The Acolyte Creator Explains Meaning Of Star Wars Show's Title

Later this year, The Acolyte is going to take Star Wars fans into some darker territory than they're used to. The series is set roughly 100 years before the prequel films, and it follows Mae (Amandla Stenberg), a former Jedi youngling who is seemingly out to murder Jedi in the order that she left behind. Presumably Mae is also the Acolyte in the title of the show. But in a new interview with Empire, series creator Leslye Headland left room for some doubt about Mae's destiny when she explained what the title means.

“It’s a position, essentially, that someone is going to fulfil, or step into,” said Headland. “We know with the Sith that there is a Master, we know that there is an Apprentice. But in deep EU [Expanded Universe], there’s a concept of an Acolyte, which is underneath Apprentice. So that is where I got the title from.”

Headland acknowledged that she was influenced by the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series as well as the Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology book that was published during the Extended Universe era. However, she sidestepped the question about whether the Acolyte in question is Mae and who she might be serving.

It’s a lot more complicated than that,” related Stenberg. “Which is the point of the show. Hopefully, if we did our job right, the show makes it an interesting interrogation into what it means to be on the light side or the dark side.”

The Acolyte will have a two-episode premiere on Disney+ on June 4, 2024.