The Acolyte: Full Empire Magazine Coverage Drops, With New Images and Character Details

New images for Star Wars: The Acolyte have been revealed in the latest issue of Empire Magazine, along with plenty of interesting bits of information from the outlet in their massive coverage of the series. Snippets from their big article have been making their way online over the past week, but with the issue now available, more images and quotes are available for us to dissect. (Credit for the pictures to r/StarWarsLeaks.)



The series is described as a mystery thriller, and Leslye Headland is already on record talking about how it will be a slow build, with each episode adding more information and keeping the audience guessing. But co-lead Lee Jung-jae, who plays Master Sol in his first major role since his Emmy win for Squid Game, added that 'it’s going to get even more intriguing and gripping, because
of that detective genre.”



His Padawan is Jecki Lon, played by Dafne Keen, who describes her as 'Jedi David Bowie'. Jecki is apparently “much more competent' than Jedi Knight Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett). The two are seen in the header image, in a snowy environment, seemingly investigating something. She added:

We also got a new shot of the confrontation between Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Mae (Amandla Stenberg), an assassin, as seen in the first trailer. Moss told Empire what it was working with Leslye Headland:

Speaking of the devil, we also got a new behind-the-scenes shot with Stenberg and Headland, who directed the first two episodes, in what seems to be the outside of the tavern where Mae and Indara Force-fu-fight it off. This was shot in Shinfield Studios, in the UK:





The character of Mae was apparently inspired by Kill Bill's Gogo, but there are more references to draw from, as Amandla Stenberg explained:

Headland has also said multiple times that The Acolyte will have a focus on female villains, and that it will be a Sith-led story, and so on. Now, she insisted once again that she wanted to tell a story from the perspective of the bad guys:

Below, we have a new look at perhaps one of the most intriguing characters from The Acolyte so far. Jodie Turner-Smith plays Force Witch Mother Aniseya, who belongs to a different coven than the Nightsisters of Dathomir. She said about them:

Below, another look at Jecki Lon training inside the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. It appears that this is the same room as the training room seen in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, just given a different set of aesthetics befitting the fact that this show takes place one century prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. Amandla Stenberg, as a fun fact, took a nap on the set of the Jedi Temple. Now, here's the question: what was she doing there?





Here, we have a widescreen shot of Amandla Stenberg looking ahead at a town. 'Mae gazes upon a world of shadowy secrets,' reads Empire's caption of the image:





Below is another behind-the-scenes shot of Headland with Lee Jung-jae, an actor who rose to international prominence following his breakout role as the lead of the Netflix series Squid Game. The Acolyte marks the first time he has been involved in an American production, which he also learned English for.





More Yord Fondar below. Barnett also teased to Empire a trip to a Wookiee planet, though interestingly, it will not be Kashyyyk. As some readers might know by now, there's a Jedi Wookiee in the series, Master Kelnacca, played by Joonas Suotamo, who appeared in the sequel trilogy and Solo as Chewbacca.





Barnett was also a bit unsure about what he could and couldn't share, as this time it goes even beyond the usual Star Wars secrecy. There's a mystery built into the narrative, as we mentioned, which forces the actors to choose their words very carefully. “I don’t... I mean… She must have... Oh God, am I giving too much away, talking about this blast?,” said Barnett at one point. Stenberg also ran into a similar issue:

Star Wars: The Acolyte is set to premiere on Disney Plus on June 4, at 6pm PT / 9pm ET / June 5 at 2am BST, with the first two episodes, and a weekly release schedule for the remaining six episodes after that.



Click HERE to check out and comment on this topic on our main site