Osha is the former Padawan learner of Sol who left the Jedi Order due to "internal turmoil" she has regarding her connection to the Force. Mae is presumed dead until she re-emerges as a dangerous warrior using the dark side of the Force. Stenberg studied the Star Wars films and the online encyclopedia Wookieepedia in preparation for the series, and she wrote backstories for both her characters. She compared them to the concept of yin and yang: Mae represents the yin, with Stenberg describing her as intuitive and acting based on emotion; Osha represents the yang, with a more "masculine" façade hiding her fragility. A respected Jedi Master. Lee was surprised that creator Leslye Headland wanted him for the character based on his performance in Squid Game, feeling the two characters were very different. The series is his first English language role, and he worked with two dialect coaches starting four months ahead of filming to be able to perform his lines. He took inspiration from previous Jedi Masters in the franchise, particularly Liam Neeson's performance as Qui-Gon Jinn, and worked with Headland to be specific about the character's emotions in each scene due to Sol having to balance a Jedi's control of emotions with his complicated feelings about Osha and Mae. A Jedi Master proficient in "Force-fu" fighting, who is killed by Mae at the start of the series. Headland wanted the audience to immediately feel that Indara was "the most powerful Jedi in the room". She was inspired by Moss's portrayal of Trinity in The Matrix film series when creating the character and intended for audiences to see Indara as "Trinity with a lightsaber". Headland felt the character's death set the tone for the series, established that Jedi can be killed, and indicated that audience assumptions about who is good and bad could be wrong. Moss bonded with Stenberg on set over their shared spiritual background.
 * Amandla Stenberg as Verosha "Osha" and Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya:
 * Lauren Brady as young Osha
 * Leah Brady as young Mae
 * Lee Jung-jae as Sol:
 * Charlie Barnett as Yord Fandar: A by-the-book Jedi Knight and temple guardian
 * Dafne Keen as Jecki Lon: Sol's current young Padawan. Jecki is half-human, half-Theelin just like Rystáll Sant, a background character from the 1997 special edition of the film Return of the Jedi (1983).
 * Rebecca Henderson as Vernestra Rwoh: A senior member of the Jedi Order who rose to prominence as a young prodigy
 * Jodie Turner-Smith as Mother Aniseya: The leader of a coven of Force witches
 * Carrie-Anne Moss as Indara:
 * Manny Jacinto as Qimir: Mae's Sith master who disguises himself as a smuggler
 * Dean-Charles Chapman as Torbin: A Jedi Master who took the Barash Vow, floating in a silent state of Force meditation for over a decade. This vow was introduced in the Star Wars: Darth Vader comic book (2017).
 * Joonas Suotamo as Kelnacca: A Wookiee Jedi who lives a solitary life
 * Margarita Levieva as Mother Koril
 * Harry Trevaldwyn as Mog: A Jedi
 * David Harewood as Rayencourt: A Republic senator who mistrusts the Jedi order

Guest

 * Thara Schöön as Tasi Lowa: Yord Fandar's Padawan
 * Amy Tsang as Rane: a witch ensign
 * Abigail Thorn as Eurus: a witch ensign
 * Derek Arnold as Ki-Adi-Mundi: a Jedi Master
 * Hassan Taj as Bazil: a Tynnan tracker who helps the Jedi. The Tynnans were introduced in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) novel Han Solo's Revenge (1979).

The season finale features brief cameo appearances from Jedi Master Yoda—portrayed using a puppet—and the Sith lord Darth Plagueis. Plagueis was first referenced in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) and further explored in EU works, but this series is the character's first on-screen appearance. The character is depicted to be a Muun, the species that he was established as in the EU.

Development
At the premiere of the film 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. Headland contacted Lucasfilm to discuss her ideas after completing work on her series Russian Doll (2019–2022), and pitched a new Star Wars series with a first-season outline and full series bible. Kennedy agreed to begin work on the series during that initial pitch meeting, and Headland was revealed in April 2020 to be writing and showrunning a new female-centric Star Wars series for the streaming service Disney+. Staffing for the series had begun 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, which is Star Wars Day. At Disney's Investor Day event on December 10, Kennedy announced the title, The Acolyte, and said it was set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main Star Wars films. Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts was developing the series with Headland, who was influenced by the games and novels of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU). The first season consists of eight episodes, with Headland directing the first two. Alex Garcia Lopez and Kogonada were hired to direct episodes by February 2023, and Hanelle Culpepper was revealed to have directed episodes in March 2024. Executive producers include Headland, Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef, with Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim, and Rob Bredow producing.

In March 2024, Headland said she had pitched multiple seasons of the series to Lucasfilm and had a plan for a second season if it was ordered. She did note that she wanted to take a break after the first season was released due to the long production timeline for the first season, and so she could respond to any feedback from fans on the first season when developing the second.

Writing
A writers' room for the series was assembled by June 2021. Headland made sure the group included writers with different relationships to Star Wars, including some who were only fans of the original trilogy, some who were specifically fans of Dave Filoni's Star Wars projects, and one writer who had never seen Star Wars before. The series' writers included Jason Micallef, Charmaine DeGrate, Jasmyne Flournoy, Eileen Shim, Claire Kiechel, Kor Adana, Cameron Squires, Jocelyn Bioh, and Jen Richards. When pitching the series to Lucasfilm, Headland described it as "Frozen meets Kill Bill". In May 2022, Headland said writing was mostly complete.

Headland wanted to explore the Star Wars franchise from the perspective of the villains. She felt the High Republic era would be the best point in the timeline to do this because the Sith, who are the villains in the films, are considerably outnumbered and in hiding during this time. Lucasfilm also wanted to depict the time period on screen after recently launching a publishing initiative set in the era, and because they wanted to explore new parts of the Star Wars timeline away from the films and other series. Headland noted that The Acolyte was the earliest point in the Star Wars timeline to be seen in live-action at that point. She wanted to address some fan criticisms of the Star Wars films, such as how Darth Sidious ascends to power without the Jedi knowing: "How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? [What] went wrong?" She considered herself lucky to be able to ask those questions in an actual Star Wars project. A key theme in the franchise for Headland was "underdog versus institutional threat", and in this part of the timeline it is the Jedi who are the main institution. In contrast to the Jedi in the films, who are monk-like figures in times of war, Headland said the High Republic Jedi live in a time of peace and enlightenment akin to the Renaissance, as seen in their white and gold robes that look like they never get dirty. The series questions the Jedi practice of training children, and also explores differing views on the Force and the amount of power and control that the Jedi have. Headland took inspiration from the film Rashomon (1950) to depict events from multiple perspectives, notably the Brendok tragedy, which is the central mystery of the series. The third episode, which is entirely a flashback to the events on Brendok, is told from Osha's perspectives of the events.

The Acolyte is a mystery thriller with a serialized story that builds throughout the first season, inspired by the approach of fellow Star Wars series Andor. Because there are no overarching conflicts or wars in the series—Headland said it was "interesting to make a Star Wars with no war in it"—the fight sequences are more intimate, focusing on duels that further develop the characters. Noting that Star Wars creator George Lucas was originally influenced by Westerns and Akira Kurosawa's samurai films, Headland decided to take more influence from martial arts films which she felt were "a little bit more personal and less global and galactic". These included wuxia films by King Hu and Shaw Brothers Studio such as Come Drink with Me (1966) and A Touch of Zen (1971). Similar to the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, The Acolyte includes Easter eggs for fans of the original trilogy, prequel trilogy, and the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as references to the EU and Star Wars Legends. EU references include members of the Theelin and Zygerrian species as well as some narrative elements. The series introduces a coven of Force witches, separate from the Nightsister witches seen in previous Star Wars projects, inspired by mentions of Force cults in the High Republic books and the EU.

Casting
Casting was underway by the end of June 2021, when Lucasfilm were looking to hire a young woman of color for the lead role. Amandla Stenberg was in talks for that part in December, and was confirmed to be cast in July 2022. Jodie Turner-Smith and Russian Doll co-star Charlie Barnett entered final negotiations to join the series in September 2022, when Lee Jung-jae and Manny Jacinto were cast. Lee was cast as the male lead, after Headland was impressed with his performance in the television series Squid Game. At the start of November, Dafne Keen was revealed to have a role in the series. Soon after, Lucasfilm confirmed the casting of Stenberg, Lee, Jacinto, Turner-Smith, Barnett, and Keen, and announced the casting of Dean-Charles Chapman, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Headland's wife Rebecca Henderson. Headland had Stenberg, Barnett, and Keen in mind when creating their characters; she wanted to see Keen with a lightsaber after her performance as the character X-23 in Logan (2017). Margarita Levieva was cast in a guest role by the start of December.

At Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023, Joonas Suotamo was revealed to be part of the cast as Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca. Suotamo previously portrayed the Wookiee Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy films and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Also at the convention, Lee, Keen, Barnett, Henderson, and Moss were revealed to be playing Jedi, with Henderson cast as Vernestra Rwoh who was introduced in the High Republic publishing initiative. In March 2024, Headland said Rwoh was the only character from the High Republic books that would appear in the first season, but there were other High Republic characters that she hoped to include in a potential second season. She felt Rwoh was important for showing the state of the Jedi Order in the series, contrasting her role as a leader in the Order with the young prodigy she is depicted as in the books. Also that month, character details for most of the main cast were revealed: Stenberg as the mysterious warrior Mae, Lee as Jedi Master Sol, Jacinto as former smuggler Qimir, Keen as Padawan learner Jecki Lon, Barnett as Jedi Knight Yord Fandar, Turner-Smith as coven-leader Mother Aniseya, and Moss as Jedi Master Indara. Headland said it was a "no-brainer" to cast Moss as Indara, who was inspired by Moss's portrayal of Trinity in The Matrix film series.

In April 2024, David Harewood was reported to have a small role in the series. At the end of May, a week before the series premiered, Headland confirmed longstanding rumors that Stenberg was actually portraying two characters: the previously announced Mae and her twin sister Osha who is a former Padawan learner. She also said major characters from the films, such as Yoda who is canonically alive during the series' time period, would not be appearing; despite this, Yoda is seen in a brief cameo appearance. A younger version of the Jedi Ki-Adi-Mundi, a character from the films, appears with Derek Arnold taking over for performer Silas Carson.

Design
Headland noted that the original trilogy has a lived-in quality while the prequel trilogy is sleeker and more advanced. With The Acolyte, she carried on this concept of "the further you go back, the more exciting and new and sleek and interesting things look". It was important for her to replicate the white and gold Jedi robes from the High Republic books to symbolize the state of the Order, compared to the brown robes later worn in the films. Costume designer Jennifer Bryan and creature designer Neal Scanlan worked together on the Sith's mask, which features a "toothy" smile design. Headland was inspired for this by the "grotesque" rabbit costume from the film Donnie Darko (2001). The character's costume also includes elements from previous Star Wars villains Darth Vader and Darth Maul.

Filming
Principal photography began by October 30, 2022, at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire, under the working title Paradox. Headland, Kogonada, Lopez, and Culpepper directed two episodes each. James Friend and Chris Teague served as cinematographers. The series was initially reported to be using visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic's StageCraft technology to shoot in front of digital backgrounds on a video wall, as was done for The Mandalorian and its spin-off series, but Headland later said the series was primarily filmed on practical sets and did not use the technology, for creative and logistical reasons.

Location filming began in Wales by January 2023, including at Brecon Beacons National Park. From mid to late March, filming took place on Madeira Island, Portugal,  including at Fanal Forest and the parishes of Caniçal and Ribeira da Janela. Anderson said Madeira Island was chosen because it offered most of the different environments that the production wanted, including access to the ocean, and had not been used for a major production before. Nearly a quarter of the series was filmed on the island, with that footage appearing throughout the series and not representing a single planet. Anderson added that the production embraced the location's unpredictable weather. Filming officially wrapped on June 6. Headland said filming went smoothly despite the length of production and the amount of action sequences and wire-work. She said the cast did most of their own action scenes, including actors who had worked in action before such as Lee, Keen, and Moss. Stenberg, who was new to action, "threw herself into training and did incredible work in a short amount of time".

Post-production
Miikka Leskinen was one of the series' editors. Headland said additional dialogue recording (ADR) work could not be completed during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike which delayed the end of post-production, but the series was mostly done by March 2024.

Music
Michael Abels was hired to compose the score for the series by February 2024. Victoria Monét wrote the end-credits song "Power of Two" with Abels and producer D'Mile. It was released as a single on June 14.

Marketing
Headland and members of the cast presented the first footage from the series at Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023. Stenberg cosplayed as Star Wars character Padmé Amidala for the appearance, wearing a costume based on that character's appearance in the film Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) which was created for her by The Acolyte costume department.

The first trailer was publicly released in March 2024. Charles Pulliam-Moore of The Verge speculated that Stenberg's character could be killing Jedi in the series and highlighted the darker aspects of the trailer. IGN Ryan Dinsdale noted elements in the trailer that are associated with the High Republic, including the white robes and yellow lightsabers of some Jedi characters, and compared some scenes to the aesthetics of the original and prequel trilogies. Writing for Empire, Ben Travis discussed how the series had been kept a mystery for so long but was finally starting to publicly reveal details. He opined that while Andor focuses on human drama, the trailer indicates that The Acolyte will be going "all-out on colourful species, lightsabers, and Force-users". He praised the small amount of action shown in the trailer. Lucasfilm announced that the trailer was watched 51.3 million times in its first 24 hours, setting a record for the company's streaming series by surpassing the trailers for The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka.

An exclusive preview of the series was included at the end of 25th anniversary theatrical screenings of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), starting on May 3 in time for Star Wars Day on May 4. Later that month, Lucasfilm and Stenberg released a video of the actor performing John Williams's musical theme for the Force from the Star Wars films on her grandfather's violin. Williams composed a special arrangement of the theme for Stenberg, who was recorded in the newly named John Williams Music Building at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Stenberg described the experience as a once in a lifetime opportunity. A world premiere for the series, where the first two episodes were shown, was held at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on May 23. On May 28, Headland confirmed rumors that Stenberg was portraying two characters in the series, Mae and Osha; before then, the marketing for the series had attempted to hide Stenberg's role as Osha. Lee attended the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in June for the French media launch of the series.

Release
The Acolyte premiered on Disney+ on June 4, 2024, with its first two episodes. The other six episodes were released weekly through July 16.

Viewership
Disney announced that the series had 4.8 million views in its first day of release and 11.1 million views across its first five days, marking the streaming service's biggest series premiere of 2024 so far. The five-day viewership was below that of the previous Star Wars series, Ahsoka, which had 14 million views across its first five days. Nielsen Media Research, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that the first two episodes of The Acolyte were watched for 488 million minutes during the week of June 3.

Critical response
Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 80% of 233 critics gave the series a positive review, with an average score of 6.95/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Taking fresh risks with Star Wars lore while having infectious fun playing with the stylistic trappings of a galaxy far, far away, The Acolyte is a Padawan series with the potential to become a Master." On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

In The Guardian's review, Graeme Virtue wrote that the "Acolyte benefits from being a fresh start for the creators and the audience alike, with no homework required." Anthony D'Alessandro at Deadline writes "Headland accomplishes what the Star Wars series were originally about: expanding, intriguing universe." Brian Lowry of CNN states, "Exhibiting influences that blend martial-arts movies, young-adult fiction and the detective genre, it’s an intriguing if modest addition whose lack of connection to existing canon proves both an advantage and disadvantage." Alison Herman of Variety writes, "In giving itself permission to poke at Star Wars mythology, The Acolyte cultivates the same sense of curiosity it exhibits about its own universe." Alan Sepinwall of Rolling Stone writes, "This Star Wars prequel series isn’t a force to be reckoned with. Even a veteran Jedi master would lose patience with the latest Disney+ addition to the canon, which focuses on a pair of twins, revenge, and... zzzzz".

Liz Shannon Miller at Consequence praised the series, stating it "feels like a dream for anyone curious about the full potential of Star Wars". Rob Owen of The Seattle Times felt the "show's momentum can be slow", and bemoaned the "dull exposition pitstops" in the episodes. He singled out the missed potential of Moss's character to be a veteran Jedi, "The Acolyte squanders that opportunity right out of the gate". Ed Power of The Independent criticized the "atrociously creaky dialogue", and noted the show's attempt at introducing "Force-Fu", stating "it doesn't quite work". The Telegraph's Keith Watson praised the "impressive" prosthetics. Manuel Betancourt of The A.V. Club writes, "With The Acolyte, writer-director Leslye Headland has crafted an intriguing entry into this decades-spanning franchise that thrills precisely for the way it repurposes well-worn Star Wars tropes all while threading a brand-new tale anchored by a slew of fresh characters".

Empire magazine's James Dyer was concerned with Stenberg's character, saying "it's unsettling to have a protagonist who's so openly homicidal". He criticized the "overly functional" dialogue and complained that the characters are "thinly drawn". The Daily Beast's Nick Schager called it "a shocking waste of time" and "tepid" while criticizing the "bland surprises". Writing for USA Today, Kelly Lawler complained "[it is] full of logical fallacies, hokey dialogue and nonsensical plots", and felt it contained "the worst elements of the prequel trilogy". Slate Sam Adams writes, "It’s a show that shrinks the world rather than expanding it, blowing its money on lavish set pieces rather than building out environments for us to inhabit.

Audience response
During production and marketing, the series received criticism from some people online for being "woke". Specific issues included its initial description as being "female-centric"; the casting of Stenberg, who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns; the overall prominence of women and people of color; and the idea that Headland, who is openly queer and also the first woman to create a Star Wars series, was pushing an "LGBTQ+ agenda". The series was called "The Wokelyte" by some commentors. In May 2024, Kennedy spoke out against personal attacks directed at Headland, primarily by male Star Wars fans. Headland said she did not want to exclude male fans and hoped they liked the series. She empathized with those disappointed by recent entries in the franchise, but rejected complaints related to "bigotry, racism or hate speech".

According to Whip Media, who track viewership data for the more than 25 million worldwide users of their TV Time app, The Acolyte was the most anticipated new series of June 2024. Following the series' premiere, it received negative audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb. This was attributed to a review bombing campaign,  partially because many reviews appeared to be generated by AI or new accounts; over 10,000 audience reviews were added to Rotten Tomatoes within three weeks, more than double the total number received by Star Wars projects that were released years earlier; and similarly named projects were targeted, including a 2022 Star Wars fan film called The Acolyte and the unrelated 2008 film Acolytes. In addition to complaints of the series being woke, which were echoed by conservative commentators, audience responses to the first three episodes focused on the negative portrayal of the Jedi and the creation of Mae and Osha through manipulation of the Force. These concerns were dismissed by commentators at the time: the series' portrayal of the Jedi was seen as continuing a trend from previous franchise entries such as the prequel trilogy; and the creation of the twins was yet to be fully explained by the series.

Lawsuit
In March 2023, Karyn McCarthy sued Lucasfilm over breach of contract, stating that she was offered a producer role on both The Acolyte and the Apple TV+ series Sugar and chose The Acolyte. After several weeks of work in April 2022 based on an initial agreement with Lucasfilm, McCarthy alleged that the studio chose to end her deal and not pay her for her work so far. By that time, the Sugar role was unavailable.

Other media
Marvel Comics will publish a one-shot comic book on September 4, 2024, that bridges the gap between the High Republic publishing initiative and the events of The Acolyte. Titled Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca, the one-shot was written by High Republic writer Cavan Scott with art by Marika Cresta. It focuses on Kelnacca, the Wookiee Jedi introduced in The Acolyte.