How Star Wars: The Acolyte Will Turn the Skywalker Saga on Its Head

The first trailer of Star Wars: The Acolyte has arrived online, giving fans their first look at the upcoming live-action series. Set in the High Republic era, The Acolyte takes place just 150 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and will position the Jedi Order in the way fans see it in Episode I. Speaking with StarWars.com, The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland says the series will very much follow the ancient religion as it transforms itself into an institution.

"If Star Wars is about the underdog versus the institution, [in The Acolyte] the Jedi are the institution," Headland told the website. "I was so interested in a storyline where the Jedi were at the height of their power — and I don't mean The Phantom Menace, because at that point, there's a Sith Lord in the Senate that they're not picking up on. Like it's a thing I've heard of, but it's not a thing that you would ever consider you'd be interacting with."

The writer said she wanted to reverse the roles a bit, and show the resurgence of the Sith. "What went wrong?" Headland added. "And if the bad guys are actually the underdog, it just seemed like a cool reversal."

In separate interview with Collider, Headland said she initially pitched The Acolyte as a multi-season series to more thoroughly explore the timeframe in question.

"I would say that when I pitched it, I definitely pitched it as a multi-season show. There are a lot of things at the end of this season that I think are narrative threads that are not tied up, for sure," Headland confirmed with the site. "However, I am the type of writer that is not interested in an emotional cliffhanger. I want you to feel like you've had a particular type of catharsis, and an emotional experience in watching those eight episodes because I like rewarding the audience with that." 

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte are set for release on June 4th with weekly releases thereafter.

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Margarita Levieva. Russian Doll's Leslye Headland developed the series.