"A Girl Fight That Gets Gnarly": The Acolyte Stars & Showrunner Tease A Thrilling Fight Scene In Episode 5

Summary Leslye Headland and Amandla Stenberg tease a gritty, raw fight scene in Episode 5 of The Acolyte, breaking away from traditional choreography.

Mae and Jecki appear to be involved in a brutal confrontation in the show's trailers, with Stenberg dubbing it a "girl fight that gets gnarly."

The fight scene is expected to be more instinctual and intense due to personal connections between the potential characters involved, adding depth to the action.

The Acolyte's showrunner and lead actor have teased one of the show's more thrilling, less-choreographed fight sequences. With The Acolyte's story edging ever closer, the show's various creatives are opening up about their experiences on set. In bringing Star Wars' High Republic Era to life for the first time, the showrunners, actors, stunt teams, and many other important parts of the production are making history where Star Wars' upcoming TV shows are concerned. Another promising aspect of The Acolyte besides its setting is the show's fight scenes, some of which have been adequately teased by those involved.

Sitting down exclusively with Screen Rant, The Acolyte's showrunner Leslye Headland and lead actor Amandla Stenberg have teased one of the more "gnarly" fight sequences in the show. When asked their own opinions about the choreographed, kung-fu-inspired fight scenes in The Acolyte, Headland and Stenberg teased somewhat of a change from tradition in a certain episode:

Leslye Headland: "I will say that when you get to episode 5, we mix it up. There's one fight that I was thinking specifically that you have that's hand combat, and it's very down and dirty and scrappy, if you will." Amandla Stenberg: "I don't want to say too much, but the stunt or sequence that I'm the proudest of is a girl fight that gets gnarly."

These comments from Headland and Stenberg certainly do not seem to apply to the expertly thought-out fight scenes teased in The Acolyte's trailers. Rather than a scene involving fluid, tightly performed choreography, the fight scene - apparently taking place between two of The Acolyte's female cast members - is much rawer, scrappier, and more brutal.

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Is This A Clash Between Dafne Keen's Jecki & Amandla Stenberg's Mae?

The Marketing For The Acolyte Hints At Jecki & Mae's Confrontation

With the reveal that the scene is a "girl fight that gets gnarly," it becomes easier to predict who the fight will involve. In several trailers for The Acolyte, there are shots of Mae holding a knife to the throat of Dafne Keen's Jecki Lon. The Jedi is shown struggling against Mae as the dark side assassin attempts to continue her quest of killing members of the Order. It is more likely that this is the scrappy fight scene Headland teased over the confrontation between Mae and Carrie-Anne Moss' Indara, shown at the end of The Phantom Menace's 25th-anniversary re-release.

This footage showed the kung-fu action many have come to associate with The Acolyte. With Jecki Lon and Mae, though, the fight could quickly devolve. If Jecki is fighting for her life as Mae endlessly tries to kill her, it would make sense for the former to rely on more instinctual fighting. This could force the scene to become scrappier, showing Jecki simply trying to survive and foregoing some Jedi teachings to do so. With Jecki also being the Padawan of Lee Jung-jae's Sol, whom Mae used to train under, this fight in The Acolyte could turn very personal, very quickly.