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The Rise of Skywalker VFX Team Reveals the Inspiration Behind Dark Rey's Double-Bladed Lightsaber


Credit: Lucasfilm


One of the most shocking things to come out of The Rise of Skywalker trailers is the appearance of Dark Rey. Star Wars fans were in awe of how the heroine looked like if she ever turned to the Dark Side. Sporting a black cloak, she wields a double-bladed red lightsaber. Rey's other version was only shown for a few minutes in the movie, and now Episode IX VFX supervisors details how they came up with her awesome look.

Speaking with Insider, Visual Effects supervisors Patrick Tubach and Roger Guyett reveals the inspiration behind Dark Rey's saber. "Clearly you've got the Darth Maul connecting but there's also a mechanical aspect to it," Guyett said. "And don't you think she looked fantastic in that moment?"

Guyett says the "mechanical aspect" of the saber gave a great quality of "upping the ante." "When it switches out, there's some kind of Jedi-ish or samurai sword-ish kind of feeling," he added.

Tubach also revealed that the saber took inspiration from Kylo Ren's. "On [Episode] VII, it was a really great design choice when we started working on Kylo's lightsaber to say, 'What almost looks like a broken light tip?' or 'What looks so angry [that] someone put it together in anger?'" he explained.

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Credit: Lucasfilm

He thinks it "made sense" to take the same look from Kylo's saber to Dark Rey's saber. Tubach revealed that when they asked director J.J. Abrams on whether the weapon should be more of an "in-control saber" or "an angry kind of saber," Tubach said Abrams felt like they needed to show that it's a "dark, dark saber." "So that look of that fiery edge and everything, we kept some of that same aspect of Kylo's saber in this one," he added.

The Dark Rey scene is definitely one of the most epic parts of the movie that fans really enjoyed. Proving the speculations to be true, Dark Rey was a vision the heroine saw when she found the Sith Wayfinder on the Death Star wreckage. The heroine faces an image of her as a Sith and tries her best to fight off the dreadful image of her potential future.

What are your thoughts on Dark Rey's overall look? Tell us in the comments below!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now showing.

Also Read: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's John Boyega Hilariously Teases Netflix Show Preparations

For more articles like this, take a look at our Star Wars: Episode IX page.