Star Wars will soon bring the High Republic to live-action as Disney+'s The Acolyte series finally has some exciting news after months of disappointing delays.
Most of Star Wars' Disney+ endeavors so far have explored familiar faces in the timeline of the famous Skywalker Saga, but that's all about to change. After seeing a major push on the publishing side, the High Republic will soon be coming to live-action with The Acolyte, a mystery-thriller exploring the emergence of the Sith.
The secretive project - which will star Amandla Stenberg as "Aura," which may be a codename - has suffered constant delays since its December 2020 reveal. The first timetable that emerged last summer pointed toward The Acolyte getting in front of the cameras this February, but that never came to be.
Further delays went on to push the Lucasfilm production to Summer 2022 and then eventually October 2022 as casting continued. Now, as October comes to a close, more news has surfaced on the series, and things are finally beginning to look up for the first live-action dive into the High Republic.
Star Wars' High Republic Series Gets Underway
According to Bespin Bulletin, The Acolyte began filming early this week at Shinfield Studios in Berkshire. Filming is expected to continue at the UK studio until May in time to debut on Disney+ in 2024.
The production was said to be utilizing a large outdoor set that appears to be based on a town or marketplace. Bystanders have also claimed to have seen multiple actors coming in and out of their trailers, including the High Republic series' lead, Amandla Stenberg.
The Acolyte Begins a Major Star Wars Expansion
The Acolyte beginning production represents a major step forward in the expansion of the galaxy far, far away as it marks the first time that a live-action Star Wars project has stepped out with the Skywalker Saga timeframe. However, the series' place in the timeline marks the only major story detail revealed yet.
Based on the previous set photos, the mystery-thriller project looks to be filming in a custom-made small town. But there's no telling how this unknown location or how Amandla Stenberg's mystery character will tie into The Acolyte's tale of emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic.
Nonetheless, as production finally gets underway over eight months after it was originally planned to, more details ought to come out faster than ever. The coming weeks will likely bring further casting to join Stenberg and Jodie Turner-Smith, along with set leaks, and a better idea of what this mysterious project is all about.
But that doesn't mean the wait to finally adventure into the High Republic will be any less long as the series probably won't hit Disney+ until late 2023 or early 2024, with a trailer likely to arrive sometime next fall. In the meantime, there will be plenty of Star Wars to enjoy with Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, and more.
This marks the sixth of the ten Star Wars projects announced at Disney Investor Day 2020, almost two years ago, to finally see some sense of progress. Rogue Squadron, A Droid Story, Rangers of the New Republic, and Lando all appear to be stuck in some development hell with no sign of escaping anytime soon.
The Acolyte has yet to set an official Disney+ release date.
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