A new Star Wars comic will delve into the history of The Acolyte's Wookiee Jedi Master

Art from Star Wars: Kelnacca #1
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

The first two episodes of the hotly-anticipated new Star Wars show, The Acolyte, are out now on Disney Plus. If you've already binged the eps then you're likely intrigued by Kelnacca - the Wookiee Jedi Master who makes his debut in the second episode, as played by Joonas Suotamo (who also donned the fur to play Chewbacca in Star Wars movies The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, and Solo).

While the show takes place in the High Republic era - a setting that has a pretty well-established history in comics and books - the character was created specifically for the TV show. Still, Kelnacca will be making the move to comics later this year in Star Wars: The Acolyte - Kelnacca #1, a new one-shot by long-time High Republic scribe Cavan Scott and drawn by Marika Cresta. 

Here's a trio of covers for the first issue by (from left to right) Phil Noto, Björn Barends, and Takashi Okazaki.

"It's been so exciting to draw a line from The Acolyte back to The High Republic era we've been building in comics, books, audio and animation," Scott told io9, who broke the news. "Kelnacca is the perfect character to bridge the gap between the time of Leslye Headland's spectacular series to the age of Starlight Beacon, the threat of Marchion Ro, and the marauding Nihil. In this comic, we will learn more about one of the most intriguing aspects of Kelnacca's design: the meaning behind those mysterious tattoos. Along the way we’ll see the struggle of a Padawan and a master who is stoic, wise, and, ultimately, a true practitioner of Light and Life."

Star Wars: The Acolyte - Kelnacca #1 is published by Marvel Comics on September 4. 


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Will Salmon
Comics Editor

Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.