By Last month, Lucasfilm finally took the wrapping off its newest “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte”, with a first look at the series that unfolds during the High Republic era many decades before the prequel trilogy.
Created by “Russian Doll” writer/director Leslye Headland, the series is being sold as a noir mystery as a former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes.
The forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated in a series that boasts an overall ‘Phantom Menace’ aesthetic and a diverse cast engaging in plenty of fighting heavily influenced by Chinese wuxia films.
Another big influence is “The Matrix” as Headland tells Empire any connections to the Wachowskis trilogy are purposeful and intentional. That includes cast member Carrie-Anne Moss who plays the Jedi Master character Indara whom is “very much inspired” by her Trinity character from “The Matrix”:
“I personally wanted to see someone who had the highest status you could imagine in a Force-fu fight – somebody that would come in, and you immediately would be like, ‘Oh, that’s the most powerful Jedi in the room.’ And that’s Trinity.”
Moss herself was more than happy to get back into an action role again:
“Within my soul and my spirit, to get to play this Jedi Master and train for the fight was [an] amazing experience. A part of me forgot how much I love action. I love it. It’s hard. But I was just really thrilled that I could do it, and I wanted to do it well. ‘Gimme another take! Gimme another take!’”
Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae and Dafne Keen co-star in the series which Headland confirms will have a smaller scale and sense of intimacy than some other “Star Wars” works.
“The Acolyte” premieres June 4th on the Disney+ service.
The post “The Acolyte” Matrix Influence Is Intentional appeared first on Dark Horizons.
