Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae has joined the cast of Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars series, The Acolyte. The streaming service also announced Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) have been cast in the latest entry in the Star Wars franchise.
The Hate U Give‘s Amandla Stenberg was previously announced to star in the sci-fi series created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll). Headland executive produces, serves as showrunner, and will direct the pilot.
The casting news arrived along with the first behind-the-scenes photo featuring Stenberg and Jung-jae. Production on the first season, set 100-ish years prior to any Star Wars screen story, is currently underway in the U.K. Disney+ hasn’t announced a targeted premiere date.
Joining Leslye Headland as executive producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are on board as producers.
Disney+ shared the following description of the Star Wars series:
“The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”
In a May 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, Headland confirmed The Acolyte takes place 100 years prior to The Phantom Menace. “So, a lot of those characters haven’t even been born yet. My question in watching The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ Do you know what I mean? How did we get to where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? What went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment? So that’s what I would say. That’s how I would describe it to my friends, especially my non-Star Wars friends,” said Headland.
