How ‘The Acolyte’ Kept Delivering the Most Epic Lightsaber Fights in the Franchise

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ was criticized for plenty of things. First and foremost, it had a weird pacing for most of its run, and plenty of fans and critics alike noted weird dialogues and scripting issues.

This is why the critical reception of the show suffered as well, it wasn’t all related to to perceived wokeness of the show.

However, there was one aspect of the show that ‘The Acolyte’ did flawlessly, the lightsaber fights. Even before the show premiered, the cast and crew teased that the show would top one of the most iconic fights in the franchise, The Duel of The Fates. And while it remains up to your personal preference whether ‘The Acolyte’ did that, we have at least to give it credit that it’s right up there.

We’ve seen some notable duels worthy of the High Republic Era, and in her latest interview with Collider, Leslye Headland explained how those fights came to be:

[Second unit director] Chris Cowan and I, we were shooting for immortality. We were like, “We are fucking going for it. We want to top Duel of the Fates, we want to top the train station in The Matrix. We will settle for nothing less.” I will leave it up to the viewer as to whether or not we achieved that, but in my heart of hearts, I was like, “We achieved that.” As far as I’m concerned.

Headland was also pretty open regarding the Wuxia and Samuria film influence on the show. She also cleared up how ‘The Matrix’ influenced its fight sequences, and how the fights were able to convey the emotional turmoil within the characters:

What I love about both of those sequences is obviously the artistry of it and what the stunt team did and the wire work, like you said, and all the slow motion, and Lee Jung-jae’s performance. He does all of his own action, and all of his expressions, the way that he conveyed both the confidence and the frustration of wanting to defeat this person.

But here’s the thing, on an emotional level for the audience, now having watched Episode 7, you’ve got the light side and the dark side, Jedi and Sith, but who are you rooting for? Am I finding myself now rooting for The Stranger, who I feel incredibly drawn to, who’s made himself literally exposed, and Sol, who has been hiding this thing? So, that sort of emotional impact of, like, “I hate what Sol did, but this is the bad guy! He’s got the red lightsaber. What am I supposed to do?”

With the girls, it’s similar. Who am I rooting for? I’m kind of rooting for Osha because I want her to restore her strength in the Force and tap into her negative feelings, but I’m also rooting for Mae because she was framed by everybody. She was on a quest to find justice in her own way, knowing that the institution would never hold these people accountable.

Which fight comes the closest to topping the Duel of the Fates? Let us know in the comments below!

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