New Star Wars BTS Video Celebrates The Best Fight Choreography The Galaxy's Ever Seen

Summary The Acolyte showcases mind-blowing martial arts choreography unlike anything seen in previous Star Wars installments.

Showrunner Leslye Headland wanted the fight sequences to feel visceral and jaw-dropping, achieved by blending different martial arts styles.

The Acolyte series sets itself apart by integrating martial arts into every Jedi and Force-sensitive character's fighting style.

A new behind-the-scenes video showcases the remarkable fight choreography in The Acolyte. Set at the end of the High Republic era, around 100 years before The Phantom Menace, and featuring a cast of almost entirely new characters, the upcoming Star Wars series is already significantly distinguishing itself from the franchise's other live-action stories. Another noticeable distinction are the ways the characters fight and use the Force.

The behind-the-scenes video from Star Wars offers the best look yet at this fight choreography, along with explanations of how it was brought to life. Check out the video below:

Showrunner Leslye Headland explains, "It was very important to me that the show feel visceral and that the fight sequences feel jaw-dropping." The stunt coordinator shares that this was made possible by taking "heavy martial arts, the hand-to-hand combat, all the different styles, and mixed them together to build these sequences." 2nd unit director Chris Cowen added, "We used taekwondo, krav maga, western boxing."

Star Wars Has Never Had Martial Arts Quite Like This

It's Gotten Close, But The Acolyte Takes It To A New Level

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Martial arts have influenced Star Wars since the original film in 1977, with George Lucas wanting the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader to incorporate elements of Japanese fighting styles, specifically kendo. As the franchise continued to expand, martial arts continued to be an influence, most prominently in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story through Chirrut Îmwe. He did not wield a lightsaber, instead fighting with an uneti-wood staff and practicing zama-shiwo, a martial art native to the moon of Jedha.

While martial arts has long been present in the franchise, it has never been at the forefront in the way it will be in The Acolyte. Instead of being an influence or something one character uses, martial arts is seemingly part of how every Jedi and Force-sensitive character fights in The Acolyte. Seamlessly incorporating various martial art styles achieves the "visceral" and "jaw-dropping" fight sequences that Headland envisioned. It is also a clever way of visually communicating the similarities and differences between the Jedi Order of the High Republic and the Jedi Order of the prequel era.

The Phantom Menace and the other prequels utilized highly choreographed and fast-paced lightsaber duels, including Darth Maul's "Duel of the Fates" showdown against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan. The Acolyte builds on this with its own stylized choreography and fast pace that precedes the prequels in the Star Wars timeline. The High Republic books and comics show how deeply the Jedi are in tune with the Force, which can be visually translated through the fluid way they use martial arts to use the Force and engage in combat, all of which makes The Acolyte one of the most exciting Star Wars projects yet.

The Acolyte releases its first two episodes on June 4 on Disney+.

Source: Star Wars