Fans got their first look at Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars thriller The Acolyte during a panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 today. The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Jodie Turner-Smith, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Rebecca Henderson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Margarita Levieva, and Dean-Charles Chapman. It was created by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland.

As Star Wars fans know, an “acolyte” is a term used to describe Sith soldiers, so naturally The Acolyte focuses on the emergence of the Sith. It takes place during the High Republic era, set 100 years before the prequel trilogies, at the height of the Galactic Empire aka the Golden Age of the Jedi. During the panel, Headland told the audience that the series was pitched as “Frozen meets Kill Bill” and is told from the perspective of the bad guys, who were at the time outnumbered by the powerful Jedi.  The Acolyte will mark the further back in the timeline that we’ve seen Star Wars go.

The series is still filming and expected to be released sometime in 2024. Footage shown includes shots of Moss’ character fighting with Stenberg’s character, a Jedi temple, a gold lightsaber, and a Disney money shot glimpse of a group of Jedi lighting up their lightsabers in unison. It ended with the tagline, “This is about power and who is allowed to use it.”

A new image with different font from previous logos was also unveiled (used in the header picture for this post).