Star Wars: The Matrix Star Joins The Acolyte

Carrie-Anne Moss, star of The Matrix franchise, is coming to the Star Wars universe in The Acolyte. Lucasfilm announced yesterday that it had begun production on The Acolyte, a mystery-thriller set during the twilight years of Star Wars' High Republic era. Along with that announcement, Lucasfilm also confirmed the rest of the cast joining previously announced series lead Amanda Stenberg in the Disney+ show. The list of stars included Moss in an undisclosed role. Audiences know Moss best for playing Trinity in The Matrix movies, which she reprised after a 21 years hiatus in the 2018 sequel The Matrix Resurrections. She also played Jen Hogarth in Marvel's Netflix shows starting with Jessica Jones.

In addition to Stenberg and Moss, The Acolyte's cast includes Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, and Dean-Charles Chapman. Leslye Headland created the series and will serve as its showrunner.

The Acolyte occurs as the High Republic era nears its end, about 100 years before The Phantom menace. The story sees a former Padawan reuniting with their Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes leading them to discover something more sinister.

"A lot of those characters haven't even been born yet," Headland told Vanity Fair as part of a feature about Star Wars' future on television. "We're taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don't know much about. My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like, 'Well, how did things get to this point?' How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?'"

She continued, "The truth is that I, as a major mega fan, came to them with this idea. And I said, 'I think the best place to put this is in an era you guys have not quite explored yet. They were very enthusiastic. It wasn't that they didn't want to explore that [existing] world, but I think that they already were because The Mandalorian and a lot of the other television projects were really relying on legacy characters."

The Acolyte will stream exclusively on Disney+. Reports suggest it will debut sometime in 2024.