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Amandla Stenberg will enter the Star Wars universe with The Acolyte.
Extra spoke with Stenberg and showrunner Leslye Headland about the show, which tells the story of a former apprentice (Amandla) who reunites with a Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) to investigate a shocking criminal case.
Leslie promised that fans will “feel familiar” with Star Wars, but hinted at new developments.
She commented, “I hope that everyone feels the same warmth, love and excitement that I felt when I first discovered Star Wars. I also hope that there will be some new elements that you’re familiar with but that you probably haven’t seen before – action, storylines, character twists, creatures, droids – and we’ll be giving you new interpretations of it all.”
Leslie added: “You can expect a lot of action and intrigue, but I think the heart of the show is the acting, particularly from Amandla.”
Talking about her preparation for all the action, Amandla revealed that she started training six weeks before filming began.
“A lot of the time on the show, I’m myself,” Amandla said with a laugh, “and actually, I get a lot better on the show.”
The two said: “We were so obsessed with our skills that we sometimes over-trained. We were brought onto set six weeks before filming began and met with our master, Junchan Lu, who taught us the basics: taping a cross to a cardboard box and tracing the cross over and over with a knife. Once we’d mastered that, we then learned how to throw punches.”
Amandla continued, “I learned how to position myself properly, where to put my weight on my body, and so on. And after a few weeks of really working on all the basics, I started incorporating stunt choreography, and it’s really become one of my favorite things to do. I love it so much. It’s so much fun. It’s like dancing, but there’s power behind it. It’s very creative, but also intimidating. It’s really cool.”
“All I really learned was to trust my instincts. Thankfully, I was able to move fast enough towards the end that I was able to learn things very intuitively and quickly and move forward with the shooting schedule.”
Amandla reacted to finding out that Leslie had always wanted them for the role.
“When I first met Leslie, she showed me the concept art, and it had my face on it,” Amandla recalls. “I remember looking at it and just blinking, wondering if I would blink and it would go away. It was like a vision of Star Wars, a huge landscape with costume design and my face on it.”
They said: “The feeling I had when I saw it is the same today. It’s hard to comprehend. It’s incomprehensible. It’s full of awe and wonder. It’s similar to the feeling you get when you stand on the top of a great mountain and look at something beautiful and vast.”
Amandla also spoke about showing off her violin skills during the series special, playing the Star Wars theme tune on her grandfather’s instrument.
They said, “I’ve tried to play other violins before, but it just never felt right… I feel like my grandfather is there, like a guardian angel. So to be able to be with him in that moment and have the incredible honor and privilege of playing the Star Wars theme as part of the family was just amazing.”
“Acolyte” will premiere on Disney+ on June 4.