Although it will poke and prod at the slow decline of the Republic and Jedi Order alike, the new Star Wars streaming series The Acolyte is still set at a point in time where the Jedi themselves are considered to be at the peak of their prowess and reach across the galaxy. So it makes sense if that you want one of your Jedi to be a martial arts master, you go to one of the best action stars of the last few decades to go play them.
“[Carrie’s character] is very much inspired by Trinity,” showrunner Leslye Headland told Empire of Jedi Master Indara. Indara’s role in the series involves her partaking in a sweeping fight scene with Amandla Stenberg’s mysterious assassin, Mae—and as we saw her in the trailer, Indara deftly weaves her way around the assassin’s assault, ducking and diving while barely showing any effort, or even drawing her lightsaber, like she’s going into a Force-trance bullet time riff. “I personally wanted to see someone who had the highest status you could imagine in a Force-fu fight,” Headland continued. “Somebody that would come in and you immediately would be like, ‘Oh, that’s the most powerful Jedi in the room.’ And that’s Trinity.”
For Moss’ part, she was all too eager to get stuck in, based on Headland’s own pitch for her Star Wars vision. “I felt that a few times in my career with some of the big things I’ve done–Memento, The Matrix–where you’re talking to the filmmaker and you just go, ‘Oh, they totally get it,’” Moss said of meeting with the showrunner. Indara’s own leaning towards Trinity’s action-heroine legacy re-opened the actress’ eyes to her relationship with action as well. “A part of me forgot how much I love action. I love it,” Moss concluded. “It’s hard. But I was just really thrilled that I could do it, and I wanted to do it well. ‘Gimme another take! Gimme another take!’”
As much as Mae might want to be good at her Jedi-hunting predilections, hopefully we’ll get to see many more takes out of Master Indara and Carrie-Anne Moss than we’ve glimpsed in the trailer, when The Acolyte begins streaming on Disney+ June 4.
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