Stars Wars reportedly casts first ever transgender actor
The Star Wars franchise has its first ever transgender actor, who will star in forthcoming spinoff series The Acolyte.
According to DisneyDining.com, Abigail Thorn has been cast as Ensign Eurus in the forthcoming Disney+ series alongside Amandla Stenberg, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen and others.
Thorn has yet to confirm the news publicly. NME has contacted Disney+ for comment.
Thorn is a British actress, writer and director who produces the YouTube channel Philosophy Tube. Her recent work includes the play The Prince.
In October 2021 she came out as a transgender woman, sharing her new name, pronouns and story on her YouTube channel.
The Acolyte, led by Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland, is described as a mystery-thriller set in the final days of the High Republic era – a period set roughly 200 years before events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
The series joins an expansive slate of Star Wars TV shows including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor and The Mandalorian – see the list here.
A TV series for Lando Calrissian, originally played by Billy Dee Williams and later by Donald Glover in Solo: A Star Wars Story, was also announced in 2020 from director and writer Justin Simien (Dear White People).
While details on the project have been few since, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy did acknowledge the series in an interview with GamesRadar in May 2022, saying they’re “still talking about Lando with Donald Glover”.
In other news, Andor was supposed to feature the franchise’s first ever F-bomb but it ended up being refused by Disney, while Pedro Pascal has revealed that he no longer appears on set for The Mandalorian.
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Charlotte Krol
NME
