The Acolyte is a Star Wars television program created for Disney+ by Leslye Headland. Headland not only penned the scripts but also served as executive producer and showrunner for the series. The narrative unfolds a century prior to the events of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, with the central theme being the rise of dark side powers during the twilight days of the High Republic Era. The Acolyte debuted on June 4, 2024, and its final episode aired on July 16, 2024.
In the final days of the High Republic era, The Acolyte presents a mystery-thriller, inviting audiences to explore a galaxy filled with hidden secrets and the growing influence of dark-side abilities. The story follows a former Padawan who joins forces with her Jedi Master to unravel a string of perplexing crimes, only to discover that the forces they face are more malevolent than they could have ever imagined.
Having co-created the 2019 television show Russian Doll, Leslye Headland described her approach to Lucasfilm as "essentially cold-called," where she pitched the concept for The Acolyte. Her vision was a blend of Disney's 2013 animated film Frozen and Quentin Tarantino's 2003 action film Kill Bill. The characters Verosha "Osha" Aniseya and Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya were inspired by Headland's relationship with her youngest sister, and Lucasfilm's President Kathleen Kennedy suggested that Headland shape her Star Wars narrative in a manner similar to her "incredibly emotional" play, Cult of Love, which explores the dynamics of siblinghood. In 2019, Kennedy responded to Headland's initial scripts with the comment: "You've crafted an excellent Star Wars show. Now, proceed to create a Leslye Headland show." [13]
On April 22, 2020, Variety announced that Leslye Headland would be the writer and showrunner for a Star Wars series set to premiere on the Disney+ streaming service. The report highlighted that the series would primarily focus on female characters and would be set in a previously unexplored era of the Star Wars timeline. On May 4, 2020, an official announcement on StarWars.com confirmed that Headland would also serve as an executive producer for the project. The series' title, logo, and overall premise were unveiled during a Disney investor meeting on December 10, 2020. Additionally, Lucasfilm's website credited Rayne Roberts, the vice president of film development, as a co-developer of the series alongside Headland.
Following a conversation between director Kogonada and actress Jodie Turner-Smith during the premiere of their film After Yang at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021, Kogonada extended an offer to Turner-Smith for the role of Mother Aniseya. On July 22, 2022, Amandla Stenberg shared on Instagram, alongside the official Star Wars account, that she had been cast in the series. On November 7, 2022, StarWars.com announced that the series had commenced production in the United Kingdom and revealed several other members of the cast. In July 2023, Headland issued a statement regarding the show's tone and characters, promising a morally ambiguous perspective on the Star Wars universe and distinctive action sequences.
Leslye Headland incorporated elements from both the Star Wars Legends continuity, including the roleplaying games of the 1990s that were part of the "Expanded Universe" beyond the creations of Star Wars creator George Lucas, and the ongoing Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project initiated by Lucasfilm Publishing in 2021. The term "acolyte," which serves as the series' title, is derived from the Legends continuity, where a Sith Acolyte refers to an individual in training to become a formal apprentice of a Sith. Headland included Vernestra Rwoh, who was first introduced as a Jedi Padawan learner in Justina Ireland's 2021 novel A Test of Courage, which is set during the golden age of the Galactic Republic's democracy and the Jedi Order in the High Republic Era in 232 BBY. The Acolyte is set a century later, with Rwoh now appearing as a Jedi Master. The series also takes place a century before George Lucas' prequel trilogy.
Headland reflected on Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda's comments in the 1999 prequel film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, regarding the relative inactivity of the dark side of the Force. She questioned who might have been practicing the dark side in the century leading up to the Sith's resurgence and the rise of the Galactic Empire, as depicted in 2002's Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and 2005's Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Headland also drew parallels between the High Republic era, in which The Acolyte is set, and the isolationist tendencies of the United States following World War I, especially concerning the decline of the High Republic leading up to the prequel trilogy, during which Darth Sidious infiltrated the Galactic Senate.
Regarding spirituality within Star Wars, Headland found the concept of the Force as explained by Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back to be particularly compelling, even more so than the works of English author J.R.R. Tolkien, whose fantasy series The Lord of the Rings was published in the 1950s, or her own Catholic upbringing. The fantastical nature of the galaxy far, far away also led her to compare it to the realm of Narnia created by C. S. Lewis, a contemporary of Tolkien. After being hired by Lucasfilm for The Acolyte, Headland had a tattoo imprinted on her right hand as a constant reminder of Star Wars during the series' production. The tattoo features Ralph McQuarrie's concept art of Princess Leia Organa for Lucas' original trilogy, which was released between 1977 and 1983.
Headland also found inspiration in her favorite martial arts films. The Hong Kong Shaw Brothers Studio film Come Drink with Me—directed by King Hu, set in the Ming era (1368—1644), and released in 1966 under the Chinese title 大醉俠—includes an inn sequence that served as the basis for the Lomi Usqi Noodle Shop in the opening of The Acolyte's first episode, "Lost / Found." The fight scene between Jedi Master Indara and the assassin Mae also pays tribute to the martial arts choreography of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a 2000 film by Ang Lee known in Chinese as 臥虎藏龍.
In addition to Chinese martial arts films, referred to as "mouhap" in Cantonese and "wuxia" in Mandarin, Headland was also inspired by the Japanese samurai film Yojimbo, directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in Japanese as 用心棒 in 1961. She mentioned that The Mandalorian producer Jon Favreau had noted George Lucas's influences from Kurosawa's filmmaking and Western films. Headland herself drew more heavily from martial arts films, such as those by Shaw Brothers and King Hu—citing Come Drink with Me and King Hu's 1971 film A Touch of Zen, titled 俠女 in Chinese—which are "less global and galactic" and feature deeply personal missions where the warriors feel "wronged" and must "make it right." As a mystery thriller, The Acolyte was influenced by Kurosawa's film Rashomon, released in 1950 as 羅生門 in Japanese, for its use of varying interpretations of the same events. Cinematographer Chris Teague also cited the 1973 Toshiya Fujita film Lady Snowblood, a period drama titled 修羅雪姫 in Japanese, as an inspiration for The Acolyte's camerawork.
Headland likened Mae's story to Frozen and Kill Bill, and the character was also inspired by Ahsoka Tano's storyline in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' 2013 episode "The Wrong Jedi" and the relationship between Qi'ra and Maul at the conclusion of the 2016 film Solo: A Star Wars Story. Amandla Stenberg developed detailed backstories for Osha and Mae, creating separate binders for each twin to guide her performance and differentiate the characters. Indara was inspired by the character Trinity from the Wachowskis' The Matrix film franchise (1999—2021), portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss, whom Headland also cast as Master Indara. For the first episode, "Lost / Found," Headland described the character's demeanor as a blend of relaxation and control, combining elements of Lucas' Skywalker saga Jedi character Obi-Wan Kenobi and O-Ren Ishii from Kill Bill.
Mae's accomplice, Qimir, is portrayed by Manny Jacinto as a scoundrel archetype based on Johnny Depp's interpretation of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2003–2017). Jacinto also drew parallels between Qimir's movements and the silent film works of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin from the early 20th century. Jacinto appreciated the duality of his character, seeing it as a dream role for an actor to highlight both the comedic aspects of Qimir and the stillness of the Stranger.
The fourth and fifth episodes, titled "Day" and "Night" respectively, were partly inspired by two Hollywood science fiction films: Ridley Scott's 1979 Alien and John McTiernan's 1987 Predator. Given his dual role as the Stranger, Jacinto was also inspired by Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of the warrior Kikushiyo in 1954's Seven Samurai, a Kurosawa film titled 七人の侍 in Japanese, and Jackie Chan's performance as the martial artist Wong Fei-hung in the Hong Kong film Drunken Master, released as 醉拳 in 1978.
Brendok's mountain retreat was inspired by the 1947 British film Black Narcissus by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger—set at a nuns' mountain retreat in the Indian Himalayas—coupled with the Hoover Dam in the United States. For Coruscant and its Jedi Temple, production designer Kevin Jenkins and visual effects supervisor Julian Foddy chose to align more closely with the prequel trilogy's establishing shots rather than the ground-level perspective seen in the 2022 television series Andor, but with distinct aesthetics reminiscent of the 1971 William Friedkin film The French Connection and 1970s New York City: specifically, a desaturated and photorealistic "retro" atmosphere of haziness.
Jenkins took note of the lived-in aesthetic of George Lucas' 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, stating that the essence of Star Wars is Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey "with dirt." He drew inspiration from the designs of the A New Hope production crew John Barry, Norman Reynolds, and Ralph McQuarrie, while cinematographer Chris Teague utilized anamorphic lenses for The Acolyte, adding film grain to the footage. Jenkins also likened Headland's episodic structure to the cliffhanger-driven approach of the Flash Gordon serials and further compared the High Republic Era to the height of the Roman Empire, incorporating vibrant colors in The Acolyte's production design while maintaining a uniformity of Jedi designs previously established in The High Republic publishing initiative. Jenkins described Olega's city as "essentially Casablanca in space" with its blue and red color palette, while StarWars.com noted its inspiration from Marrakesh, another city in Morocco.
Costume designer Jennifer Bryan researched Trisha Biggar's prequel trilogy costumes at the Lucasfilm Archives at Skywalker Ranch, which particularly influenced the clothing of the High Republic Era Jedi, along with existing designs, such as High Republic Jedi symbols, from the multimedia project. The color scheme of Osha's civilian attire was inspired by the era of the Vietnam War that preceded George Lucas' original trilogy and the Star Wars design principle of greeblies and badges. Another iconic Star Wars fashion element, the poncho, was also included in civilian clothing in later episodes. Bryan also drew inspiration from warrior cultures in Asia Minor, East Africa, North Africa, and the Roman and Byzantine Empires: "It needs to look like it's put together from these different historical eras of warriors, but not specific to any one culture." Mae's assassin outfit, in particular, was influenced by samurai elements. Bryan also felt that Jodie Turner-Smith's elegance enhanced the design created for Mother Aniseya, while Yord Fandar's meticulousness and "lustrous drape" called for fabrics slightly different from those used on other Jedi costumes, with his more appearance-conscious attitude reflected in a cloak inspired by Roman senators' togas.
The production extended special thanks to the historic Lucasfilm Archives at Skywalker Ranch and George Lucas' new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Leslye Headland emphasized the use of practical techniques in her direction of the production design, cinematography, and visual effects.
Filming commenced in Europe during the autumn of 2022 and continued until May 2023. A significant portion of the filming took place on location in Portugal's Madeira archipelago, situated off the coast of Africa, as well as in and around the mountainous forest of the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park (Brecon Beacons) in Wales. Interior scenes were filmed at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire, England. Additional shooting occurred in the woods of Berkshire's Englefield Estate. Manny Jacinto prepared for his role as Qimir in the relative solitude of the nearby town of Windsor. Sur Film provided production support in Portugal.
Initially, the crew used Madeira for the jungles of the planet Khofar, but they also utilized other parts of the archipelago for scenes set on the unknown Sith planet, Olega, and Ueda. Khofar's forest perimeter was filmed at Pico do Arieiro and digitally integrated into shots of the Fanal Forest and Poço das Casas. The interior jungle scenes were shot at Shinfield Studios, with practical "mega trees" occupying the soundstage and even some of its stage doors. A brief scene of Ueda was filmed at Ponta de São Lourenço for its "brown, dusty Western" aesthetic, and the establishing shot of Olega was captured at Pedra D'Eira. Olega's city scenes were filmed at Shinfield Studios. The exterior island shots of the "unknown planet" were taken along the northern coastline of western Madeira, and the entrance to the Stranger's cave is located at Ribeira de Janela. "Fifteen minutes down the road," the crew discovered the Porto Moniz Rockpools and filmed the Stranger's bathing scene there.
Wales served as a primary filming location for The Acolyte, specifically utilizing an empty lot and neighboring fields close to the Trago Mills store in Merthyr Tydfil. With the exception of the campfire scene, which was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, all external scenes depicting the planet Brendok were filmed in Southern Wales. The production team utilized locations like the moss-covered Taf Fechan forest, a specially decorated dead oak tree in Cadlan Woods to represent the yellow willow-like bunta tree, and the drained Upper Neuadd Reservoir within Bannau Brycheiniog. The Upper Neuadd Dam became the exterior for the Brendok witch coven's mountain retreat, influencing its design, while the interior shots were completed at Shinfield Studios.
ARRI Rental provided the cameras and ARRI ALFA lenses used during the filming of the series.
Miikka Leskinen and Cheryl Potter handled the editing of the series, utilizing Avid editing systems supplied by HireWorks. Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California provided sound services, with Brian Chumney acting as the supervising sound editor. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, oversaw the visual effects post-production, with its studios in London, England, and Vancouver, Canada contributing until late winter of 2024. The new ILM office in Mumbai, India also played a role, contributing to the almost 3000 shots created for The Acolyte, marking one of its first completed projects. Yannix and SDFX Studios, alongside Outpost Visual Effects and beloFX, both based in London and Vancouver respectively, also contributed additional visual effects. Visual effects production also occurred partly in Melbourne, Australia, with contributions from Rising Sun Pictures, located near Adelaide, and Luma Pictures, based in Los Angeles. Hybride of Ubisoft in Montreal, Canada, also participated, and Proof Inc. provided visualization services.
Unlike previous projects primarily based at ILM's headquarters in San Francisco, California, ILM London took the lead as the visual effects post-production center for The Acolyte, under the guidance of production supervisor Julian Foddy. The visual effects team collaborated closely with Neal Scanlan's creatures department and editors Leskinen and Potter on the combined practical and computer-generated effects for the umbramoths.
Michael Abels composed the musical score for The Acolyte, with additional music contributed by Miguel Bezanilla, Cameron Moody, and Robert Wallace. The score was recorded at Synchron Stage Vienna in Austria, with Gottfried Rabl conducting. Abels noted that the musical themes were centered around emotions rather than specific characters, citing the "duality" of Mae and Osha as an example, where the same musical motifs appeared with different characters when they were either vengeful or hopeful. Abels also mentioned having "a lot of fun playing with how the Force is used and who uses it and what we think about whether that use of the Force is good or bad." While the score does not offer any foreshadowing or connections between the music associated with Qimir and the Stranger, the music accompanying the Stranger's reveal at the end of "Day" includes a nod to Kylo Ren's theme. Echoing the cinematic approach of Rashomon, the two flashback episodes feature scenes with identical visuals but different music to emphasize varying emotional perspectives.
Support for the production of The Acolyte came from the British Film Commission, the UK Government's High-End Television Tax Relief, the Canadian Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit, the Province of British Columbia Production Service Tax Credit, Québec's Production Services Tax Credit, Portugal's Tourism and Cinema Fund, and the Australian Government's PDV Offset tax rebate. VicScreen in Victoria and the South Australian Film Corporation in South Australia also supported visual effects production in Australia.
While media sources reported a production budget of approximately $180 million in US dollars, Lucasfilm had registered Blue Stockings (UK), a subsidiary production company for high-end television programs, in England and Wales. The company's publicly available audit, covering the period from March 24, 2021, to September 24, 2023, indicates that the "cost was forecasted to be over the production budget" but that Lucasfilm approved and fully funded it as of September 24, 2024. In the interim, the British Film Institute certified the production as "British," making it eligible for tax credits from HM Revenue and Customs for the ultimate parent company, The Walt Disney Company. The report further states that UK television production expenditure between those dates amounted to £172,320,864 in British pound sterling, which is about $230 million US dollars. Based on the UK tax relief scheme, the filing claims a total of £34,839,012 pounds in expenditure credits for the specified periods, reducing Blue Stockings' production cost to £137,481,852 pounds, or just under $184 million US dollars.
Lucasfilm unveiled the series' teaser trailer online on March 18 of 2024, followed by the release of the final trailer both online and in theaters on May 4. Later that month, on the 20th, Lucasfilm Online presented a video featuring Amandla Stenberg performing a new Star Wars violin arrangement of "The Force Theme," which composer John Williams had composed specifically for her, with Stenberg playing on her grandfather's violin. The Acolyte, comprising eight episodes, debuted its initial two episodes on Disney+ on June 4, with the concluding episode released on July 16.
Marketing efforts for novels and comics within The High Republic era highlighted their connection to the series, using phrases like "a century before The Acolyte" on their covers. BioWare's video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, active since 2011 within the Star Wars Legends continuity, received an update that included player armor inspired by "The Stranger" and appearance options mirroring Osha and Mae Aniseya, thanks to a collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. Following the season finale of The Acolyte, the official Star Wars books Twitter account encouraged fans interested in the High Republic Era to explore the time period's multi-media project, starting with Charles Soule's novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi.
The Acolyte's cast members were subject to racist and sexist online harassment, which also led to review-bombing of the series on review websites. On June 19, coinciding with "Juneteenth" commemorations of the end of slavery in the United States, Amandla Stenberg shared a music video on Instagram addressing the repetitive bigotry surrounding The Acolyte. She criticized the transformation of the term "woke" into a tool for culture war and clickbait, including journalists who prioritize selective "metrics and data" that foster division over "truth." Co-stars Charlie Barnett, Manny Jacinto, and Dafne Keen expressed their support for Stenberg in the comments.
On August 19 of 2024, Deadline initially reported the "cancellation" of the show, stating it would not have a second season. Subsequently, Gizmodo published an updated report confirming with Lucasfilm that there would be no second season of The Acolyte, as it "had never been officially greenlit." Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, reacted to the news on the platform, suggesting the series was "woke." On August 20, The Acolyte writer Jen Richards criticized the Hollywood industry on Twitter for its "risk" aversion and the dominance of studio monopolies, which prioritize immediate financial gains for shareholders over artistic and cultural value. John Boyega, who played Finn in the sequel trilogy and experienced racist abuse for his role, acknowledged Amandla Stenberg on an older Instagram post of hers on August 21 amid a surge of hateful comments. In an article titled "Can the Best of Star Wars Survive the Worst of Its Fans?" published on August 23, Rolling Stone reported that neither Lucasfilm nor Disney representatives had responded to their requests for comments regarding the series' discontinuation. On the same day, Entertainment Weekly reported that Lee Jung-jae was "surprised" by the news and hoped that Disney would invite showrunner Leslye Headland to create a second season of The Acolyte. Via Instagram's story feature, Rebecca Henderson reposted both the Rolling Stone article and a fan's tweet urging "Disney" not to cater to a certain "part of the Star Wars fanbase." Manny Jacinto simply posted a closing shot from The Acolyte featuring himself as "the Stranger" and Amandla Stenberg as Osha Aniseya with a red heart emoji on Instagram. Similarly, on August 24, Joonas Suotamo posted an image of himself as Kelnacca with a red heart emoji on Instagram.
On August 28, Stenberg addressed the cancelation of The Acolyte through Instagram stories. The artist stated that it was "not a huge shock" given the "hyper-conservative bigotry and vitriol, prejudice, hatred, and hateful language" that "the alt-right" directed at the series' creators, including herself—starting from the initial announcement of the series in 2020, through the announcement of Stenberg's casting in 2022, to the series' release in 2024. She also thanked "everybody who watched it" and expressed appreciation for the fans' support, artwork, and theories. Stenberg also discussed how processing the vitriol involved being personally vocal in accordance with her values, despite working under Disney, and called her role in Star Wars "an incredible honor and dream." She praised Lucasfilm, producer Rayne Roberts' "vision," and showrunner Leslye Headland, saying, "I will love this experience with her forever." To the fans, Stenberg wanted to convey that they are "deeply loved and appreciated, and it made this job all the worthwhile." Stenberg concluded by stating that "we all exist in the context in all which we live," urging people to vote in the 2024 United States elections and referring to the "hyper divisiveness" of internet discourse surrounding Star Wars, which she found to be "driven by echo chambers of thought and algorithms that reinforce our biases." She aimed to "challenge us all and challenge myself to continue questioning what it is that I digest and think critically about what shapes it." On August 29, Ahmed Best, who had endured severe abuse for his role as Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy, posted a message of solidarity with Amandla Stenberg on Instagram.
On October 2, in an interview with Glamour magazine for its Women of the Year Awards, Jodie Turner-Smith commended Amandla Stenberg's commitment to her role and criticized movie studios for their lack of support for the actor, despite the prevalence of racist abuse online. Turner-Smith argued that making a statement against racist abuse would not harm corporate revenue, given that people of color, especially Black individuals, "make up a very large percentage of buying power." She added that opinions and trends attacking people of color for participating in intellectual properties originated by white people, such as Star Wars, would eventually fade, even though people like herself "don't get to fail upwards like a lot of white men." In a later interview with Vanity Fair in November, Lee Jung-jae expressed feeling "hurt" and particularly sorry for Leslye Headland due to the racist reactions to The Acolyte. However, he added that he remains hopeful that racism will eventually end. Lee also expressed gratitude for the support from fans and conveyed "strong hopes" that audiences would better appreciate the series over time. On December 19 of 2024, Alan Bergman, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, acknowledged in an interview with Josef Adalian for the Vulture news website, in response to a question about both The Acolyte and the Star Wars: Skeleton Crew television series which premiered earlier that month, that The Acolyte would not be renewed for a second season. Despite both series receiving positive reviews, Bergman attributed the decision to "the cost structure" of The Acolyte, even though "we were happy with our performance."
In January 2025, Luminate's year-end analysis for 2024 revealed that The Acolyte was watched for 2.7 billion minutes on Disney+, placing it second only to the 3 billion minutes of the television series Percy Jackson and the Olympians on the streaming service. Dafne Keen, who played Jecki Lon, admitted to Screen Rant that the cancellation was, as she saw it, an "overwhelming" situation for everyone involved. However, Keen also stated that she was proud of her work on the series and proud of how Stenberg had handled the cancellation.