Star Wars: The Acolyte Gives Us A More Seasoned Version Of A High Republic Jedi
Get ready to play a very different kind of Easter egg hunt with the new "Star Wars" series "The Acolyte" (watch the trailer here). Leslye Headland's upcoming series takes place 100 years before "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace," which should come as a soothing balm to those who've been waiting for the franchise to move far (far) away from the Skywalker Saga and explore other periods of "Star Wars" history in live-action. That being the case, the real test here won't be seeing how many references or nods to other "Star Wars" projects you can spot; it will be figuring out where you've previously seen the show's crackerjack actors.
With the exceptions of "The Matrix" icon Carrie-Anne Moss and up-and-coming whipper-snappers Amandla Stenberg ("Bodies Bodies Bodies") and Dafne Keen ("His Dark Materials"), much of the "Acolyte" cast is composed of "Hey, I know them!" type character actors. Their ranks include "Squid Game" star Lee Jung-jae, "The Good Place" alum Manny Jacinto, and Jodie Turner-Smith (whose presence is all the more exciting thanks to the involvement of her "After Yang" director Kogonada behind the camera), along with Headland's "Russian Doll" stars Charlie Barnett and Rebecca Henderson. The latter will be of particular interest to those who've already read some of the High Republic novels set around the same time as "The Acolyte" ... and not just because Henderson is married to Headland, either.
Speaking to Empire Magazine, Headland discussed Henderson's role as Vernestra Rwoh, a Jedi whom High Republic readers have already met when she was much younger. "I absolutely love Vernestra. You can tell, because I cast my wife," Headland explained, laughing. However, after everything she's been through by the time "The Acolyte" picks up, this iteration of a character will be a far cry from the highly-skilled, somewhat naive do-gooder first introduced in the 2021 novel "The High Republic: Light of the Jedi."
Vernestra Rwoh has seen things
Did you think Yoda was the only long-lived green-skinned Jedi? Vernestra is a member of the Mirialan, who are native to the planet Mirial and have shown up in prequel-era live-action and animated "Star Wars" projects before (with the most notable examples being the Jedi Luminara Unduli and her onetime Padawan Barriss Offee, whose own story will continue in this year's "Star Wars: Tales of the Empire"). They also tend to live a lot longer than other non-droids in the "Star Wars" galaxy, which means Vernestra has "been through some s**t" — as Headland put it — by the time "The Acolyte" begins. Henderson added:
"Because she has been around for so long, she has basically met everyone that has come through the [Jedi] Temple [on Coruscant], and seen them all die their natural deaths if they're living a natural human life. She's known [Lee Jung-jae's Jedi Master] Sol since he was a tiny child."
When we first met her in the High Republic books, Vernestra was already a full-fledged Jedi Knight at the tender age of 15, struggling to find her place between the Jedi-in-training closer to her age and her much older peers. Since then, the novels have gone ahead and paved the way for the more seasoned version of the character. In "The High Republic: Defy the Storm," which was only just published in March, Vernestra (aka Vern) is haunted and embittered in the wake of her own Padawan's apparent death. As /Film's Bryan Young correctly predicted in his review of "Defy the Storm," the book's "more cynical and jaded" Vern will be closer to the one portrayed by Henderson. Being a fan of sad, old, grumpy Luke Skywalker in "The Last Jedi" and Obi-Wan in "Obi-Wan Kenobi," that sounds more than alright to me.
"Star Wars: The Acolyte" begins streaming on Disney+ on June 4, 2024.