Credit: 20th Century FoxDafne Keen, the breakout star of the acclaimed X-Men film Logan (2017), has made the big leap over to the Star Wars franchise and is comparing her character to one of the greatest rock stars in history.
The Walt Disney Company is currently in reconstruction mode when it comes to Star Wars. The Mouse purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 for a reported $4 billion, taking over valuable IP like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Willow and turning founder George Lucas into the richest celebrity billionaire in the world in the process.
But it hasn’t been easy going for the Disney version of Star Wars since then. The Force Awakens (2015) kicked off a sequel trilogy to a massive box office gross, but critical and fan appreciation for the new movies quickly soured. The Rise of Skywalker (2019) made the least money of any of the sequel trilogy films, which have yet to make back the original price tag of Lucasfilm.
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In response, Disney and Lucasfilm (currently headed by resident Kathleen Kennedy and creative chief Dave Filoni) pivoted to Disney+ streaming series like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Two feature films are currently in development, starring Pedro Pascal and Daisy Ridley (not together, though), but in the meantime, Lucasfilm hopes shows like Tales of the Empire and the upcoming The Acolyte will satisfy fans.
Dafne Keen stars in The Acolyte as Jecki Lon, a Jedi Padawan who accompanies Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) as he investigates mysterious incidents approximately a century before the events of The Phantom Menace (1999), a time period referred to as the “High Republic.”
In a new interview with Empire, Keen extensively describes her lifelong Star Wars fandom, saying, “Obsessed is not even close. I then watched the later trilogy, the prequels. My mum didn’t let me watch the third one, so I secretly watched it at my friend’s house.”
Dafne Keen also went on to describe Jecki Lon as “a very wise character. She’s very intelligent. She’s mature beyond her years…not enough of an alien for you not to be able to sympathise with my face. It’s all a human face. But enough for it to be an alien.”
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That led to the former (and perhaps future) X-Men star describing Jecki Lon as a David Bowie-like character, comparing the Padawan’s appearance to the iconic glam rocker’s 1970s look. She said:
“‘Starman’ was, like, my tune while we were filming. I had it in my trailer all the time. As soon as we put that makeup on, I went to Leslye and I was like, ‘This is David Bowie.’ And she was like, ‘You’re absolutely right.’ We had the running joke that it was like Jedi David Bowie. Jedi Bowie, like, duh! It’s almost funky ‘70s, ‘80s-looking, which is really cool. I was so excited by the braid – as a Star Wars fan, to get a Padawan braid is, like, the sickest thing ever. I was so excited when they put it in. ‘Oh my god, I have my own Padawan braid!’ It was really cool. There were a ton of Bowie songs on set, all the time.”
To be fair, she has a point:
The official Lucasfilm synopsis for The Acolyte describes the show as “An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past. As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…”
The Acolyte was created by showrunner Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) and stars Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss star. It will premiere on Disney+ on June 4.
What Star Wars project are you looking forward to the most? Tell us in the comments below!