The creator of Russian Doll writes female-centric Star Wars mystery series for Disney
The Acolyte is a sci-fi mystery-thriller series produced by Lucasfilm and Disney. The eight-part series is set within the Star Wars universe, and is created and written by Lucasfilm’s Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) and Rayne Roberts. Headland is a long-time Star Wars fan who created The Acolyte as a passion project, eventually pitching the idea to Kathleen Kennedy as a story set a hundred years prior to Star Wars Episode 1 at the end of the High Republic era, with a focus on the female characters.
Amandla Stenberg plays the series’ lead character, a former padawan who is pitted against her Jedi Master as they get to the bottom of the mysterious crimes being committed. Rebecca Henderson plays a 116-year-old Jedi Master named Vernestra Rwoh. The cast also includes Lee Jung-jae, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Dean-Charles Chapman.