Kevin Jenkins is a Star Wars veteran at this level, having labored in a wide range of design roles throughout a number of movies, starting from Rogue One to The Rise of Skywalker. However as manufacturing designer on the Disney Plus collection The Acolyte, he confronted a completely new problem: discovering a glance that doesn’t depend on Star Wars staples like Stormtroopers or Star Destroyers. “In contrast to different Star Wars, this wasn’t to be present in a ebook,” Jenkins tells The Verge. “Once I did the sequels, and even when the prequels have been performed, we had that template of Star Wars to go from. And [on The Acolyte], we took away 75 % of the template.”
That’s as a result of the present jumps again in time to a century earlier than The Phantom Menace. It’s the primary live-action undertaking to happen throughout the Excessive Republic period, a time of comparative peace and prosperity. There’s no galactic battle, no evil empire, and no rebels preventing towards it. That opened up room for the story to discover new characters whereas additionally giving the visible crew quite a lot of house to determine what an older Star Wars period might seem like with out a lot of its most iconic parts.
“It supplied a chance to be nearly unrestrained on the lookout for no matter this look is perhaps, with out being beholden to very a lot,” says Jenkins. “I had a cleaner slate,” provides costume designer Jennifer Bryan. “I didn’t have as many restrictions [as if] it had fallen nearer inside the timeline that has already been filmed and televised.”
Naturally, this did create some challenges. Jenkins notes that if you take away a lot of these iconic Star Wars visuals, it may be onerous to articulate what makes one thing visually match inside the universe. “There are specific methods to Star Wars, within the sense that it comes again to the unique units and Ralph McQuarrie,” he says. “It’s like a mode in structure. You possibly can have a look at completely different types and go, ‘That’s a Brutalist constructing, that’s Artwork Deco.’”
There are nonetheless a number of anchor factors within the present. The sprawling city-planet of Coruscant, which featured closely within the prequels, is current in The Acolyte, because it’s house to the Jedi Temple. The Jedi seem as properly — however with a barely completely different look. Bryan describes the Jedi robes within the present as “extra refined” to suit the time interval. “It’s undoubtedly extra put collectively and extra thought out,” she explains. “Particularly for Yord (Charlie Barnett), who you meet within the first two episodes. He’s fairly fastidious. He’s like a dapper Jedi.”
Bryan says her course of for designing most of the present’s appears is a bit like reverse engineering. Viewers ought to be capable to see a pure throughline from the style in The Acolyte to later movies and exhibits. Jedi robes are only one instance — not simply their reduce however the shade as properly. “Their uniforms I did in ivories and off-whites, colours that you just establish with peace and that aren’t as darkish and foreboding,” Bryan explains. The general purpose was to “carry magnificence to the Jedi.”
The same course of was concerned for the expertise and automobiles. There are few droids in The Acolyte, as an illustration, as a result of the expertise isn’t as superior as in later movies. This ties into the story: predominant characters Osha (Amandla Stenberg) works as a ship mechanic in a time when astromech models like R2-D2 are uncommon. As an alternative, she has Pip, a handheld device that’s additionally an lovely bot. Equally, Jenkins factors to the Jedi speeder bikes featured in early episodes: they’re purely for exploration, versus most Star Wars automobiles, that are designed for fight.
Not every part within the present is impressed by the historical past (or future, relying the way you have a look at it) of Star Wars, although. Bryan says she pulled quite a lot of concepts from actual historic cultures, from the Roman Empire to samurai warriors. That led to one of many present’s most distinctive appears: the murderer Mae (Stenberg), whose armor combines chainmail with a chestplate fabricated from bamboo. “You consider bamboo as a yielding plant, swaying within the breeze,” Bryan explains. “However it’s misleading. Used the precise manner, it turns into a protecting materials.”
The result’s a present that not solely appears completely different from the remainder of the franchise however can be arguably extra accessible due to it. The nods to different Star Wars tales are there for followers, however not obligatory for understanding The Acolyte. “This present has no barrier for entry, very like the unique Star Wars once I first noticed it in 1977,” says Jenkins. “It explains itself in its personal manner. There’s no homework to do, both visually or story-wise.”