The High Republic panel at Star Wars Celebration today ended with a shocking reveal: Vernestra Rwoh will be in The Acolyte, played by Rebecca Henderson.
It was announced by The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, and a first look at the character was released, showing an older version of the character (now with a shaved head) wearing the gold robes with a dark sash over them.
Vernestra Rwoh was a young Jedi apprentice during Phase One of The High Republic publishing initiative. She rose to the rank of Jedi Knight at just 15 years old, making her the youngest Knight in a long time for the Jedi Order. That led to her having a reputation among Jedi, but particularly among other Padawans, as she engaged in a number of pertinent missions in the era. She learned under Jedi High Council member Stellan Gios, who himself was one of the most well-known, recognized, and respected Jedi of his era. She used a purple lightsaber, but unbeknownst to a lot of people it actually was modified to also be used as a light-whip, if needed. At just 16 years old, she took Imri Cantaros as her own Padawan, training him as a Jedi.
Rwoh is a Mirialan, and we don’t know the exact lifespan of that species, but what we’ve heard about The Acolyte so far would suggest that it’ll be set around 100 years after Phase One… meaning that Rwoh would be quite old. So either Mirialans live longer than we thought, or this series is set a little closer to Phase One than we thought. I guess we’ll have to wait and see which one it winds up being.
It’s very exciting news because of how it will further connect the published stories and the stories on-screen. The Acolyte will be the first live-action look at the High Republic era, set right near the end of it. According to Headland, we’ll see how the Jedi have begun to lose their way to get them to the point they’re at in the prequel trilogy. At the panel, she spoke about how even though the series is set further on in the timeline than Phase One, they wanted there to be aesthetic bridges to help connect fans between them.
The Acolyte is set to hit Disney+ sometime in 2024.
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