TV
THE ACOLYTE
A MUCH LONGER TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY
Let there be light: Lee Jung-jae as Jedi Master Sol.
★★★
OUT NOW (DISNEY+) / EPISODES WATCHED 4 OF 8
SHOWRUNNER Leslye Headland
CAST Amandla Stenberg, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lee Jung-jae, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith
PLOT Force sensitive Mae (Stenberg) is on a mission of revenge. Her targets are four people with one key thing in common: they’re Jedi.
A GIRL WALKS into a bar —stop us if you’ve heard this one. Picking her way through tables crowded with a menagerie of alien patrons, she squares up to a figure in Jedi robes. The resulting fracas is something you definitely won’t be familiar with —at least not from Star Wars. A whirlwind of wuxia-inspired fists and feet, the series prologue has the flavour of Hong Kong action cinema, but with a distinctly Star Wars twist —punches and parries augmented with unseen power. It’s an arresting display of precision-choreographed Force-fu that unfolds (almost) without either party reaching for a lightsaber. As openers go, this seizes you by the throat like a Force choke —a clear statement of intent from showrunner Leslye Headland.