The Star Wars franchise is moving backward in time for the all-new Disney Plus series The Acolyte. The upcoming series takes place about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace – which means plenty of new characters to follow. Now actress Dafne Keen, who has a role in the upcoming Star Wars series as Jecki Lon, is completely unrecognizable as her new character.
Jecki Lon is described as a mix of both human and alien species known as the Theelin. As shared with EW, Keen was able to explain the makeup process of her character, and just how much it changed her appearance. Of course, when playing such an alien character, that certainly comes in handy.
Here’s what Keen stated about Jecki Lon – as well as a look at the character:
“Well, I’m very excited that we know her name now, because it was secret for so long. And I’m very happy that I get to say that she’s an alien and that she’s a Padawan and that she’s a Jedi. She’s a mixed species — part Theelin, part human. She’s very cool and I have some very cool fights I do with the lightsaber. I really love her. She’s a great character and was really fun to play. I’m very excited that the trailer came out. I was buzzing for days.”
Dafne Keen
X-23 in Logan ➡️ Jecki Lon in The Acolyte pic.twitter.com/j3pveUzBVV
— Star Wars Holocron (@sw_holocron) April 2, 2024
Here’s how Keen describes the makeup process which took anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours to apply:
“It was an hour and a half, two hours in the morning. So I’d usually get picked up at 3:30 AM, and then I’d go in, and the wonderful makeup artists Rob and Jeremy would just sit me in this chair and I’d get a bald cap on me that went from my eyebrows on my head up and would cover all my hair.
“And then I had a piece of prosthetic that went over my eyebrows and my head to cover a bald surface, and then I’d get airbrushed white, and then I’d get freckles airbrushed on me, and I’d get horns stuck on me. And my wig and my hands had to be painted, my nails had to be painted — if any parts of my body were revealed, they had to be air brushed.
“It was honestly really fun. I loved the whole process of it. It was really freeing not having my face. It was really nice to just show up at work and be in someone else’s face. It was really enjoyable and it completely changed my approach to the character once I was in the makeup and changed the way I moved and everything. And also having horns on you is actually a safety hazard, so I can’t hug people on set, which is quite weird.”
The Logan star further elaborated how the makeup changed the way she acted out the character:
“100 percent. It completely changed how I moved. It also completely changed the character. When I read the script, I had one idea of what I was going to do, and it completely changed it in a way that I think is much more interesting than what I thought.
“I thought she was going to be really methodical and cold and calculated, and then as soon as I was in that makeup, she became much more still methodical and a perfectionist and high achiever, but with much more of an ingenuity and a curiosity and a true love for the craft that is being a Jedi. Which was really interesting because I am someone who moves their eyebrows a lot, and not having eyebrows completely changes the expression on your face. And not having eyebrows gave me a sort of sweeter appearance, which completely changed the character in a way.”
Here’s an image of Dafne Keen in her makeup as Star Wars character Jecki Lon for The Acolyte:
Fans will be able to see The Acolyte when it premieres via Disney Plus on June 4, 2024. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding the upcoming series and the career of Dafne Keen as we know more.