Star Wars is gearing up for its first live-action venture into the High Republic era with The Acolyte, a show set about a hundred years before the events of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Carrie Anne Moss, who essayed the role of Trinity in The Matrix, will be appearing in the show as a powerful Jedi Master, who goes by the name Indara.
Carrie-Anne Moss talked about her experiences filming the show with Empire Magazine, revealing her excitement about the lightsaber scenes that came her way as a part of the production. She emphasized how important it was for her to get it right, as they are the one defining factor that Star Wars has that sets it apart from other stories in the genre.
Carrie-Anne Moss “almost cried” while filming scenes with the lightsaber
Carrie-Anne Moss talked to Empire about how she felt about filming her lightsaber duels, and how important it was for her that they were well done. The franchise, under Disney, has been criticized for its lack of good lightsaber fights, especially when contrasted with the kind that audiences have come to enjoy from the Prequel trilogy. Regarding how she felt working with lightsabers, the actress said:
The lightsaber was really important to me. I felt like a little kid who just wanted to do it so right. I could have almost cried. I don’t usually feel that way. I had to say to everybody, ‘I want to get this so right, that I may have to make some mistakes first.’
The weight on my shoulders – and on my heart – that I felt to do the lightsaber well was something I didn’t expect. Like, ‘If this is not great, I’m really gonna cry.’ So I practised a lot in my hotel with a broomstick. I think we did end up reshooting that, actually.
Lightsaber battles are an important aspect of Star Wars, and while there can be great Star Wars content without it, like in the case of Andor, the shows and films that do depict it need to do it justice to be palatable to fans. Creators can’t just get away by treating the lightsabers like baseball bats, as they must feel like weapons from a more civilized time.
Star Wars might need a little bit of course correction
The Acolyte is yet to be released, but fans seem to have already tuned out of the show and what it brings to the table. This might be because of how divided the fandom has become in the last couple of years in the wake of the Sequel trilogy under Disney. What needs to be the focus for the company is to reunite the fandom with good content, one that is more reminiscent of the Star Wars of old, rather than making it a simple fantasy story that tries to cater to one particular side of the fandom while ignoring the other.
While shows that have been created by the likes of Dave Filoni have done well, they too have split the fandom slightly, but perhaps not as much as what some other stories have done. While it is yet to be seen how The Acolyte is received by the critics and fans, Disney must work towards reorienting the IP to focus more on what the fans want and deliver it in the manner they want it.
