The First Ever Live-Action Lightsaber Whip Is Coming To Star Wars After 39 Years

Actress Rebecca Henderson confirms that Star Wars: The Acolyte will feature the first-ever live-action lightsaber whip. There are a lot more lightsaber types than many viewers realize, but the most exciting have tended to be relegated to comics and novels – simply because they’re a challenge to realize. A perfect example is the lightsaber whip, first introduced in comics back in 1985 and recently canonized as the weapon of Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, a Mirialan Jedi who lived long before the Skywalker saga.

Star Wars: The Acolyte is set a century before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, and Rebecca Henderson will play Vernestra Rwoh. Speaking to Total Film (via Games Radar), she’s confirmed that Vernestra’s iconic lightsaber whip will be making its way into live-action at last. “Vernestra’s lightsaber is purple, and she was able to alter it as a 16-year-old and turn it into a lightwhip,” she confirmed. Vernestra’s purple lightsaber is unusual enough, but this additional function means she will be wielding a truly unique weapon.

The Lightwhip Will Open Up So Many New Opportunities For Lightsaber Combat

In Star Wars Legends, the lightsaber whip – sometimes called a “lightwhip” – was typically associated with Lumiya, Dark Lady of the Sith after the deaths of Palpatine and Darth Vader. Even in canon, the lightsaber whip is typically associated with the dark side of the Force; the Jedi Council was shaken when Vernestra revealed the Force had guided her into redesigning her blade so she could turn it into a lightwhip. The canon verson is subtly different, though, because Vernestra can transform her blade into a whip and vice versa, as seen in Justina Ireland’s A Test of Courage.

“Watch.” Vernestra twisted the front ring on her lightsaber, and the single blade fractured and split before falling in a sinuous strand of purple light. Vernestra swung the lightwhip so that the deadly beam cut through the growth in front of her, clearing the same path as she and Imri had been clearing in a fraction of the time.

“Wait, how did you figure out how to do that?” Imri asked. He didn’t sound judgmental about the unorthodox weapon, merely curious. “Did you study one of the light weapon archives?”

“No, the entire design came to me in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. I couldn’t sleep until I’d finished the modification.” Vernestra swung the whip in a horizontal figure eight, letting the bright violet blade work from the residual momentum. She’d started training with the whip in secret, and even Douglas had not known of the modifications to her lightsaber. Imri was the first to see.

This new lightsaber design means the combat in The Acolyte will be unparalleled – not least because Star Wars will have had to create a whole new lightsaber form for this unusual weapon. Vernestra will probably be considered as having an advantage in battle against most foes, who will be unfamiliar with the lightsaber whip, but she’s potentially up against the Sith – who will likely be even more familiair with it. Star Wars: The Acolyte could well put even such a seasoned Jedi Master to the test.

Source: Games Radar