For the first time in Star Wars live-action, The Acolyte will bring us a lightsaber-wielding Wookiee Jedi played by Joonas Suotamo who says this is “another Star Wars dream come true”.
“Ever since [I was] five years old, I’ve been fantasising about being a Jedi, like every kid,” Suotamo tells Empire. “When the word ‘Jedi’ was first mentioned [in talks for The Acolyte], I felt really excited – like a little kid who finally gets his favourite toy on his birthday.”
Shaping an all-new kind of Wookiee meant going back to what Suotamo learned while playing Chewbacca. “Peter told me right from the get-go that Chewbacca is a mime character,” Suotamo recalls. “The audience doesn’t understand what he’s saying exactly, but they [interpret] his mannerisms, and every little twitch, and every little movement, and roar.” From there, it was a case of using those principles to make his Acolytecharacter something new and different. “Kelnacca being a Jedi, that sets certain expectations to how you carry yourself in the line of duty,” explains Suotamo, promising a less impulsive fuzzball. “There are certain assumptions that can be made as to whether he lets his emotions take control of him to the extent that Chewbacca would, for example. It was very interesting to bake that into the character and try to personify that on screen.”
Of course, Kelnacca isn’t the first Wookiee Jedi in all of Star Wars. The Clone Wars’ Youngling arc introduced budding Jedi Gungi – while the High Republic era of novels and comics (a time period which culminates in The Acolyte) features fan-favourite Force-wielding Wookiee Padawan Burryaga on the page. “I was aware of the character, and I talked to the High Republic writers at a convention,” Suotamo says of the books – but notes that he hasn’t read Burryaga’s adventures. “I also wanted to differentiate Kelnacca from Burryaga, and not copy too much from those stories.” Now, who knows what ‘May the Force be with you’ is in Shyriiwook?
Read Empire’s coverage of The Acolyte in the magazine’s June issue available from Thursday, April 11th, featuring interviews with the show’s creator Leslye Headland and stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joonas Suotamo, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Rebecca Henderson, Manny Jacinto and Jodie Turner-Smith. Pre-order a copy online here.
The Acolyte streams on Disney+ from June 4th in the USA and June 5th in Europe.
