Star Wars’ The Acolyte Breaks Disney+ Records with Massive 2024 Debut

The Acolyte, a new series set in the Star Wars universe, set a record for Disney+ when it launched.

The eight-part drama premiered its first two episodes last week (June 4), proving to be off to a strong start. TVLine reported that the first episode was viewed 11.1 million times in its first five days of streaming.

This makes it the streaming service’s biggest launch of the year, beating out competitors like Doctor Who, Marvel’s Echoes, and X-Men ’97.

The series takes place roughly 100 years before the events of George Lucas’ prequel trilogy. The plot follows Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) as he teams up with a former padawan, Osha (Amandla Stenberg), to investigate a series of crimes.

Lee, best known for his role in Squid Game, spoke exclusively with Digital Spy ahead of the series` launch. The actor revealed that he prepared for the role by envisaging that Sol had been trained by the iconic Qui-Gon Jinn, who was played by Liam Neeson in the prequel trilogy.

“In terms of preparing for the role, I went and watched a lot of Star Wars shows and films of the past, studying the actors who have given great performances as Jedi masters,” said Lee. “Of all the performances, I especially got inspiration from Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn.

“I think it was very important to represent that the Jedi philosophy maintains through all these different ages, so I almost imagined Qui-Gon as Master Sol’s padawan and forming that connection between the two of them and maintaining that Jedi philosophy between generations.

“He [Sol] is someone who sacrifices a lot to maintain peace and harmony within his community. I think this type of person is very rare to meet in real life. Of course, you hear about them in the news, but I think this is what makes Master Sol unique.”

“Acolyte” is streaming on Disney+, with new episodes releasing on Tuesdays.