According to Variety, the cast of Disney+’s Star Wars: The Acolyte could not stop playing with lightsabers throughout the production of the series. The series, which took about 240 hours to produce, had the cast participate in lightsaber practice, force training, stunt work and movement coaching. The cast had fun filming the galaxy sci-fi, so much so that they dented some of the walls on set.
As per Variety, the cast had a forced meeting in what series star Danfe Keen (His Dark Materials) said was the most surreal part of the regiment. It was a quiet room where they discussed the mysterious space magic with an expert Star Wars advisor. “You ask questions about the force to this all-knowing man called Pablo Hidalgo (Andor), who has been working at Lucasfilm for decades,” Keen explained Thursday at The Acolyte premiere in Los Angeles. “And anytime you had a doubt, you’d be like, ‘I need to talk to Pablo.’”
According to Variety, even though Hidalgo was absent from the premiere of the series, Keen and the rest of the cast celebrated the release. The synopsis for the series reads: “set in the High Republic Era. The series follows Jedi master Sol played by Lee Jung-jae (Squid Games) as he tracks down a deadly force-wielding assassin known as the Acolyte played by Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games). Joining the rank of Jedi with Jung-jae is Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), who made sure to find time for fun among all the rigorous preparation. He said that he and his co-stars played Jedi off-set with their prop lightsabers ‘all day, every day.’”
“You know, there are some walls that got dented I’m not going to lie,” Barnett joked.
When it came to Stenberg’s training, she was thankful to have action superstar Carrie-Anne Moss (Iron Fist) as a mentor. Stenberg said, “I get really hyper-fixated on technical ability and demonstrating the moves perfectly, but what I learned from her… is it’s just about how you interpret the movement as that character. She also is a really spiritual, grounded individual. She always shared with me that you can’t do the work if you don’t first take care of yourself and feel grounded in yourself as a person.”
Star Wars: The Acolyte airs on Disney+ on June 4th.