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Star Wars Casts Squid Game Star Lee Jung-Jae in The Acolyte

The actor joins the Disney+ series' growing cast, which also includes Amandla Sternberg and Jodie Turner-Smith.

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Squid Games' iconic umbrella scene.
Image: Noh Juhan | Netflix

After Lee Jung-jae’s international breakout role as Seong Gi-hun in the megahit Netflix series Squid Game, it seemed like only a matter of time before he got snapped up for more productions. Now, Deadline has revealed that Lee will be the male lead in the Star Wars series The Acolyte.

The Acolyte will be helmed by Leslye Headland; she’ll be the Disney+ series’ director, writer, executive producer, and showrunner after her incredible stint as the creator of Netflix’s time-loop series, Russian Doll, which starred Natasha Lyonne.

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The A-list cast for The Acolyte also includes Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies) and the recently announced Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang, Queen and Slim). The Acolyte is purportedly going to focus on the rise of Dark Side Force users during the era of the Old Republic, and is being described as a “mystery-thriller” in official Star Wars press releases.

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Squid Game was renewed for a second season, but there’s no word yet on when it will return to Netflix. We know very little, but Gi-hun is set to return, which means that Lee Jung-jae will most likely be back as well. There is no set release date for The Acolyte.

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