Star Wars: Dafne Keen Reveals Her Personal Journey Inspired The Acolyte Character

Star Wars: The Acolyte heads to Disney+ soon, telling a character-driven story that will surely stand out in the Star Wars galaxy. The Acolyte‘s ensemble cast of characters includes a young alien Jedi named Jecki Lon, played by Logan and His Dark Materials star Dafne Keen. While speaking to ComicBook about Star Wars: The Acolyte, Keen made a connection between Jecki’s journey and her own path as a young actor.

“I think I did bring a bit of my own experience into it,” Keen explained in our interview, which you can check out above. “Being someone who has been working for over ten years at 19, [it] throws you in at the deep end and forces you to kind of be an adult from a very young age. And I think Jecki has that in her, and sort of this adultness that’s not that common in an 18 year old, which is how old Jackie is. So there was a lot of that, and a lot of my perfectionism and her perfectionism, and just how hard-working I think we are, and also how hard on ourselves we are, and competitive. So, a lot of me and her was very similar, which was pretty easy to access.”

When Is Star Wars: The Acolyte Set?

Star Wars: The Acolyte is set at the very tail end of the High Republic era, decades prior to the events of the Prequel and Original trilogies. The Acolyte marks the first time that the time period has been portrayed in live-action, after it has already been brought to life in novels, comics, and in the animated series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures.

“We’re taking a look at the political and personal and spiritual things that came up in a time period that we don’t know much about,” Headland explained in a previous interview. “My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like, ‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?’”

“We actually use the term the Renaissance, or the Age of Enlightenment,” Headland added. “The Jedi uniforms are gold and white, and it’s almost like they would never get dirty. They would never be out and about,” Headland says. “The idea is that they could have these types of uniforms because that’s how little they’re getting into skirmishes.”

What Is Star Wars: The Acolyte About?

In Star Wars: The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.

Star Wars: The Acolyte stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner- Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers. 

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte will debut exclusively on Disney+ on June 4th at 6pm PST. If you haven’t checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

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