Star Wars: The Acolyte Has Found Its Star in Amandla Stenberg

Amandla Stenberg, seen here at the 2021 Met Gala, is likely to be joining the Star Wars universe.Photo: Theo Wargo (Getty Images)

Of all the Star Wars shows coming to Disney+, one remains the most mysterious. It’s set in a time period most fans don’t know and it’s not about a preexisting character, at least we think it isn’t. What we do now is that the show has its star: Amandla Stenberg.

Stenberg has reportedly been cast as the lead character in The Acolyte, which is being developed by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland. The show is set during the end of The High Republic era (which you can read all about in various excellent books and comics currently out in stores), and with a title like The Acolyte, it’s likely to deal with some sort of Force users. Whether those people use the light side or the dark side, we don’t know. (“Acolyte” has a dark side connotation in Star Wars.) The Illuminerdi first broke the news which was then confirmed by Variety and Deadline; io9 has reached out to Lucasfilm for comment and we will update this post should we hear back.

No one is exactly sure what role Stenberg is likely to play, only that it’s most likely the lead and maybe a character named “Aura.” No matter what the role is, though, it’s the lead of a Disney+ Star Wars show, making it the biggest role of their career so far. Stenberg first role to prominence when they played the young Rue in the original Hunger Games. From there, they did several roles culminating in critical acclaim for the charged drama The Hate U Give. Earlier this year, they were seen in the controversial musical Dear Evan Hansen. And now, they may be going to a galaxy far, far away, to a time even longer ago.

We’ll have more on The Acolyte as it breaks.