100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Acolyte tells one of the most exciting Star Wars stories of recent years. In the guise of a mystery thriller, we learn about a series of mysterious Jedi murders. The main suspect: Amandla Stenberg. Right at the beginning of the series, we see her kill a powerful Jedi. Shortly afterwards, however, she can’t remember anything.
How can that be?
Stenberg, known as Rue from The Hunger Games and the powerful coming-of-age drama The Hate U Give, plays two characters in The Acolyte who look extremely similar but are on completely different sides. While Osha was trained in the Jedi Temple, Mae follows a mysterious Sith as the titular acolyte. There has never been such a large double role in the Star Wars saga.
In the interview, Amandla Stenberg reveals more about her personal Star Wars journey.
Moviepilot: Where did your Star Wars journey begin for you?
Amanda Stenberg: Phew, I can’t pin it down to one point. Star Wars has always been one of those universes that was just there. I can definitely remember watching the prequels with my sister when I was very small. Later I saw the original trilogy with my father. He was born in 1952 and was in the cinema when the films first came out. It was very exciting to ask him about it. I played with the toy figures with my cousins. And a special event was when I saw Stormtrooper at Comic-Con. I was about twelve years old.
Disney
Amandla Stenberg in The Acolyte
At the last Star Wars Celebration you were out and about in Pamdé cosplay. Is she one of your big Star Wars inspirations?
While Padmé is very different from my characters in The Acolyte, she is definitely one of my favorite Star Wars characters. I just love her, especially when I think about all her costumes and her fashion sense. If it’s my job to go to a convention, I should take advantage of the situation and come in cosplay.
What fascinated you most about the prequels back then?
I remember the first time I saw baby Anakin. He was a kid, so I could relate to him. The big difference is that he’s not just a kid, he has the Force and is incredibly good at podracing. I mean, how cool is that?
How did it feel when you realized that you could now become the Anakin of future Star Wars fans?
To be honest, that moment hasn’t come yet. Maybe it never will. I hope that one day I’ll be able to process and digest this whole journey. But right now it all feels very surreal, like it only exists in my imagination. We had the privilege of telling a story in such a big and fascinating universe that means a lot to me and many others. But it was also a big challenge, so for now I just concentrated on what was right in front of me during filming. Now I’m slowly realizing what all came together in the series.
Disney
Amandla Stenberg in The Acolyte
What is your favorite moment from filming? What was the best scene you shot?
Oh, that’s a hard question. I would say a scene in our finale, but I don’t want to give too much away. To me, that scene is the heart of the show. I was lucky enough to work with an incredible double throughout production. Her name is Shanice Archer, and we spent a lot of time developing these characters – Mae and Osha – together. So we shot that one scene. It was on a beautiful set with a lot of nature. And to me, that scene perfectly encapsulates what the Force means. I know that’s a very vague description, but you’ll definitely recognize the scene.
There’s also a special scene right at the beginning of the series where you fight Matrix legend Carrie-Anne Moss. What was that like?
It was terrifying. [lacht] So the idea of that was terrifying. But I had a lot of fun when I was filming. Carrie-Anne is incredibly kind and caring. We hit it off straight away and spent a lot of time on set. It turns out we even used to go to the same church. It’s really hard to do these complex action scenes. When I injured my knee, she immediately came over, put her hands on it and gave me Reiki to heal me energetically. She really is such a wonderful and grounded person. I learned so much from her.
More about The Acolyte:
The Acolyte has been running since June 5, 2024 on Disney+, which means we’re exactly halfway through season 1. Four episodes have already been released, and four more are still to come. The next chapter follows on Wednesday.