Disney+'s most eagerly-awaited Star Wars project will debut this summer

Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae will show us the way soon

Star Wars: The Acolyte art created in house
(Image credit: Disney / Freepix / Rik Henderson)
Quick Summary

The Acolyte will reportedly arrive on Disney+ this coming summer.

Set 50 years before The Phantom Menace, it stars Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae as a Jedi Master and will run for eight episodes.

The next big Star Wars series from Disney+ is set to hit the streaming platform this summer, it is claimed.

Star Wars: The Acolyte stars Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae and is different to the majority of other shows released on Disney+ so far – it doesn't tie-in with The Mandalorian and isn't based in or around the Clone Wars.

Instead, it is set 50 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, so is essentially the prequel to the prequel trilogy. It follows a Jedi Padawan and her one-time Master as the uncover a series of "sinister crimes".

Collider reports that the show will debut in the summer months, although an exact date is yet to be revealed. It also writes that The Acolyte has ties to The High Republic, a trilogy of novels from three different authors – Charles Soule, Cavan Scott and Claudia Gray.

Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games, Bodies Bodies Bodies) plays the Padawan, While Jung-jae is the Jedi Master. There's also a Wookie Jedi, Kelnacca, who's played by former professional basketball player, Joonas Suotamo. He also took over the Chewbacca role for the last few movies after the sad passing of Peter Mayhew.

Is there a trailer for The Acolyte

A trailer of Star Wars: The Acolyte was shown to a crowd attending the Star Wars Celebration convention last year but never fully released (nor surprisingly leaked). It's thought that a new trailer is due soon, however, with the production in the latter stages.

It is said that there will be eight episodes of the series in total, with creator Leslye Headland having written the first. Headland has been nominated for numerous awards in the past, including Best Comedy Series and New Series for Russian Doll by the Writers Guild of America.

Hopefully, her talent will shine through on a series that many are looking toward with eager eyes – can the streaming service finally repeat its Mandalorian success once more, but with something that isn't just a connected spin-off?

Rik Henderson
News Editor

Rik is T3’s news editor, which means he looks after the news team and the up-to-the-minute coverage of all the hottest gadgets and products you’ll definitely want to read about. And, with more than 35 years of experience in tech and entertainment journalism, including editing and writing for numerous websites, magazines, and newspapers, he’s always got an eye on the next big thing.

Rik also has extensive knowledge of AV, TV streaming and smart home kit, plus just about everything to do with games since the late 80s. Prior to T3, he spent 13 years at Pocket-lint heading up its news team, and was a TV producer and presenter on such shows as Channel 4's GamesMaster, plus Sky's Games World, Game Over, and Virtual World of Sport.