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Lucasfilm has revealed today via StarWars.com that the live-action Star Wars series created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) has started principal photography, “production has begun on The Acolyte, an upcoming original Star Wars series from Lucasfilm coming to Disney Plus”.
In addition to the confirmation that the series has started shooting, Lucasfilm also announced new additions to The Acolyte cast including Dafne Keen (Logan, His Dark Materials), who was rumoured to have joined the cast last week, Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna, Russian Doll), Dean Charles Chapman (1917, Game of Thrones) and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix, Memento). The newly announced casts members join the ever growing list of talent cast in the series including the lead Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Lee Jung-Jae (Squid Game), Jodie Turner Smith (After Yang), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll) and Manny Jicinto (The Good Place).
Lastly Lucasfilm also provided a synopsis for the upcoming series, “The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.”
It’s also briefly mentioned that the series creator and show runner, Leslye Headland, is directing the pilot of The Acolyte. It’s previously been reported and long believed that the Russian Doll creator is directing all episodes, but perhaps that is not the case. Lucasfilm mentioned that filming is taking place in the United Kingdom, but they did not give specifics. However as we exclusively reported back in July, The Acolyte is filming at Shinfield Studios, Berkshire.
Bespin Bulletin exclusively broke that filming began on The Acolyte at the end of October when multiple sources informed us of filming and locals witnessed actors being ushered to and from trailers at Shinfield Studios, Berkshire. The cast were seen filming in a large set located at the backlot of Shinfield Studios which is believed to be a town or marketplace of some kind. It’s not unlike Lucasfilm to announce production starting a tad later than when it did as the first season of Andor began filming in November 2020, but Lucasfilm did not announce the start of filming until December of that year.
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