Dafne Keen Discusses Her Custom-Made Lightsaber for ‘The Acolyte’: “I’m 5’2”, Okay, and the ‘Sabers Are All the Same Size”

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ is set to premiere in a week with its first two episodes, sparking excitement among fans. The series unfolds in the High Republic Era, offering a portrayal of Jedi with institutional power, as Leslye Headland has extensively discussed.

The show boasts a diverse cast of characters, predominantly Jedi, who undergo rigorous training to hone their martial arts and lightsaber skills. In a recent interview with Empire, Dafne Keen, who portrays Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon, candidly shares her training challenges and the necessity for a custom lightsaber during filming.

It has a cool handle. They kept having to clean my ‘saber, because the white hand makeup kept getting all over the leather. The shot that you see in the trailer where we all pull out our sabers – I’m 5’2”, okay, and the ‘sabers are all the same size. Mine kept hitting the ground, because I’m too short! They had to make me a custom ‘saber for someone who’s 5’2”, they’re supposed to hit your waist, and mine would hit my chest. It was so long and ridiculous! They were like, ‘No, we need to give you a short ‘saber, because this looks silly.’ It was like I was skiing.

Keen wields a shoto blade as her lightsaber in Star Wars, a type famously linked to Jedi Master Yoda and used as the off-hand weapon by Jedi Ahsoka Tano.

Not long ago, Keen herself teased that the franchise would witness some of its most spectacular action scenes ever.

Yeah, that was a very frequent conversation we had. “It was very much: We want to top the Darth Maul fight — the most iconic fight, I think, in the Star Wars cinematic universe. It’s such an amazing fight and we were all so excited about the saber fights. There’s such a skill and a craft to it that it feels so OG Star Wars and feels so impressive when you see it as a viewer

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