Whilst we wait patiently for more news on The Acolyte, Amandla Stenberg has revealed, in a recent interview with Magazine C, that her role in the series was developed explicitly with her in mind and shared Leslye Headland’s message to her of “No pressure.”
“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 told Magazine C. “So I was sent to the moon, of course.”
In a previous interview, Headland revealed the series — which Headland has described as “Frozen meets Kill Bill” with Kurosawa influences — is a mystery thriller that focuses on the perspective of the Sith’s battle against the Jedi. Headland also teased the series featuring more Jedi than any other Star Wars film or TV show.
“I have a really, really heavy load in this show, an abnormal load,” Stenberg said. “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.”
Although Stenberg couldn’t reveal much about The Acolyte, she did divulge the series takes place in the High Republic era of Star Wars canon before The Phantom Menace.
“In the context of the Star Wars universe, it’s a time of great peace, theoretically,” Stenberg said. “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. The idea is to kind of honor the ethos of Star Wars and ideas around the Force and also challenge them, hopefully harmoniously.”
We expect to see the The Acolyte on Disney+ later in 2024.
Image: Entertainment Weekly/Rachell Smith
