Lucasfilm sued over Star Wars: The Acolyte firing

Lucasfilm has dealt with a lot of upheaval regarding “Star Wars” recently, but now the studio is facing a full-blown lawsuit over the beloved franchise. Lawyers for producer Karyn McCarthy have filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm over the axing of Disney+’s upcoming Star Wars show The Acolyte. Deadline report.

According to filings obtained by Deadline and filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, McCarthy — whose previous credits include “Ballers,” “Insecure” and “House of Cards” — is suing for breach of contract for firing “The Acolyte.” , an upcoming “Star Wars” show created by “Russian Doll’s” Leslye Headland. The specific monetary damages sought are unclear, but the suit says McCarthy has lost “millions of dollars” due to Lucasfilm’s alleged “bad faith and wrongful termination.”

Lucasfilm declined to comment. In a statement to IndieWire, one of McCarthy’s attorneys, Robert Allen, called the lawsuit a “last resort” after a “bizarre and baseless termination.”

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“For more than 35 years, Karyn has employed thousands of people at several major studios on many high-profile projects. Know when the deal is a deal. Throughout his career — from office assistant, location manager, unit production manager and finally producer — his priorities have been honesty, kindness and human decency,” Allen said in a statement. “Even after the bizarre and baseless termination, Karyn approached Lucasfilm without a lawyer to get paid for what she was owed. Lucasfilm responded with lawyers and lies. Filing a lawsuit was the last option.”

According to the lawsuit, McCarthy joined “The Acolyte” as an executive producer in April 2022, a few months before the series went into production. At the time, McCarthy was also in talks to join the producers of the upcoming Apple TV+ series “Sugar,” starring Colin Farrell. After starting work on April 7, McCarthy signed a deal on April 11, but was reportedly fired from the show two weeks later.

“Two weeks later, without explanation, without reason, without justification, Lucasfilm told McCarthy that it wanted out of the business,” the filing states. “At that point, the Apple offer was gone—Apple had to move on and find another executive producer for ‘Sugar.’ McCarthy now had neither agreement.

The suit further alleges that after McCarthy sought compensation for her two weeks of work, Lucasfilm denied that an agreement had been reached, ignoring that she had already begun work and received an offer and an agreement. Instead, the studio reportedly only offered her $5,000 for a single day’s work, but McCarthy turned it down and was reportedly not compensated for her work on the series.

“McCarthy is therefore compelled to bring this action to hold Lucasfilm liable for its flagrant breach of this agreement, its bad faith refusal to comply, and the statutory penalties McCarthy is entitled to for failing to pay him for his work,” the lawsuit states. He continues.

“The Acolyte,” one of several upcoming “Star Wars” TV shows coming to Disney+, has been in production since October 2022 in the UK. The show, starring Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae, is described as a “mystery thriller.” ” focuses on a former Padawan, or trainee of the fictional Jedi Order, as he reunites with his master to investigate a series of bizarre crimes. Since McCarthy’s exit, the show’s producers include Headland, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef as executive producers, and Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson as producers.

Additional reporting by Brian Welk

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