Amandla Stenberg in talks to star as lead in 'Star Wars' Disney Plus series 'The Acolyte'

Dec 09, 2021

Washington [US], December 9 : American actor Amandla Stenberg is now in talks to join the upcoming Disney Plus series 'The Acolyte', the live-action 'Star Wars' series that hails from Leslye Headland.
Details on the character Stenberg would play are being kept under tight wraps, but an acolyte in the 'Star Wars' universe has typically referred to a Sith who has just begun their training under an experienced Sith Lord.
This, of course, was prior to Sith Lord Darth Bane instituting the Rule of Two, under which there are only ever two Sith in existence at a time, one master and one apprentice.
Disney and Lucasfilm had previously confirmed that 'The Acolyte' will take place in the final days of the High Republic era of the 'Star Wars' timeline and will focus on the emergence of secretive dark side powers.
For context, the High Republic era is said to have ended about 50 years prior to the events of 'The Phantom Menace'.
Stenberg, who identifies as non-binary, broke out in the role of Rue in the 2012 feature adaptation of 'The Hunger Games'. They have since gone on to star in films like 'The Hate U Give', 'The Darkest Minds', 'Everything, Everything', and the recent feature version of 'Dear Evan Hansen', playing Alana Beck.
Headland serves as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on 'The Acolyte', which Variety had reported back in April 2020. Disney and Lucasfilm officially confirmed the project on May 4 of that year. The show is slated to begin production in mid-2022.