Naomi Ackie: A Force for Good - ELLE December 2019

There’s a powerful new star in a galaxy far, far away

IF YOU TELL Naomi Ackie a secret, she’ll take it to her grave. The 27-year-old British actor is slated to appear in two of the most fan-crazed franchises – Star Wars and the Game Of Thrones prequel – and she hasn’t let one detail slip, not even to her dad. “It’s crazy, I’m keeping secrets from everyone,” she says down the line from London. “It’s challenging at times, but it’s not too hard when I think about the fan base. I also don’t want my dad’s experience ruined by me blabbing about it in the kitchen. Star Wars is a bit more of an epic story than that!”

Epic is right. The new Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker not only rounds out the “sequel” trilogy that started with The Force Awakens in 2015, but it’s also the final instalment in the main franchise, which has culminated in a total of nine episodes over four decades. Each has smashed the box office on its release, and with the franchise raking in $13.8 billion in total, it’s the highest-grossing sci-fi series in history. Directed and co-written by JJ Abrams, the latest and final film also stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong’o, Mark Hamill (of course) and Oscar Isaac. The late Carrie Fisher’s Leia will appear in (no doubt tear-jerking) scenes with the actor’s daughter, Billie Lourd.

When Ackie’s character Jannah was introduced during a cast panel with Stephen Colbert at Lucasfilm’s annual Star Wars Celebration, fans went into overdrive, delving deep into the galaxy archives for clues as to who this new addition could be. “Jannah is really significant to this final chapter in the Skywalker saga, and it’s such a joy to play a character who has a heart, but is also strong and capable and independent,” Ackie says. “Her fight has reason. She has a story of personal pain, and is seeking something, which is such a human aspect we all share. That’s what we look for in stories.”

Ackie may be a new face on our screens, but she’s been a mainstay in the London theatre world for years. Her breakout film role, in 2016’s Lady Macbeth, was also her first, and it scored her a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She played Anna, the maid of Florence Pugh’s titular character in the film – an adaptation of Nikolai Leskov’s novella Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk. Then, in 2018, she starred in Yardie, which was based on the book of the same name about gang warfare in London (and the first feature film Idris Elba directed).

The much-anticipated GOT prequel included, expect Ackie’s future IMDb listing to be a carefully curated selection of roles. “Finding common ground in a character you don’t relate to teaches you something about yourself and shows you parts of yourself you didn’t know were there,” she says. “But then accessing characters you immediately relate to means you have an understanding about where they’re coming from. Both encourage a level of empathy in you. I want to inhabit all of those things and run the whole spectrum of characters.”

But just because a role appeals to her, it doesn’t mean she’ll jump at the chance to play it. “I’m trying to be as conscious and as ethical with my choices as possible,” she explains. “I have certain privileges other people don’t, and I want to be part of an industry that welcomes everyone. Sometimes that means saying no to things or stepping aside to allow someone else to speak about their own experiences instead of taking that space to speak for them.” She adds: “As much as I want to explore a variety of roles, until we get to a place where everyone is represented, some of those roles should not be acceptable to me until those people have had a chance to speak for themselves.”

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is in cinemas December 19.

This story originally appeared in the December 2019 issue of ELLE magazine. Images: Marcus Ohlsson/Lucasfilm Ltd.