Amandla Stenberg is officially the first person to join the cast of The Acolyte, the upcoming Disney Plus show set 100 years before The Phantom Menace.
Stenberg announced the news today via Instagram, alongside a handful of photos featuring them posing next to the likes of R2-D2 and Darth Vader. "Next stop: a galaxy far, far away," Stenberg says. "I am so excited to finally announce I’m joining Star Wars: The Acolyte! Honored is an understatement. May the Force be with you."
Stenberg rose to prominence after their 2012 role as Rue in The Hunger Games. After appearing in a number of films throughout the 2010s, their starring role in The Hate U Give earned critical acclaim.
No official details on Stenberg's role in The Acolyte have been revealed, but we know the show is set in the series' High Republic era, roughly a century before the start of the prequels. This time period has been explored in extended media like books and comics, but has not yet appeared in film or TV. The basic idea is that this is the height of power for both the Jedi and the Republic, the bright period of history before the slow decline into the Empire we see in the movies.
Leslye Headland, best known as the co-creator of Netflix's Russian Doll, serves as the showrunner for The Acolyte. Headland revealed a few details about the themes of the show in an interview earlier this year.
If all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows have your head spinning, you can follow that link for a big breakdown of everything that's in the works.
