Posted in: Disney+, Preview, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: Dafne Keen, disney, star wars, Star Wars: The Acolyte, The Acolyte

The Acolyte Star Dafne Keen on Jecki Lon Being "Jedi David Bowie"

Dafne Keen (Logan, His Dark Materials) discusses joining the Star Wars universe as Jecki Lon in the Disney+ and Lucasfilm's The Acolyte.

Dafne Keen has a filmography most actors dream of becoming a part of three major franchises including X-Men with 2017's Logan for 20th Century Studios, His Dark Materials for HBO, and now the Star Wars series The Acolyte, and she's only worked on eight projects in her career. The Acolyte is set about 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace at the end of the High Republic era. Keen plays Jecki Lon, the padawan for Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), who's investigating a series of crimes that bring him into conflict with a former Padawan learner, Mae (Amandla Stenberg). The actress spoke about getting cast, working with creator Leslye Headland, and what little she can reveal about Jecki.

Dafne Keen on Playing the Padawan Jecki Lon in The Acolyte

When Keen found out when she was cast as Jecki, "I absolutely lost my mind. I literally was skipping on the street. I was going to my friend's house, and I obviously couldn't say anything to my friend. I just spent all day smiling to myself," she told Empire. "My friend was like, 'What is wrong with your face? What's happening, Dafne?' I was like, 'Nothing, I'm just happy!' He was like, 'No, you're not, you're giddy.' I'd literally gotten the call five minutes before going into his house. And I had to pretend. Then I got home, and I was like, 'Oh my god!' Literally lost it. I was so excited." Of what she can reveal about her character, "I can say she's a team player. She's fun, she's really cool. She's got some sick fight scenes, so look forward to that. A lot of 'sabers. She's a very diligent, talented Padawan. You'll just have to watch!"

How does Keen describe Jecki in The Acolyte? "She's a very wise character. She's very intelligent. She's mature beyond her years. There's a really fun dynamic between Jecki and Charlie Barnett's character Yord – he's a great friend of mine, I adore him," she said. "Jecki's much more competent than he is the entire time. But he's a Knight because he's older. So there's this really interesting dynamic of him being a little bit useless and her being like, 'You need to step your game up.' Which was really fun to play. She's a very perceptive character – she's got a very hard shell, she's overachieving. She's actually a really sweet character at heart, and I think there's one character – that I can't really say [who it is] – who brings that softness out of her. It was really lovely to play that."

As far as how Jecki's design, "For sure – 'Starman' was, like, my tune while we were filming. I had it in my trailer all the time," Keen said, "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."

For more, including Keen's Star Wars fandom growing up, how she deciphers being a part of Marvel, His Dark Materials, and Star Wars franchises, "Jedi meetings," her dynamic with Jung-jae, and more, you can check out the interview here. The Acolytle, which also stars Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Anne Moss, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Joonas Suotamo, premieres with its first two episodes on June 4th on Disney+.

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