Star Wars’ Newest Jedi Master Has a Very Clear Action Movie Inspiration

The cast of the newest Star Wars live-action series, The Acolyte, has certainly turned heads. Set 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, at the end of the High Republic era, The Acolyte follows a group of Jedi played by a who’s who of notable stars, including Squid Game‘s Lee Jung-jae as Master Sol and Logan‘s Dafne Keen as his padawan Jecki Lon. Amandla Stenberg (Bodies Bodies Bodies) adds quite a bit of ferocity as a former padawan named Mae who’s gone rogue.

Add to that impressive list another Jedi Master who also happens to be a master of wire-fu in her spare time: it’s Carrie-Anne Moss as Master Indara. It’s a casting that makes so much sense, especially once you see Moss’ Jedi Master perform some “Force-fu” in a fight against Mae in the first trailer for the Disney+ series. Sans lightsaber, Moss goes full The Matrix during the brawl inside a cantina, showing her opponent how it’s done. If you immediately had flashbacks to Trinity kicking ass inside the simulation back in 1999, that’s no accident. According to The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, Trinity is part of the DNA of the new Jedi Master.

“She is very much inspired by Trinity,” Headland told Empire. “I personally wanted to see someone who had the highest status you could imagine in a Force-fu fight – 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.”

Indeed, we largely see Moss employ fisticuffs in the trailer, as well as show off her powerful Force skills, which allow her to easily keep her attacker at bay. But we do know she also wields a green-bladed lightsaber on the show. The mix of martial arts, “Force-fu,” and lightsaber should result in some very interesting duels for Moss’ character. With so many Jedi on screen in The Acolyte, it’ll be great to see a master who doesn’t necessarily fight in the way we usually expect these warrior monks to thrown down.

As far as Moss’ time working on the show, the actor has nothing but positive things to say about her Star Wars debut.

“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,’” she told Empire. “Within my soul and my spirit, to get to play this Jedi Master and train for the fight was [an] amazing experience… A part of me forgot how much I love action. I love it. 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!’”

We’ll hopefully get to see a lot of Moss’ Master Indara on the show when it arrives this summer, but it’ll be nice to see a bit of Trinity in the performance as well.

Star Wars: The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ on June 4 in the US and on June 5 in the UK.