When you think of Star Wars, Jedi is usually one of the first thoughts to come up. The showrunner of the Disney Plus series The Acolyte, Leslye Headland, has set expectations by confirming the series will feature the most Jedi than seen in any Star Wars show or movie before. This will also include plenty of villains and “more morally ambiguous characters.”
The Acolyte Will Feature the Most Jedi Ever Seen in a Show or Movie
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly‘s Star Wars podcast, Dagobah Dispatch, Headland spoke about the plan to have more Jedi in The Acolyte. While the show is not moving forward due to the current strikes in Hollywood, she has continued to set expectations for what will be seen. Much of the focus will be on “the perspective of the bad guys or villains.” She will explore the “darker sides of the Force” with people not supervised “by the larger institution, which in this case is the Jedi.”
“I think Star Wars is always about some version of the underdog versus the institution, and I just thought it was very interesting to do a show about the bad guys. It’s almost flipped. We have more Jedi than you’ve seen in any of the Star Wars content, but at the same time I think you see more morally ambiguous characters.”
The story will follow a young Force user during the High Republic era. The cast will feature Dafne Keen (Logan), Amanda Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Chewbacca actor Joonas Suotamo, Margarita Levieva (The Deuce), Carrie-Anne Moss, Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll), James Henri-Thomas (Mission of Honor), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), and Lee Jung-Jae (Squid Game).
The Acolyte may feature the most Jedi, but we will not see any for a while. The WGA strike has stopped many productions, and more will stop as the actors prepare to go on strike too. Some of the major talking points directly affect shows like this. Streaming shows have limited knowledge of viewership and performance, putting creatives in the dark about who is watching their creations. It also has limited the money people make without residuals.
