Star Wars: The Acolyte Cast & Character Guide (2024)

Here's everything we know to date about the cast and characters of The Acolyte. The future of Star Wars lies in the past - specifically, a hundred years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. This area of the timeline contains Star Wars' High Republic Era, the golden age for the Jedi and the Republic. After the defeat of The High Republic's Nihil enemies, sinister forces lurked in the shadows - and they were growing in power and influence.

The first trailer for The Acolyte teases a dark mystery, with Jedi being hunted and murdered by a mysterious warrior. The trailer serves to introduce the show's main cast while teasing The Acolyte's compelling story, with Lucasfilm finally backing these aspects up with some key character details. With that in mind, here is everything known about the cast and characters of The Acolyte to date.

Amandla Stenberg is Mae

A former Jedi Padawan who is now walking a dark path...

Amandla Stenberg is no stranger to big franchises, having played the part of Rue in The Hunger Games, Starr Carter in The Hate U Give, and Sophie in the 2022 film Bodies Bodies Bodies. In The Acolyte, Stenberg plays a mysterious warrior named Mae who is drawn into a mysterious conspiracy. The Acolyte's trailer suggests that Mae begins as an antagonist, perhaps even one of the forces hunting Jedi, but The Acolyte's plot synopsis hints she winds up investigating instead.

Interestingly, several elements that have since been revealed about Mae's character both support and go against the idea she is a character on the path of the Jedi. In terms of the former, it has been confirmed that Mae was once a Jedi Padawan who trained under another of the show's characters. That said, Mae's entry into the Star Wars Databank states she will get "swept up into a sinister mystery—one that puts her into the center of a conflict in unexpected ways." This conflicting information certainly cements Mae as one of The Acolyte's most intriguing characters.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland explained she liked the idea of a more ambiguous star. "I loved the idea of a character that was unknowable in her goodness or badness," she explained. Notably, Mae's purple robes blend the traditional Jedi blue with the Sith red, again indicating that she is a morally gray protagonist whose motivations may not always be clear throughout The Acolyte's eight-episode story.

Lee Jung-jae is Jedi Master Sol

The former master of Mae and stalwart of the Jedi Order...

Lee Jung-jae is best known for playing Seong Gi-hun in Netflix's Squid Game, and is essentially the co-star of The Acolyte. He is playing the part of Jedi Master Sol, established as a wise and venerable figure within the Order. The Acolyte trailer stresses this point by opening with Sol teaching Younglings, occupying a role traditionally associated with Grandmaster Yoda in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. This proves Sol's importance to the Jedi Order of The High Republic, showing that he has the trust required to be a teacher of aspiring Force-wielders.

Concerning his entry into the Star Wars Databank, Sol is described as a wise, highly respected member of the Jedi Council and a powerful Master in his own right. The databank notes that Sol is strong in the ways of the Force, but that this strength may be diminished by an emotional conflict at the center of The Acolyte's story. This conflict almost undoubtedly refers to his former teaching of Mae, the prime suspect in the savage murders of his Jedi peers.

As has been depicted in The Acolyte's various marketing materials, Sol seems to be leading the investigation into the murders of other Jedi. Knowing Mae is involved, Sol asks to be the one to bring her in and make her face justice, though it seems other mysterious forces are at work that may surprise not only the Jedi Master but Mae herself. The force in question is a mysterious Sith warrior in The Acolyte, one whom Sol is destined to face off against.

Rebecca Henderson is Vernestra Rwoh

The only cast member in The Acolyte from The High Republic's many multimedia stories...

Rebecca Henderson is playing one of the few well-established Star Wars characters in The Acolyte, Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh. Introduced in Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The High Republic transmedia initiative, Vernestra "Vern" Rwoh is a Mirialan Jedi who was something of a child prodigy - knighted and taking on a Padawan when she was still a teenager. The Acolyte is set a century later, but Mirialans live long lives, meaning Vern is at the peak of her powers at the onset of the upcoming Star Wars TV show.

Rebecca Henderson has worked with showrunner Leslye Headland before on Russian Doll. She is also well known for playing ADA Catherine McCaw in Netflix's Inventing Ana, and Olivia in Single Drunk Female. It will be exciting to see what she brings to her new Star Wars role. Although Henderson is a great actor, much of the excitement surrounding Vern's involvement in The Acolyte stems from how closely the show will blend with what is already known of her from her many High Republic stories.

If the Star Wars Databank is anything to go by, Vern's character will be heavily inspired by her former print-based stories. The databank outlines how Vern once took a step back from the Jedi Order after the fall of Starlight Beacon, an event that was integral to Phase I of The High Republic's stories. Vern lost her former master in this event, leading to her shifting focus to heal herself, which will almost certainly be referenced in The Acolyte. Another exciting element that tracks with the High Republic books is Vern's lightwhip, a kind of lightsaber not seen before in live-action.

Dafne Keen is Jecki Lon

A young Jedi Padawan who is roped into The Acolyte's dark story...

Dafne Keen's rise has been meteoric since her debut in Logan, and now she is finally joining the Star Wars galaxy - in a role specifically designed for her. The Acolyte's creator, Lesyle Headland, loved Keen's performance in Logan and simply wanted to see X-23 with a lightsaber. Keen is playing Master Sol's current Padawan, Jecki Lon, which could hint at a bitter connection between her and Mae, Sol's former apprentice.

However, it appears this will be something Jecki can handle. In her entry on the Star Wars Databank, it is mentioned that she exudes a sense of calm. This calmness comes with a heightened maturity, explaining why Jecki seems integral to investigating The Acolyte's central mystery. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly shortly after The Acolyte's first trailer was released, Keen revealed more tidbits about Jecki Lon.

One interesting fact about Jecki that Keen revealed is that she is a part-human, part-Theelin hybrid - a role that required extensive prosthetics. The race is a smart nod to Star Wars Legends, where the Theelin were a race whose mutations meant they became unable to reproduce with their own kind, leading to their interbreeding with other species. The Theelin tragically went extinct during the Imperial era, meaning Keen is portraying an underappreciated species in Star Wars live-action.

When quizzed about Lon's connection with Sol, Keen stated that the former is a very dedicated Padawan who has great respect for her Master. Keen went on to compare how Jecki and Sol's relationship is in comparison to an iconic Master-Padawan bond like Obi-Wan and Anakin:

"She's definitely in awe of him in a very, kind of, sweet way. She thinks the absolute world of him in a way that I think they have a very sweet relationship, but she's much more aware of the authority difference than, for example, Obi-Wan and Anakin. She's very much like, “No, he's the master and I'm the Padawan and he's perfect. And everything he says, I have to follow to the T.”

Keen also stated that Jecki is a strong fighter, stating that her character has several cool lightsaber duels. This tracks with the footage from The Acolyte's trailers, with Jecki present when the show's dark villain reveals themself to the Jedi. Until The Acolyte's release, the true extent of Jecki Lon's character arc will remain hidden outside of the small pieces of information divulged by Dafne Keen.

Charlie Barnett is Yord Fandar

A brave, albeit rule-following, Knight of the Jedi Order...

Another Russian Doll veteran, Charlie Barnett is playing the part of a Jedi Knight named Yord Fandar. In Yord's Star Wars Databank entry, he is described as a Jedi guardian from the temple on Coruscant, which likely means he is charged with protecting the Order from external threats. This could explain Yord's role in The Acolyte; if someone is targeting Jedi, it stands to reason a guardian would be assigned to investigate. Yord's yellow lightsaber also reflects his role as a guardian, linking to the meaning of the lightsaber color from Star Wars Legends.

Barnett has refused to give many details about Yord, previously only commenting that he has really cool hair. As it turns out, Barnett was not kidding; Yord's hairstyle is evocative of Killmonger in Black Panther, testimony to the enduring cultural legacy of that particular MCU movie. Yord does not appear to be a main character, but will surely be an important one, whose rule-following nature may cloud his judgment. The Star Wars Databank pointedly describes his dedication to following the rules, potentially spelling a difficult journey for Yord given The Acolyte's morally gray subject matter.

Joonas Suotamo is Kelnacca

The Chewbacca actor returns to play a Wookiee Jedi in the era of The High Republic...

Joonas Suotamo is no stranger to Star Wars after playing the lovable Chewbacca himself in the sequel trilogy and Solo: A Star Wars Story. With The Acolyte though, he finally has the opportunity to wield a lightsaber as the Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca, who is an unusually solitary figure among his people. The first trailer for The Acolyte appeared to suggest Kelnacca lives as a hermit on Kashyyyk, or at least another densely forested planet in the Star Wars galaxy.

This is the first time Star Wars has shown a live-action Wookiee Jedi. The reason for this largely stems from George Lucas passing a rather odd rule that there should be no Wookiee Jedi. That said, Lucas later changed his mind when he introduced exactly this in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the form of Gungi.

The Star Wars Databank outlines little about Kelancca's character aside from his solitary lifestyle, though Suotamo has since divulged more information on the Wookiee Jedi in an interview with Empire. Suotamo mentioned that he was delighted to finally be playing a Jedi after wishing to do so since he was a child. When talking about how a Jedi Wookiee would differentiate from portraying the fan-favorite Chewbacca, Suotamo had this to say:

“Kelnacca being a Jedi, that sets certain expectations to how you carry yourself in the line of duty. There are certain assumptions that can be made as to whether he lets his emotions take control of him to the extent that Chewbacca would, for example. It was very interesting to bake that into the character and try to personify that on screen.”

Carrie-Anne Moss is Jedi Master Indara

The Matrix star brings to life another wisened Jedi Master of The High Republic era...

A science-fiction and fantasy icon, Carrie-Anne Moss will forever be known and loved for playing Trinity in The Matrix franchise, as well as Jerri Hogarth in Jessica Jones. Her martial arts knowledge makes her a perfect fit for The Acolyte, and the trailer showed her demonstrating her skill in a battle with Amandla Stenberg's Mae. This fight was then outlined in greater detail during the re-release of The Phantom Menace, which showed the confrontation in an extended, cinematic preview.

If anything, this battle scene proved how strong Master Indara will be in The Acolyte. The extended sequence made it seem as though Indara is one of the first Jedi targeted by Mae, with the former being confronted by the latter in a bar. Indara then fought against Mae without even using her lightsaber in a combat form lovingly titled "Force-fu." Another interesting tidbit about Indara is that, unlike the other Jedi, she appears to be operating in isolation.

This could explain why Mae targets her specifically. It is possible that Indara's solitary work ties into the books of The High Republic through the concept of Pathfinders, a group of elite Jedi who pushed on into the Outer Rim during the High Republic Era. Seldom concerned with Council affairs, they were used to acting individually, focusing on conflict resolution while they explored uncharted worlds. However, following Mae's assault, it seems Indara is pulled closer to other members of the Order, becoming an integral investigator in The Acolyte's mystery.

Jodie Turner-Smith is Mother Aniseya

A witch-like being of the High Republic era...

Jodie Turner-Smith has recently had roles in the movie Queen & Slim and the Ann Boleyn miniseries, where she portrayed the titular character. She is playing someone from a very different Force cult in The Acolyte - Mother Aniseya, described as the leader of a coven of witches. The term sounds familiar, leading to some speculation she is part of the Nightsisters of Dathomir, but this has since been debunked; the purple robes are reminiscent of a formerly dark-side cult known as the Yacombe from the High Republic Era, but that is uncertain.

Mother Aniseya's robes are very similar to those worn by Mae at some stages in The Acolyte's trailer. The color purple is important, signifying that she is neither light nor dark, but rather strives for balance. As evident by the Star Wars Databank, Aniseya's coven of witches values their independence in the Star Wars galaxy. This, as well as the power they could hold, means it will be fascinating to see The Acolyte's exploration of a potentially all-new Force cult in the franchise.

Manny Jacinto is Qimir

A former smuggler and current trader in the High Republic...

Manny Jacinto is best known for playing the role of Jason Mendoza in The Good Place, but he has also been in the miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers, the movie I Want You Back, and plenty of other roles. Now, he is coming to Star Wars, playing a mysterious former smuggler named Qimir. Nothing is currently known about Qimir, beyond the fact he is a regular citizen of the galaxy who gets pulled into Jedi affairs.

The Acolyte's trailer features shots of Qimir observing, perhaps hinting he becomes a witness to a Jedi killing. If that is the case, the killers may want to ensure witnesses do not get to testify to the Jedi. That would explain how a smuggler gets caught up in this epic Star Wars mystery. Similarly, Qimir is heard stating that the peace the Jedi preach is a lie and that the Order uses this promise of peace to keep the people of the galaxy in line. This could hint that Qimir is supporting whoever is murdering the Jedi, as he distrusts their motives.

Dean-Charles Chapman

Dean-Charles Chapman will also be portraying a Jedi in The Acolyte, though further details about his character are currently unknown. He may have a hand in the mysterious investigation, though, and Chapman expressed his excitement at being able to portray a Jedi in the show when he spoke to Screen Rant at Star Wars Celebration. Chapman is perhaps best known for his role as Lance Corporal Blake in Sam Mendes’ World War II epic 1917, as well as playing Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones.

The Acolyte

The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes - all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.

Cast

Dafne Keen , Lee Jung-jae , Amandla Stenberg , Jodie Turner-Smith , Joonas Suotamo , Carrie-Anne Moss , Margarita Levieva , Charlie Barnett , Dean-Charles Chapman

Seasons

1

Writers

Leslye Headland , Charmaine De Grate , Kor Adana

Directors

Leslye Headland , Alex Garcia Lopez

Showrunner

Leslye Headland