Night, the fifth episode of The Acolyte‘s debut season, will undoubtedly go down in Star Wars history as some of the most shocking moments in the GFFA, and the two performers at the heart of those moments – Charlie Barnett and Dafne Keen – discuss the untimely demise of their characters Jecki Lon and Yord Fandar, deaths that both actors were fully aware of when they took on the roles.
“The first thing [Leslye] said to me was ‘You’re going to die,’” Keen recalls of her introductory phone call with the filmmaker. “And that was something that really drew me to the character.”
In her short time in the field, Keen’s Jecki proves to be a formidable fighter and worthy opponent for the terrifying villain. “As a viewer, I love a tragic death and Jecki’s death is so unfair,” Keen continues. “She’s fighting very well and she seems like she’s winning. And then [the Stranger] pulls out a dagger, which is completely cheating.”
Reading the scripts for the first time reminded Keen of watching Qui-Gon Jinn fight Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. “The weight of death is something that I really appreciate when I watch a film or a show, when you really feel death, like you would feel it in life. And, selfishly as a Star Wars fan, I know how much all the Jedi deaths broke my heart — like when Qui-Gon dies, I know how much that affected me.” But it’s also an important part of Star Wars stories, as we must say goodbye to some of our beloved heroes, going all the way back to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s sacrifice in Star Wars: A New Hope. “It’s such a huge part of Star Wars,” Keen says. “And getting to bring that legacy to life and even begin to scratch the heartbreak that those characters gave us was something really exciting to take on.”
