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For years, Star Wars fans have been speculating about a mysterious character known as Darth Plagueis. Most famously mentioned by Palpatine to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, Plagueis is a crucial character in not just Sith lore but Star Wars in general. So when the character appeared for the first time in the 2024 Disney+ show, The Acolyte, the creators knew it was a big deal.
On Tuesday, a new book called The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte by Kristin Baver was released, and it is chock full of incredible behind-the-scenes images and insight about the underappreciated series. Among the revelations was a quote from series creator Leslye Headland about how she took inspiration from another iconic franchise in introducing this mega character.
“Before we even designed anything, I knew I wanted to do what they did with Gollum in The Fellowship of the Ring,” Headland said. Where you get a sense of this character, the size of the eyes and his coloring, but I didn’t want to do something in full-on daylight. When you see his hand move, with your point of view being the main characters, it feels like you know about the threat before the main characters do.”
That’s very much what happens in the finale of the season (and, most likely, the series at this point), where Plagueis creepily appears out of the dark, hinting at many, many stories to come. Stories that, now, we probably won’t see, but were in the works.
VFX supervisor Julian Foddy also notes in the book that the look of the character was crucial. “We looked at a lot of reference of Muun characters, from the prequels, The Clone Wars, and some game art,” he said. “Leslye didn’t want to give too much away. We just want to see the flash of a character, the casual viewer might not even notice him or know it’s Darth Plagueis. So, it wasn’t so much about designing the character but designing the shots around that direction. Really, you just see a couple of long fingers and a little shaft of light hits his face. It’s just enough to tell us he isn’t human.”
Whether we’ll actually get to see “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” play out in Star Wars is unlikely. But he was set up with Hobbit-like care, just in case.
Read more in The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, which is now on bookshelves and is available for purchase at that link.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
For years, Star Wars fans have been speculating about a mysterious character known as Darth Plagueis. Most famously mentioned by Palpatine to Anakin in Revenge of the Sith, Plagueis is a crucial character in not just Sith lore but Star Wars in general. So when the character appeared for the first time in the 2024 Disney+ show, The Acolyte, the creators knew it was a big deal.
On Tuesday, a new book called The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte by Kristin Baver was released, and it is chock full of incredible behind-the-scenes images and insight about the underappreciated series. Among the revelations was a quote from series creator Leslye Headland about how she took inspiration from another iconic franchise in introducing this mega character.
“Before we even designed anything, I knew I wanted to do what they did with Gollum in The Fellowship of the Ring,” Headland said. Where you get a sense of this character, the size of the eyes and his coloring, but I didn’t want to do something in full-on daylight. When you see his hand move, with your point of view being the main characters, it feels like you know about the threat before the main characters do.”
That’s very much what happens in the finale of the season (and, most likely, the series at this point), where Plagueis creepily appears out of the dark, hinting at many, many stories to come. Stories that, now, we probably won’t see, but were in the works.
VFX supervisor Julian Foddy also notes in the book that the look of the character was crucial. “We looked at a lot of reference of Muun characters, from the prequels, The Clone Wars, and some game art,” he said. “Leslye didn’t want to give too much away. We just want to see the flash of a character, the casual viewer might not even notice him or know it’s Darth Plagueis. So, it wasn’t so much about designing the character but designing the shots around that direction. Really, you just see a couple of long fingers and a little shaft of light hits his face. It’s just enough to tell us he isn’t human.”
Whether we’ll actually get to see “The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise” play out in Star Wars is unlikely. But he was set up with Hobbit-like care, just in case.
Read more in The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, which is now on bookshelves and is available for purchase at that link.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
[analyse_source url=”https://gizmodo.com/one-of-star-wars-biggest-recent-reveals-was-inspired-by-lord-of-the-rings-2000717041″]