Also, why the “dirty” fight with Jecki was Stenberg’s favorite of the entire series.
Warning: This article contains spoilers aboutStar Wars: The Acolyteepisode 5.
Lucasfilm Ltd
ENTERTAINMENT WEKELY: What was it like shooting episode 5?
Amandla Stenberg on ‘The Acolyte’.Lucasfilm Ltd
Itsessentially one big action scene?
AMANDLA STENBERG:Yeah, it’s brutal, isn’t it?
It was one big action sequence, but this is also when I really started having scenes against myself.
Amandla Stenberg as Mae on ‘The Acolyte’.Disney+
All we have is each other now.
What is the future she sees for them at that point?
And so Mae really only cares about heritage and her family and love and intimacy.
Amandla Stenberg as Mae on ‘The Acolyte’.Disney+
Where is Maes head at in terms of the Jedi when she decides to impersonate Osha?
So whats her game plan here?
She is moving from an incredibly protective place at this point, even though it might look complicated.
Amandla Stenberg of ‘The Acolyte’ at Star Wars Celebration 2023 EW Portraits.Rachell Smith
I think her feeling is Osha is lost.
She has no ability to find her way.
I really made decisions from the place of what I just thought would be interesting for people to watch.
I thought narratively it would be more engaging and more fun to follow that way.
She wouldn’t wear them the way Osha does.
How much fun was that fight scene you and Dafne got to do?
Oh, that’s my favorite flight sequence that I do in the whole series.
And what was it like working with Manny, especially with his big reveal here as the Sith villain?
I had been waiting for that moment the whole shoot, and he had been, too.
We would hang out a lot just to freak out about the fact that we were makingStar Wars.
We really became support systems for each other.
And it was really cool in those early days to talk about the multiplicity.
What do you think of that?
We really helped each other brainstorm that process.
That moment where he breaks character as the Stranger to go Hello!
in his old Qimir voice to Mae is so good.
Manny’s incredibly clever.
He’s a great writer as well as an actor.
How does what happened here in episode 5 set up the last few episodes?
Everything that they both have believed to be true has been challenged in some way.
And so now the question is: What do they do with that information?
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
