MAKING OF THE ACOLYTE
STAR WARS ENTERS A NEW, UNCHARTED ERA WITH THE ACOLYTE, A MARTIAL ARTS-HEAVY SAGA THAT PROMISES TO EXPLORE GOOD, EVIL AND THE FIGHT SIDE OF THE FORCE. TOTAL FILM MEETS CREATOR LESLYE HEADLAND AND HER CAST TO FIND OUT WHY THIS TIME, IT’S UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL…
What is an acolyte? ‘In Sith lore, there’s an apprentice,’ says Leslye Headland. ‘And under the apprentice, there’s an acolyte. So it’s a job that someone needs to fill…’ Who is that someone in Lucasfilm’s new eight-episode show, which features familiar faces (Carrie-Anne Moss as a Jedi Master, Jodie Turner-Smith as a high-powered witch) but a ton of new characters? The smart money is on Mae (Amandla Stenberg) - a ‘dangerous warrior’ who has history with Jedi Master Sol (Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae). But as the trailer reminds us, appearances can deceive…
Described by creator/showrunner Headland (Russian Doll) as a ‘mystery’, Star Wars: The Acolyte is set in a previously unexplored time: 100-odd years pre-The Phantom Menace, at the tail end of the High Republic era (see overleaf). It’s a time of peace, but darkness is on the rise – and Headland is keen to explore the shadows: ‘What I was interested in asking here was, “How do the villains come to think that they’re right?”’
MARTIAL ARTISTRY
Leslye Headland [creator/showrunner/executive producer]: My original pitch for the show was a fully new story, one that wasn’t attached to a legacy character. This was back in 2019, so initially it wasn’t attached to the High Republic either, because that was just starting up. The story was a very personal one to me, told through the lens of Star Wars. And then I leaned into something George Lucas was inspired by: samurai and wuxia films. Because with The Mandalorian leaning into westerns - another influence on George - it felt like it would be fun to go in the other direction, into martial arts.
Films like Come Drink with Me [1966], A Touch of Zen [1971], even Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [2000], a lot of these are about family member versus family member, master versus apprentice. They involve smaller conflicts. And because I wanted The Acolyte to take place in a period that wasn’t going to mess with any legacy characters or canon, it felt like a good reference point would be martial-arts movies, where the ‘war’ is between two or three people fighting, as opposed to spaceships and a mega-weapon like the Death Star.
(IM)MORAL CHARACTERS
Lee Jung-jae [Master Sol]: The character I play is a Jedi Master, who’s a teacher to the
