Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Used Lighter Lightsabers on Set, Allowing for “Epic Fights”

In the original Star Wars, fans only witnessed one lightsaber battle, which was a slow and lumbering affair between two aging Force masters. As the series progressed, the combat gets much more complicated and acrobatic, depicting all manner of mayhem in such duels. The upcoming Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to conclude not only the sequel trilogy of films, but also the entire Skywalker Saga, which is setting expectations high for the lightsaber conflicts we’ll see in the new film. Star Daisy Ridley noted that the actors were provided with lighter props than on previous films, which will allow the actors to depict arguably the most “epic” fight scenes ever seen in the franchise.

“Well, the interesting thing about this film is that we concentrate more on the fact that [the lightsabers] are light, because the lightsabers were so heavy, as Eunice said, who is our new stunt coordinator, that it was more like broadsword fighting, which isn’t technically what it’s supposed to be because lightsabers are supposed to be light, by nature,” Ridley revealed to WIRED. “So they actually made the lightsabers lighter for us. We, in this film, have, perhaps one of the most epic fights in Star Wars.”

Whether it be the duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace or the tragic clash between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, the prequel films are considered to have some of the most intense lightsaber battles in the saga. These recent comments from Ridley echo a tease she made earlier this month about the new film’s combat rivaling anything audiences have seen in the series.

“I just think they’ve done a great job with all the relationships. With the fun friendships, and with the sort of strange thing with Rey and Kylo… also we have a great fight. A great fight,” Ridley shared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “And I was really happy that the Vanity Fair pictures did show a bit of it. It’s a great fight. Like I’ve become such a better fighter and they made the lightsabers lighter, so it actually looks like we’re swinging light and not like heavy [swords].”

She added, “This fight, it was November, we had water being thrown at us—I’m not gonna complain about the cold, I’m just not gonna do it (laughs)—so it was like a real thing of stamina. It felt really epic, and it felt epic even at the time. One can only imagine what it’s gonna look like.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.

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