Star Wars may currently be in between TV shows and movies, but fans of the galaxy far, far away now have some big news to celebrate about one of the upcoming series: the star of The Acolyte has been confirmed. Amandla Stenberg will officially lead the cast of the series that was announced all the way back in 2020. While few details are available about what's on the way, the actress had the perfect message for fans of the franchise.
The confirmation of Stenberg's casting comes after she was rumored as the lead of The Acolyte back in early December of 2021. The Star Wars Twitter account initially broke the news to ask fans to "join us in welcoming Amandla Stenberg to the Star Wars galaxy," and the actress had a message of her own in an Instagram post. Take a look:
What better way to join the galaxy far, far away than with a "May the Force be with you" message to fans, with a heart emoji for good measure? Her selection of photos also show her off as a lover of Star Wars herself. In the first, she's representing dark side and light side alike, with a Darth Maul shirt while she leans on Luke Skywalker's faithful R2-D2. She leans a little harder into the dark side as she poses with a Darth Vader figure in the next pic, but her big smile in the third photo suggests that she's geeking out as much as any big Star Wars fan would be in her shoes.
The Acolyte didn't have a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, but the Instagram post reveals that Stenberg was at SDCC anyway. The official Disney+ account wasted no time in hitting up the comment section, and apparently there were no words to do justice, because the response is all emojis:
Unfortunately, there are no details available just yet about the kind of character that Amandla Stenberg will be playing, but there is more information available about the project. Originally rumored in April of 2020 before being confirmed in December of that year, The Acolyte hails from Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland, and she previously revealed that the show will be set about a century before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
This makes it the Star Wars screen project of the Disney era set the furthest away from the original trilogy in the franchise timeline, so Headland may have more of a blank slate with The Acolyte than shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was set right in between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy. It is also going to be female-centric with Stenberg as the lead, although the creator assured that the show will be for everybody.
Unfortunately, of all of the things we know so far about The Acolyte, the premiere date is not one of them, and the rest of the cast is still shrouded in mystery. Still, hopefully the confirmation of Amandla Stenberg as the lead is a sign that more details are on the way.
For now, though, you can look forward to the next Star Wars project, as Disney+ subscribers will get to watch Andor starting on Wednesday, August 31. Like the other Star Wars series on the Disney streaming service, the Diego Luna-starring project set years ahead of Rogue One will release new episodes weekly, as opposed to the whole season at once. For some more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule.
