This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: The Final Countdown for ‘The Acolyte’ Is On
Welcome back to “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away“, as we’re counting down the days for The Acolyte to come out. Below, you’ll find a full-scale Acolyte edition of this newsletter-style series, but only after we break down the latest in Star Wars news.
It was Upfronts week, but only Marvel Television got the spotlight from Disney’s presentation. Star Wars will probably have to wait until D23 in early August for some big news. I expect some “now in production” announcement from The Mandalorian & Grogu once that gets up and running, though.
Three Things That May Have Flown Casual
- Everyone wants a job: Ahmed Best is riding the 25th-anniversary of The Phantom Menace wave to ask for a Kelleran Beq movie because… I guess he’s free to? Can we please stop with this nonsense about giving every shiny new character their own movie just because? Anyways… In other, more attractive feature film news, James Mangold’s movie will not be called Prime Jedi but that is apparently what they are referring to internally, producer Simon Emanuel revealed. Here’s some speculation about what it could mean. And also, Daisy Ridley is manifesting a reunion with John Boyega in the New Jedi Order movie… And we know she’s ready a script already!!
- Game news: Creative Assembly, the company behind the Total War games, may be setting its eyes on Star Wars next. Meanwhile, Helldivers 2 received a fan-made Star Wars reskin.
- Publishing news: Congrats to the winners of our Return of the Jedi: A Visual Archive giveaway! We also had Essential Legends Collection Wave 12 leaks this week, and Jay reviewed two new releases: the Star Wars: Visions manga adaptation (here), and The Mandalorian: The Manga Vol. 2 (here).
80 Years Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: George Lucas Was Born
George Lucas celebrated his 80th birthday this past week, and the Internet certainly didn’t forget about it. The best part, of course, is that he definitely doesn’t care for that. It’s kinda hard at this point to write anything new or at least worth reading about George Lucas, so I will hardly try.
His influence will live on for generations to come, and he will continue to inspire so many more waves of filmmakers knocking on Hollywood’s doors. However, what I most admire about George Lucas is his commitment to remaining true to himself. He had a story to tell and he wanted the means to do it. In doing so, he changed many people’s lives, but he never even blinked an eye for it. He was just happy to play around with his toys, and to make a family out of the people at his company.
And that’s what the key to him always was: family. He’s a private individual who would probably trade his fortune for anonymity — except he now has something to set up his kids with for life and then some. He dedicated his life to making something he felt passionately about, and when he considered it was the best time for him to step down and enjoy the spoils, he did. Does he occasionally regret passing on the baton whenever Dave Filoni calls up to tell him about the latest bit of technology they get to use in The Mandalorian? Possibly. But hey, the time he now has to spend with his loved ones is something he’ll cherish for the rest of his days.
May those be many, many more. Happy birthday, George.
The Final Countdown For The Acolyte Is On
A lot happened with The Acolyte this week that signals Lucasfilm is now in the final stretch of promoting the series. Interviews with lead actress Amandla Stenberg, as well as some members of the team behind the series, were posted by various publications. Amandla (who is comfortable with she/her and they/them) talks about her training leading up to shooting the series back in the fall of 2022.
But that is not all, as Lucasfilm is now close to unveiling the first wave of character posters — some have already made their way to the streets even before the marketing team posts them on social media — and the mumblings and accidental posts about fan screenings of the first two episodes around the world have grown into fully-booked events. We’re due for a big-time announcement, which will probably tie the social media unveiling of those character posters (which, if I may, look freaking great) with the confirmation that the first two episodes will be available in theaters right before they hit Disney Plus.
The first two episodes of Ahsoka also received a low-advertised theatrical release via select fan screenings across specific spots in North America. Subsequently, the fifth episode of the series got a big-time announcement with a lot of venues around the US and some in the UK showing it a few hours in advance. Disney also pulled a similar strategy with fan screenings of the opening of Loki season 2. Tickets for The Acolyteare currently available in some parts of Europe, and since we posted the article, more people have contacted us via the comments or social media pointing out even more places that are showing them.
All of this, of course, is happening as more 30-second spots pop up online. Here’s where we get into the sensitive part of the story, because even though everything put out in advance by the marketing team should be considered fair play when it comes to spoilers, it’s the reading into what’s going on in the trailer that can get tricky to discuss.
In the latest spot, officially posted by the Star Wars YouTube channel (see below), we got to see Vernestra Rwoh’s purple lightwhip in action (looks awesome), Master Kelnacca pulling up his green saber and kicking ass, and a very specific line, and perhaps more importantly, the name of the character who says it, that’s been interpreted as confirming long-time rumors. I will not be discussing it here, as I do consider this to be a spoiler this close to release, though. But if you’re interested, you can look it up yourself.
What I’m more curious about is why Disney would drop this now. Are they getting nervous about how this thing is tracking, and they feel like they need to spice things up? I would have thought they were more concerned about Ahsoka (even if apparently that show continues to be popular among Disney Plus originals). The Acolyte already looks great, and everything I hear from producer Rayne Roberts and executive producer Simon Emanuel has me even more excited for it. I was particularly taken by their references to Rashōmon and what this could entail for Amandla Stenberg’s character.
Honestly, I would be interested in The Acolyte even if it wasn’t Star Wars, which makes this stand out along with Andor as franchise-proof. The added usage of a lightwhip and a Wookiee Jedi makes it even more appealing, let’s not kid ourselves here. I still think Lee Jung-jae’s hair looks ridiculous, though.
We have a pretty large cast, and (entering now full speculation territory), I suspect it will be a bit smaller by the time the season wraps up. The marketing is now currently positioning Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae as the two leads, with Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon as a key supporting character. The fact that Master Kelnacca is getting a character poster already, and is also confirmed to get in on the action, has me thinking he might have a bit of a larger role than perhaps we were initially anticipating. And Vernestra Rwoh I feel like will also have more screen time than most are expecting. I mean, she’s all over the marketing and it’s not like we need to oversell her presence to sell the High Republic fanatics on the show: they are already going to see it regardless.
I have two candidates for possible victims in season 1. Again, this is purely speculation and not based on only leaks, but feel free to jump out at this point if you think you might get spoiled. The first one is pretty obvious, though I will say that I’ve had this theory since the first teaser came out: Carrie-Anne Moss’ Master Indara is kinda toast, right? I mean, she’s only in one scene in the trailers that is played over and over again (and which is probably the inciting incident of the series), her lightsaber covered in blood is the one featured in that original teaser poster, and it just makes sense to position her as a big-time Jedi Master only to get killed right away to sell us on the power of the dark side.
The other one, and this is more of a gut feeling, is Charlie Barnett’s Yord Fandar. He’s also quite present in the spots, but the actor hasn’t made as many interviews and there aren’t as many details about his character available, which makes me think Mae, or that mysterious Knight of Ren-looking figure, will kill him off in the first few episodes of the show, making it a much more personal journey for Jecki Lon, who is apparently quite close with him. The spot below already features a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it confrontation between Jecki and Mae.
Drop your own leak-free speculation below, and let’s have a conversation! We will find out how much of it is true very soon, as the first two episodes are set to drop on Disney Plus on June 4, at 6pm PT / 9pm ET.
What did you think of the latest edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”? Let me know your thoughts and suggestions down below in the comment section. You can also send them, or reach out with any information tips, directly via our Contact page.
Have a great week!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
