Lucasfilm is being taken to court over a breach of contract lawsuit by Executive Producer Karyn McCarthy, over the upcoming Disney+ Original series, “Star Wars: The Acolyte”,  which is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

The new series is going to star Amandla Stenberg (“The Hate U Give”), Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”), Manny Jacinto (“Nine Perfect Strangers”), Dafne Keen (“His Dark Materials”), Jodie Turner-Smith (“Queen & Slim”), Rebecca Henderson (“Inventing Anna”), Charlie Barnett (“Russian Doll”), Dean-Charles Chapman (“1917”), Margarita Levieva (The Deuce”) and Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix”).

From creator, showrunner and executive producer Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll”), “The Acolyte” has begun production in the U.K. The executive producers for the series include Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are producing. Headland will also direct the series pilot.

The executive producer, Karyn McCarthy, who has previously worked on “Ballers”, was fired from the Disney+ project after just a few weeks of work. Lucasfilm and Karyn had a “broad strokes” agreement, but “without explanation, without reason, without justification, Lucasfilm told McCarthy it wanted out of the deal,” per a 12-page filing at the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Prior to signing on to work on “The Acolyte”, Karyn was also offered a “lucrative executive producer” position on the Apple series, “Sugar”. But by the time McCarthy was fired from “The Acolyte,” the Apple offer was no longer on the table, which left McCarthy with neither deal as Apple had to move on and found another executive producer. According to her agent David Morris, this deal would have made McCarthy the “highest-paid producer at Apple.”

According to the complaint it says:

“As a result of its bad faith and wrongful termination, Defendants deprived Ms. McCarthy significant employment, from which she would have earned millions of dollars over the [life] of the series.”

Karyn McCarthy had expected to be compensated for leaving the job, but this is where things got a little messy as Lucasfilm denied they had an agreement in place and offered to pay McCarthy $5,000 for a single day’s work. She rejected that offer and has taken Lucasfilm to court for its breach of their agreement. McCarthy’s attorneys Patty Glaser, Robert Allen and Matthew W. Bernstein, have released a statement on the case.

“For over 35 years, Karyn has hired thousands of people for several major studios on many high-profile projects. She knows when a deal is a deal. Throughout her entire career — from office assistant, location manager, unit production manager and eventually producer — she has prioritized fairness, kindness and human decency. Even after the bizarre and unfounded termination, Karyn approached Lucasfilm without a lawyer to get paid for what she was owed. Lucasfilm responded with lawyers and lies. Filing suit was the last resort.”

Lucasfilm hasn’t responded to Deadlines‘ request for comment on the situation.

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Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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