The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, in a new interview with Dagobah Dispatch (conducted before the strikes), discusses bringing in Joonas Suotamo to play a Jedi Wookiee in the upcoming Disney+ series, breaking the George Lucas rule stating there shouldn’t be any Wookiee Jedi in Star Wars.
“It honestly started with Joonas. We thought it’d be cool to do a Wookiee, obviously they have a Wookiee Jedi in the High Republic, and we thought it’d be cool to have our own version of that and have a very different character design. But honestly, I really loved Solo and I loved Joonas’ performance in it. So I was watching it and I was like, ‘Gosh, it’d be really cool to see him be a Jedi, and actually do some action work and some fighting, and to do not just the side kick role.’ And it kind of started there, and I didn’t think they would let me do it. And I just kept pitching and pitching. And Neil Scanlan really loved the idea. I especially loved the idea of having a Wookiee with the side of his head shaved.
A lot of times these characters come up, even Amandla and [Lee Jung-jae]’s characters, they come up almost from character design first. I can see the way that they look and the costumes that they wear, I’m a very visual person in that sense. So that’s how Kelnacca came to be. I just couldn’t resist being on set with a Wookiee, it was very selfish of me.'”
The Acolyte arrives on Disney+ in 2024.
