Squid Game Star Joins Star Wars: The Acolyte

The success of Squid Game has turned Lee Jung-jae into a worldwide celebrity, and though he was already famous for working on Korean projects, it seems that he’s landed his first major Hollywood gig.

According to Deadline, Lee has been cast as the male lead in Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars series The Acolyte. We don’t have much details about Lee’s role, but we do know that he’s joining a cast which already includes Amandla Steinberg for another lead role, as well as Jodie Turner-Smith in an undisclosed one.

We only know so little about The Acolyte for now, but the series is said to be a prequel that takes place during the final days of the High Republic, with the emerging of the Dark Side. With The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi mostly focusing on ‘good’ characters, it would be interesting if Lucasfilm explored a story that fully focused on characters in the Dark Side of the Force and what their motivations could be besides ‘evil.’

Going back to Lee though, he was an absolutely likeable protagonist in Squid Game. Not only was his character pretty empathetic (though he is a terrible dad), he also managed to play off both goofy and serious when the scene demanded it. I’m just hoping that they use his talents to the fullest with The Acolyte, because Lucasfilm has been known to waste talent before. Just look at Obi-Wan Kenobi squandering Benny Safdie, Maya Erskine, and Sung Kang.

No release date has been set for The Acolyte, but you can catch Lee in Squid Game now streaming on Netflix.