Another new face is joining the Star Wars franchise. Actor Lee Jung-Jae has been officially cast as the male lead in the new Star Wars Disney Plus television show, The Acolyte.
Star Wars: The Acolyte was previously announced in December 2020. Though production and casting are only now ramping up, the Leslye Headland-helmed show has yet to reveal more than a scant few plot details. However, according to Deadline, the project has just tapped Lee to star as the male lead of the show, opposite Amandla Stenberg.
Despite the casting of Lee, his character’s name is not yet known. What is known, however, is that the show will take place in the shadowy underworld of the Star Wars universe and will explore the inner workings of the Sith during their thousand years of hiding (the show will take place towards the end of the High Republic era). Lee is known for his turn on last year’s Squid Game, where he played a gambling addict named Seong Gi-hun who finds himself gambling for his life in a deadly competition comprised of children's games. His portrayal of the character received a positive reception, and the uber-successful Squid Game has been renewed second season.
Lee's casting further demonstrates a commitment to diversity that Headland previously mentioned. The project is female- and POC-led (with Jodie Turner-Smith having recently been cast), and Headland has also explained that she hopes to bring her own experience with her LGBTQ+ identity into the show. Plus, various other key players behind the scenes of the show are also LGBTQ+, such as Stenberg, who identifies as gay and uses she/they pronouns).
For now, Lee's role is under wraps, so there can only be speculation as to who he will be playing (or even if he'll be playing a human character). As the male lead, and as someone older than Stenberg, who’s fronting the project overall, it’s easy to think he may be the mysterious Sith Lord of the era. Perhaps he will draw Stenberg’s character into the Dark Side.
Given that this project is potentially set only a hundred years prior to The Phantom Menace, it’s also possible that he may be portraying a Sith Lord from the old expanded universe. Of course, Lucasfilm may have to re-canonize some of the old Sith masters leading up to Darth Sidious and the Skywalker Saga.
Star Wars: The Acolyte will likely premiere on Disney Plus at some point in 2023 or 2024.
Source: Deadline