One of the next live-action Star Wars series gearing up for release is the Leslye Headland created, The Acolyte, which is due to debut on Disney+ sometime next year. The Writers Guild of America have now published a full list of writers for the High Republic era series, and have released the writing credits for each episode of the eight episode season.
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Episode one was written solely by the series creator, Leslye Headland, who is likely best known for writing and co-creating the Netflix series, Russian Doll, which is her most recognisable and acclaimed work. In addition to Doll, Headland’s past writing credits includes the films Sleeping with Other People starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, About Last Night starring Kevin Hart and Bachelorette starring Kirsten Dunst.
Episode two of The Acolyte has been penned by Jason Milcallef and Charmaine De Grate. Milcallef doesn’t have many writing credits to his name, having only three released projects since 2011, which began with the feature film Butter starring Jennifer Garner and Hugh Jackman. In addition, Milcallef also penned the short film, Marcel, Marcel (not to be confused with Marcel the Shell) and most recently, Heathers, a Paramount series that he created which ran for one season in 2018. Milcallef however is paired with writer with a lot more experience, Charmaine De Grate. De Grate most recently penned ten episodes of the hit Amazon Prime Video series, Daisy Jones and the Six, and also worked as a writer on ten episodes of the hit HBO series and Game of Thrones spin-off, House of the Dragon. In addition to House of the Dragon and Daisy Jones, De Grate also wrote forty four episodes of CW’s The 100.
Episode three of The Acolyte seems a writing team-up between Jasmyne Flournoy and Eileen Shim. Flournoy most recently worked on Disney and Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as a writing assistant, and worked as a writers personal assistant on the Apple TV+ series, Truth Be Told, Amazon Prime Video’s Ron Pearlman led series, Hand of God, and Heathers, which was created by The Acolyte episode two writer, Jason Milcallef. Eileen Shim, the second credited writer of the episode, is likely best known for penning an episode of House of the Dragon, specifically one of the most critically acclaimed episodes, Lord of the Tides. In addition to Dragon, Shin has worked on the Netflix animated series, Mech Cadets and the Hulu series, Light as a Feather.
Episode four is written by Claire Kiechef, who only boasts two writing credits, nine episode of HBO’s critically acclaimed series, Watchmen, and a single episode of the Netflix series The OA. Kiechef is joined for writing duties by Kor Adana, who previously worked on two episodes of the critically acclaimed Mr. Robot series and a single episode of the Netflix series, The Imperfects.
Episode five of The Acolyte has been written by the aforementioned Kor Adana, along with Cameron Squires. Squires most recently worked on the Netflix animated series, Agent Elvis, which featured Matthew McConaughey as the voice of Elvis Presley, which Squires penned six episodes of. Squires also worked on another animated series, Final Space, of which he wrote fourteen episodes. However, his most notable project is the Marvel’s WandaVision, which he worked on as a staff writer, leading to credits on nine episodes of the hit Marvel Studios series.
The sixth episode of The Acolyte has been penned by Jason Milcallef, who wrote the second episode of the series, and is joined by Jocelyn Bioh. Bioh’s most notable writing credits include an episode of Russian Doll, the series created by The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland, along with an episode of the Hulu series, Tiny Beautiful Things led by Kathryn Hahn.
Episode seven of The Acolyte has been written by three individuals, the first for the series, and includes two writers we’ve already covered, Charmaine De Grate and Jasmyn Flournoy, but also features Jen Richards. Richards, who’s also an actress, wrote a single episode of the TV series, Threads, but Richards’ most notable and critically acclaimed work comes in the form of a short film, There You Are, and the TV series, Her Story.
The final episode of The Acolyte’s first season, episode eight, is written by a series regular, Jason Milcallef, who outside of Headland, who will be credited on each episode as a creator, has the most writing credits of the series, with Milcallef penning three episodes.
At this time it is currently unknown as to when The Acolyte is due to be released, outside of 2024. Previously I reported that I had heard that the series was looking to release sometime in the second quarter of next year, with my belief being May. However, as mentioned in a separate article that followed months later, I had heard that the series is likely to suffer a delay, as was Skeleton Crew and the second season of Andor, due to the WGA and SAG-AFRA strikes (currently only SAG is still striking). Nobody has mentioned this window to me, this is merely my own speculation, but I could see the series releasing in August, simply due to Lucasfilm seemingly liking that release window as Ahsoka released there this year, and Andor season one was originally due to release in August last year before slipping to September. As I’ve mentioned on various podcasts and livestreams, I have heard that Lucasfilm are very confident in the series and see it as one of their tentpole releases of next year.
The Acolyte, which is set during the High Republic era, follows a former padawan and her Jedi master as they investigate a series of crimes, but encounter forces more sinister than what they’ve imagined. The series stars Amandla Stenberg (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies) as the lead, as well as Lee Jung Jae (Squid Game), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang), Charlie Bennett (Russian Doll), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Dean Charles Chapman (1917), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) and Margarita Levieva (Daredevil: Born Again).
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