The Acolyte is an upcoming Disney+ show that not much is known about. We know its in the thriller genre and that's it. Thankfully, new reports today have given more intel.
Grace Randolph and DiscussingFilm reported that the show aims for a February 2022 production start in London and a female POC (person of colour) is to be as the main role.
Leslie Headland, who is developing The Acolyte, recently spoke to The AV Club about her love for Star Wars and the show:
“When I was younger, I devoured the films on home video and absolutely loved them – just a deep connection to the original trilogy. When I was in middle school, I read some novels, like Timothy Zahn’s Heir To The Empire, and also got into it that way.”
“I also played some Star Wars RPGs. And that’s my favorite version of Star Wars, the Star Wars where you get to make up your own Star Wars. So when people are like, what’s your favorite film? And what’s your favorite piece of media? I’m like, ‘I just really love the RPGs.’ To me, that’s what Star Wars is, is being able to walk into a universe and start playing. If you can’t do that with the movie, television show, novel comic book, video game, then I’m not sure you’ve done what you need to do as a creator of Star Wars material.”
Headland confirms that writer’s room for The Acolyte is assembled, adding that
“I really wanted people that were different than me. I certainly didn’t want a room full people that were just agreeing with me vehemently. Not ideologically, but artistically – people that kind of had different writing styles or were interested in different things, all that kind of stuff.”
Headland says that her approach to The Acolyte continuing to
“following in George’s footsteps. He is such a deep worshiper of film, and not just the medium of film, but the history of film and the way film has been used, and all the different genres that he infused the original trilogy with is something that only he can do.” She continues about how the series will include a form of politics, saying how “the feedback [on social media was] ‘Don’t make Star Wars political.’ I’m like, ‘George Lucas made it political. Those are political films.’ War is, by nature, political. That’s just what’s up. It’s truly what he was interested in talking about and looking at and digging into. So it’s kind of impossible to tell a story within his universe that doesn’t have to do with something that has to be that the characters see externally reflected in whatever’s happening in the galaxy at that particular time period of when it takes place.”
The Acolyte is a 8 episode Disney+ series slated to get cameras rolling in February 2022 for a estimated 2022-2023 release date.