'The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte' Previews: The Stranger, Mae the Sith, and More!

The Artbook Collector
33 minutes ago
3 min read

January 28th 2025

Over a year after the show premiered, The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte is out next week with a release date of February 3rd 2026. After some date changes for the release, Abrams Books is ready to return with another artbook for a live-action Star Wars project, with a look at the concept art behind The Acolyte, but before then, check out some previews of the book here!

Before diving inside of the book, any collector knows that when a book comes with a dustjacket as this one does, you should always take a peak under the cover to see what is hidden underneath. In the case of The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, there is a wrap-around concept image of Osha and Mae facing off from artist Gabriel Yeganyan.

Sticking with Mae, the book explores her look as a Sith, leaning into a medieval visual style for the costume design. Artists Brian Matyas explains this as quoted on the page;

"To keep the idea that this period is 'medieval Star Wars', I wanted the costuming to be influenced by plate armor but made with a material like plastoid."

The below spread features art from Matyas and Star Wars royalty, Doug Chiang.

Jecki Lon, played by Dafne Keen, is also highlighted in the book, with a piece of her in human form, but also with sketches of her potential design as a half-Theelin too, a homage to backup singer Rystáll Sant who was added to the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi. Artist Jeremy Woodhead adds his insights to these sketches, giving the following details;

"For Jecki, there were two or three boards with with ten or fifteen drawings on each with different ideas. We always had the horns, and we always had the pale skin, then we experimented with different colors and hairstyles. A lot of references we made at the time [of the Special Editions] were very eighties, so I wanted to steer away from that. It looked a bit too decade-specific. That's why I went for the oranges and the yellows, rather than the pinks and purples. The was something a little bit jarring about the neon pink."

Art below by Eleanor Barlow, Callum Alexander Watt, Jeremy Woodhead, Adam Burn, and Jacob Clare.

Of course, the book wouldn't be complete without a look at the antagonist, 'The Stranger'. Artwork for his menacing helmet had been shared online before, including the striking piece below on the left from Martin Rezard. However, this book presents the art in a high quality print finish on the page, which is a great size with the book coming in at 30cm x 27.5cm, as well as the artist credits and insights. Show creator Leslye Headland notes that some of the designs were inspired by Rorschach from Watchmen, highlighting that his look could have been very different to what made it on-screen.

Page art below by Martin Rezard, Andre Gilbert, Luke Fisher, and Nick Tyrrell.

Darth Plagueis is also shown in The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, although very little is shared in keeping with the teaser at the end of the series. However, it does include a 3D model of his head made by Saby Menyhei, which offers a more detailed look at his design. Leslye Headland shares that before the design was even created, she knew she wanted a reveal similar to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, one that was hugely effective. The concept of his reveal on the right, also from Menyhei, closely resembles the final shot without the hood.

The spread also offers a look at the broken helmet of The Stranger from artist Nick Tyrrell, revealing the face of the character played by Manny Jacinto.

There is of course much more featured in the book, including a look at more characters, ships, locations, keyframes, technology, and storyboards. Star Wars has a long history with artbooks that have consistently been excellent releases, making this a book to consider adding to your shelf if you're a fan of The Acolyte.

A review for the book is coming soon with more previews, as well as my in-depth thoughts for fans wanting to know more. There are also more Star Wars artbooks coming in 2026 too, with The Art of Star Wars: Andor out on June 30th, and The Art of the Mandalorian and Grogu being published November 3rd, which features art for season three of the TV series and The Book of Bobba Fett.

To end, I would kindly ask that anyone that chooses to share the images and details here please credit this as a news source to help people discover this solo run website and discover more artbooks.

Those interested can order The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte here;