The Acolyte has smartly avoided a major lightsaber problem encountered by the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ TV show. Modern Disney lightsabers are essentially glow-sticks, an improvement on the prequel technology because they generate real light – making for much cooler cinematography. Unfortunately, Obi-Wan Kenobi revealed the problems with blue lightsabers; when recorded using digital cameras, it can result in something called “chroma clipping.” The colors don’t quite pop, and Obi-Wan Kenobi was heavily criticized as a result.

The Acolyte features many different lightsaber colors, and Screen Rant had an opportunity to speak to Chris Teague, the show’s Emmy-Winning lead cinematographer. He explained that testing did indeed identify this issue, and explained how the crew worked hard to ensure it wasn’t a problem. This was particularly the case with nighttime scenes.

“I mean, you know, in our, in our testing with the sabres, we realised that the look that we were developing for the camera had some challenges, particularly in the blue areas where a very saturated blue would sort of skew in a really strange way. And so we needed to kind of modify the look to protect for that blue and make sure it really came through as accurately as possible . So there was that component to it.

And then for the night work with all these lightsabers, it is all about finding this balance, where you create a realistic level of light in the set that feels dark enough to believe that it’s night. But knowing that we’re not, we’re not the kind of show that we’re trying to have everybody fall off and move into full shadow, we still want to see the space, but we still want to sell the fact that it’s night. And actually, the lightsabers really help with that, because they create this bright highlight and the trick of the eye that always happens. And it’s one of the greatest ways to sell night on camera is that if you have a light source, you know, it’s some for some reason, it just makes the rest of the world feel darker basically, because you have something bright on camera. And so the lightsaber has really helped us with that.”

Lucasfilm’s Lightsaber Technology Continues To Improve

Set during the tail-end of the High Republic Era, a century before the Skywalker saga, The Acolyte features more lightsaber colors and designs than anything since the time of Lucas. This means it was a unique test for Disney’s team, but so far it seems to be one that has been passed with flying colors. The combination of still-evolving lightsaber technology and careful digital testing for light appears to have fixed the problem from Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The interesting question, though, is whether this will still be the case in the next episode. The end of The Acolyte episode 4 saw the sun set on the Outer Rim planet of Khofar, with a Sith emerging from the forest canopy. Trailers have shown countless action scenes following on from this, all set in the night. That means the lightsaber technology is about to be put to the test; the night scenes were the truly problematic ones in Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Meanwhile, Lucasfilm has promised more twists and turns in lightsaber technology. The Acolyte will feature the first ever live-action lightsaber whip, while showrunner Leslye Headland has also teased another lightsaber scene that breaks all the rules somehow. It will be thrilling to see Star Wars‘ real-world lightsaber technology continue to evolve.