The Acolyte Star Amandla Stenberg on the Poetic Nature of How They Were Cast in Star Wars

As part of the press tour for their upcoming film My Animal, which is currently playing at the Sundance Film Festival, Amandla Stenberg continues to talk about their upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte. The actor had to miss the trip to Utah, but is nevertheless giving interviews from the UK. While they are not able to reveal much about the series, they are hyping up the scope and the craft that goes into making Star Wars.



Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about My Animal, Stenberg was asked about their experience on the set of The Acolyte, to which they responded:

They were also asked if it's a matter of dreams coming true for them on a daily basis, to which they replied 'I mean, I’m surrounded by aliens all day. It’s pretty surreal.' Additionally, Stenberg was asked about something they'd told The Face back in the summer, when they said the team from Lucasfilm approached them with 'this project which was fully conceptualized with me in mind.' After being initially hesitant about whether or not they were allowed to say anything, they finally said:

(L-R): Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae and Director Leslye Headland on the set of Lucasfilm's THE ACOLYTE, exclusively on Disney+. ©2022 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



Moreover, when the interviewer remarked on the fact that, back in the day, it was Stenberg who manifested their role in Hunger Games and now it happened the other way around with their other favorite IP, the actor said:

While the quotes are certainly not groundbreaking information, it is certainly interesting that Stenberg could not attend the Sundance Film Festival in person, along with the rest of the cast and crew of My Animal. This is something that has been in the plans for months, and apparently, Lucasfilm couldn't give them a week-long break from the set of The Acolyte. A lot goes into making these schedules, but it seems like they have a lot of filming to do. We know they are playing the lead, but so is Diego Luna in Andor, and he doesn't have the majority of the screen time in every single episode. It seems like that might not be the case here, and Stenberg's role is going to be quite large.



The Acolyte is filming in multiple points across the UK at the moment, with the main base of operations set at Shinfield Studios (40 miles west of London), where Stenberg is. Cameras are supposed to be rolling through May, with the series likely hitting Disney Plus at some point during the first six months of 2024.







Leslye Headland (Netflix's Russian Doll) is showrunner, executive producer, head writer, and director on the show; the cast also includes Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix).



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