Star Wars: The Acolyte to feature the first live-action Wookiee Jedi

Leslye Headland is the showrunner behind Star Wars: The Acolyte, an upcoming Disney+ show in the Star Wars Cinematic Universe. The Acolyte is set many years before even the Star Wars prequel trilogy, back when the Jedi order was at the height of its power: the High Republic.

During an interview with the Dagobah Dispatch podcast, Headland confirmed that there will be a Wookiee Jedi in her series. Talking about inspiration, Headland referred to Solo: A Star Wars Story and the work that actor Joonas Suotamo did as Chewbacca.

“It honestly started with Joonas,” Headland said. “We thought it’d be cool to do a Wookiee, obviously they have a Wookiee Jedi in the High Republic, and we thought it’d be cool to have our own version of that and have a very different character design. But honestly I really loved Solo and I loved Joonas’ performance in it. So I was watching it and I was like, ‘Gosh, it’d be really cool to see him be a Jedi, and actually do some action work and some fighting, and to do not just the side kick role.'”

George Lucas reportedly did not want a Wookiee Jedi originally

Headland said that she kept pitching the idea over and over until her Wookiee Jedi character Kelnacca was approved. In addition to Joonas playing Kelnacca, the only other detail given about the character was the fact that one side of his head will be shaved, which sounds both awesome and menacing at the same time.

“A lot of times these characters come up, even Amandla and JJ’s [Lee Jung-jae’s] characters, they come up almost from character design first,” Headland said. “I can see the way that they look and the costumes that they wear, I’m a very visual person in that sense. So that’s how Kelnacca came to be. I just couldn’t resist being on set with a Wookie, it was very selfish of me.”

In the current Disney Star Wars canon, the only other Wookiee Jedi is the youngling Gungi. Gungi first appeared in season 5 of The Clone Wars, where he and a group of younglings traveled to Ilum to collect crystals for their lightsabers. The character made a recent appearance in season 2 of The Bad Batch, where it was revealed he survived Order 66 before Clone Force 99 helped return him to his homeworld of Kashyyyk.

Kelnacca will be the first live-action Wookiee Jedi to appear in a Star Wars project. For years it was rumored that George Lucas was apprehensive of the idea of including Wookiee Jedi in his projects, until Dave Filoni’s idea for Gungi apparently changed his mind. Whether that rumor is true or not, The Acolyte is set to make Star Wars history by introducing Kelnacca, and I for one am pretty excited about it.

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