The force is with Lee Jung-Jae. According to a Sept. 8 report by Deadline, the actor from The Squid Game will play in The Acolyte, a new television series from Lucasfilm, and make his Star Wars debut.
Although no information on his role has yet been disclosed, Jung-Jae is slated to play the male lead opposite Amandla Stenberg from Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. The cast will also include Jodie Turner-Smith.
Showrunner Leslye Headland, who co-created Netflix’s Russian Doll, told other sources that the series will take place in “a time period that we don’t know much about”—roughly 100 years before the events of 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phan.
The studio first announced the Disney+ series in December 2020, describing it as “a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days.
“My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point? How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?” Headland mentioned.
Headland noted that the writing process is nearly complete even though the show is currently casting. She said that the show centers on “the Renaissance, or the Age of Enlightenment,” a tranquil time in the galaxy.
The second season of Squid Game has been picked up, and Jung-jae will return in it. The program received a record-breaking 14 Emmy nominations, making it the first non-English program to be recognized in the major drama category.
The Emmys will take place on Monday, Sept. 12, and will be broadcast live on NBC and streamed on Peacock for the first time. There is no release date set yet for The Acolyte. Netflix has Squid Game’s first season accessible for viewing.
