Fan Favorite ‘Star Wars’ Character to Make Live Action Debut

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Jedi facing the Droid army on Geonosis

Credit: Lucasfilm

A fan favorite Star Wars character is set to make their live action debut in The Acolyte.

'The Acolyte's new title treatment. Credit: Lucasfilm
Credit: Lucasfilm

Related: Everything We Know About ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ So Far

Announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, the character — a popular Jedi from the High Republic era — will be turning up in the upcoming, highly anticipated Star Wars TV show.

Details remain fairly mysterious on the show’s plot, but showrunner Leslye Headland revealed a first look at the Amandla Stenberg led series at the Disney Studios panel, and then again at the Star Wars Celebration High Republic panel the day after.

Headland shared an ‘In Production’ reel which showed Stenberg’s black-robed character fighting with Carrie Ann Moss’s cloaked and mysterious figure. There is speculation that she is playing a Jedi Master, alongside Joonas Suotamo’s Wookiee Jedi.

Vernestra Rwoh in illustrated form. Credit: Del Rey Books
Credit: Del Rey Books

Elsewhere in the trailer, we saw golden robed Jedi and Padawans in training, as well as Jodie Turner Smith’s regal looking character moving through a crowd.

The reel ended with a tantalizing glimpse of a row of Jedi igniting their sabers in unison against an unforeseen foe.

But among them was not the character exclusively revealed at the High Republic panel: Vernestra Rwoh, the young Jedi prodigy seen in Phase I of the High Republic books who wields a distinctive ‘whip’ lightsaber.

By the time of Acolyte, which is set deeper into the High Republic era, closer to Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Vernestra is much older.

And Hyland exclusively revealed that she will not only appear in The Acolyte, but will also be played by her wife, actress Rebecca Henderson. She joins fellow stars such as Manny Jacinto and Lee-jung Jae, as well as the aforementioned Stenberg, in making up the cast.

Actress Rebecca Henderson. Credit: iMDB
Credit: iMDB

Fans were treated to a still of Rwoh in the show, seen wearing classic High Republic robes but without her signature purple hair. That is now much shorter. In the glimpse, she looks troubled.

In terms of where the character is at, Headland said she is a good representation of the Jedi Order in this period as a whole.

The Acolyte will show how the optimistic, idealistic, and much more permissive Jedi of the High Republic era eventually become the far more rigid and closed-in order of the prequels era.

Headland’s comments would suggest that her show, which follows the rise of evil in a time of otherwise prosperous Jedi, will see seismic changes take place within the intergalactic Jedi Order.

Either way, fans were excited at the prospect of seeing one of the High Republic’s most popular characters brought to life in live action, leaping into action from the page to the screen.

Leslye Headland. Credit: Ethan Miller/ FilmMagic
Credit: Ethan Miller/FilmMagic

Related: Extraordinary ‘Star Wars’ Set Photos Bring the Jedi Back to Life For Female-Led Series

The Acolyte was one of Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023’s most warmly welcomed titles, with news on the mysterious show welcomed by fans of the High Republic series and beyond, excited at the prospect of new adventures and a new perspective in a galaxy, far, far away. It joined other Star Wars projects such as Skeleton Crew in receiving a warm welcome at the four-day fan event in London. The Acolyte will release next year.

Are you a fan of Vernestra Rwoh? Tell us in the comments below.

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