"What Would George Do?": How The Acolyte Rebuilt Star Wars by Hand

In shaping The Acolyte, showrunner Leslye Headland and cinematographer Chris Teague anchored every creative decision around a simple guiding question: What would George do? That mantra—echoing George Lucas’s original filmmaking ethos—drove the series’ visual identity, narrative rhythm, and handcrafted aesthetic.

Headland, directing the first two episodes, wanted the show to feel unmistakably like Star Wars, drawing inspiration from Lucas’s 1977 original, which was influenced by documentary filmmaking and racing films. That meant embracing static shots, practical effects, and purposeful camera movement. As Teague explains, if the camera moves, it has to mean something—either narratively or emotionally.

To bring this vision to life, Headland and Teague began with a long walk through Prospect Park, where they unpacked their influences—from Star Wars and martial arts cinema to the surreal color palettes of Black Narcissus. Together, they crafted a limited, bold color scheme using deep greens, rich oranges, and striking blues—intended not to replicate reality, but to evoke the heightened, mythic quality that defined Lucas’s original trilogy.

Where other modern Star Wars series lean heavily on green screens, The Acolyte went old-school. Nearly every scene was shot on practical sets, from dense forests to sprawling temples, echoing Lucas’s belief in creating tangible, lived-in worlds. Even the largest environments, like the massive Khofar Forest, were approached with indie filmmaking tactics—clever lighting, camera angles, and in-camera tricks—to create scale and immersion.

Fight sequences were equally grounded in character and story, not spectacle. As Teague notes, if the action isn’t earned, “the audience tunes out.” Every element, from pre-vis to puppetry to choreography, was built to serve the story.

For Headland, the project was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to play in George Lucas’s sandbox. “You just gotta be grateful that you were invited to dinner,” she says—and honor the house that George built by asking, at every step: What would George do?