Jodie Turner-Smith has become the latest actor to venture off into a galaxy far far away as The Acolyte, the new Disney Plus series continues to expand on Disney’s rich Star Wars mythology
While we haven’t heard any promising news of any upcoming Star Wars movies, the future of the franchise still has a lot in store on Disney+. With the fan-favorite series: The Mandalorian, its spin-off The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Clone Wars successor The Bad Batch, or the short-film collection Visions there is a lot for fans to watch.
The Rogue One prequel Andor arrives in just a few weeks, and the highly anticipated third Season arrives in February next year. Another spin-off focused on Ahsoka is currently shooting, but that’s not all as another highly anticipated series just got some more traction.
Jodie Turner-Smith Joins THE GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY
Deadline has now exclusively revealed that Jodie Turner-Smith is finalizing a deal to join the mysterious The Acolyte series. Her role is being kept under wraps. The leading character will be played by Amandla Stenberg, who has been cast months ago, which we at The Illuminerdi reported first.
Jodie Turner-Smith is best known for her work on Queen & Slim, a Bonnie and Clyde story in which she starred alongside Daniel Kaluuya. Since then, she starred in the action thriller Without Remorse, the independent drama After Yang, and played the leading role in a new Anne Boleyn series. She can next be seen in Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, which just had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and is the sequel to the Netflix hit Murder Mystery.
Amandla Stenberg is best known for her role in The Hunger Games franchise, but also played the lead in The Hate U Give and The Darkest Minds. She also appeared in last year’s musical Dear Evan Hansen. She can momentarily be seen in the A24 horror slasher Bodies Bodies Bodies.
The Acolyte is being developed by 2x Emmy nominee Lesley Headland. She worked on acclaimed series like Russian Doll and Black Monday.
The series was announced at Disney’s Investors Day back in December of 2020 and was described as “a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.”
In the Star Wars universe, an acolyte can refer to individuals with force abilities who learn from a more experienced Sith Lord. The most interesting thing about the series is that it is the first project that takes place before the Skywalker Saga. To be more precise, it takes place 100 years before The Phantom Menace.
While we don’t know anything more about the series yet, there is a good chance that Disney’s fan convention D23 will give us a closer look at this exciting project. This might also be the place, where Turner-Smith’s casting gets officially announced.
I am looking forward to The Acolyte. We already have two great castings and an exciting creator for the show. But the most exciting aspect about it is that it doesn’t have to rely on other projects and can stand on its own. The story has so much potential as they can develop it free from cameos or easter eggs. We need to know a bit more about it to get an idea if this could be something great, but it already is my second most anticipated Star Wars series. The just-announced Skeleton Crew momentarily sits on the throne.
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The Acolyte has no release date yet. The series is expected to start production this fall.
What do you guys think? Are you excited about the series? Do you like the casting? Let’s discuss everything in the comments down below and on our Social Media.
Source: Deadline
