#the rise of skywalker leaks

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

SiliNOT! Testing and Review

Since I run a lot of casting workshops, I've had several people in the costuming/maker community ask me my opinion on SiliNOT!, a relatively new product advertised as a budget- and eco-friendly moldmaking alternative to silicone, urethane, and other single-use materials.

I finally bought a couple of bottles to play with, so I did a test project. My experience and findings are below! (It's not a recipe blog, but if you want to skip the play-by-play and get to the TL;DR, it's under the big "In Summary" header near the bottom.)

First, if you aren't familiar with this material, SiliNOT! is a remeltable, reusable medium for making molds. Though its exact ingredients are not disclosed, it purports to nontoxic, food-safe, and compostable. It melts in a household microwave or double boiler and solidifies at room temperature (or in a refrigerator/freezer for faster results). The website is https://silinot.com/.

(I am not an affiliate, and have no connection to this company apart from having made one retail purchase from them. I just have a lot of casting experience and like trying out new products.)

The Positive Original

I’m still in the middle of a Vincent Valentine build, so I decided to test the SiliNOT! on his custom buttons. My original is a stack of various nonporous materials: an antique (probably Bakelite) coat button, an epoxy resin dome I cast using a mold I already had in my library, and some engraved Worbla’s Pearly Art for the raised detail. The button shanks won’t be added until the final casting, so the original can be mounted flat for the moldmaking process.

Sample Worbla on the left; completed button stack on the right:

The Mold

I built the mold container the same way I do for silicone pours, with the flat back of the button fixed to a styrene plate and a cylinder (actually a small paper cup with the bottom cut off) surrounding it for the walls. The lip of the cup is sealed all the way around with Monster Clay to prevent leaks.

Heating and Pouring

The SiliNOT! didn’t take long at all to heat up; I did maybe four or five 20-second bursts before it was completely fluid. The bottle does get rather warm, so hand protection isn’t a bad idea. If you have heat-resistant gloves, you can use those; I was working in my kitchen (yay for nontoxic stuff!), so I just grabbed an oven mitt with a silicone grip.

The melted SiliNOT! looks a bit like Luke Skywalker’s blue milk. It’s about the consistency of a yogurt smoothie and likes to pour in a thicker stream compared to silicone. While silicone can be stretched into a thin ribbon for delicate pours or chemically thinned with solvent for really tricky jobs, SiliNOT!'s viscosity is dependent on temperature and never seems to get quite as thin as silicone.

I’d automatically made my mold compact to conserve material (not really a concern with a reusable moldmaking material like SiliNOT!, but after using silicone for more than a decade, I’ve trained myself to be as efficient as possible), so the walls of my mold container were only about half or three quarters of an inch from my object. Because the target was so narrow, I found it difficult to accurately fill from the lowest area of the mold with the SiliNOT! The heavier pour also means more air can get trapped in or under the material.

Bubbles are one of the areas in which SiliNOT! is decidedly inferior to silicone. SiliNOT! has higher viscosity, so bubbles don’t want to rise to the surface without vigorous tapping, which can distort the mold edges or affect leveling depending on your mold container. The bubbles that do make their way to the surface are difficult to pop, even when poked with a sharp implement. Heat gun degassing doesn’t have much effect.

Since the bubble surface cools and skins over quickly, I actually had to use a tool and scoop some large bubbles completely out of the mold to allow the surface to level. Critically, the SiliNOT! is opaque, so you can’t spot bubbles clinging to the surface of your original. (This is why my first mold was a reject, and I had to repour. More on that below.)

Hardening

Once the surface had set, I carefully moved the mold into the refrigerator to cool faster. Here’s another area where some types of silicone can have an advantage: I typically use fast-curing Smooth-On products (because I always have random quantities left to use up after our casting workshops), so I rarely have to wait more than half an hour for a silicone mold to cure, regardless of its size or mass.

The SiliNOT! has to chill completely before handling, though, and discharging that amount of heat requires a fair amount of time even in a cool environment. My mold was pretty small, maybe 2 1/2” wide by 1” deep, and it still took around 40 minutes to cool completely. A larger, deeper mold could hold considerably more energy in the center, and might have to be left in the freezer for a couple of hours before use.

Demolding the Original

When the mold was completely chilled, I removed it from the refrigerator and popped it off the plastic plate I’d used for the base of the mold. The texture was very different from what I’d expected: Unlike other meltable materials (Monster Clay, et al.) that have a firm surface when cool, the SiliNOT! remains tacky, which means it promptly collects any debris that crosses its path. In my case, this meant I had to pick dog hair off the surface throughout the casting process (and I don’t want to think about what would happen if glitter had contaminated the work space).

I’d used a paper cup for my mold walls, which usually works fine with fast-curing silicone. But the SiliNOT! must have a high oil content, because the cup absorbed some of it:

Lesson learned; use only nonporous containers with this stuff.

The SiliNOT!! really wanted to cling to the edges of my original, so I had to go slow at first to avoid tearing the thin flanges of the mold off. However, it did demold nicely from the smooth surfaces, and preserved texture very well. You can see the Worbla pebbling and the engraving channels clearly in the mold (as well as some dust and dog hair, because I made the mistake of setting it down briefly):

Unfortunately, as you can see, a large bubble had stuck to my original and created a pit in the mold, so I decided to do a second mold pour. I figured I’d tear up the failed mold and put the pieces back in the bottle to remelt… and discovered I couldn’t. The mold would stretch and twist, but not tear. It also seemed to return to its original shape relatively faithfully. Here’s a video of me manhandling the mold:

As you can see, the SiliNOT! has much better stretch and recovery than many silicone products (there are silicones that stretch well -- some of the Dragon Skin products come to mind -- but they’re not typically marketed for moldmaking). This means it’s likely well suited to casting objects with moderate undercuts or oddly-shaped bits that need the mold to stretch during demolding.

You can cut the SiliNOT! easily with scissors, which is the recommended method for getting it back in the bottle when you’re ready to remelt.

Take Two

Using what I’d learned from the first pour, I did the second one inside a hard plastic ramekin. This gave me a bit more room to pour into the floor of the mold, reducing the bubble risk, and also eliminated the porous paper cup that had absorbed oil. I still had the issue with bubbles that didn’t want to pop, but there were fewer of them this time.

The ramekin made for a much cleaner mold, buuuuut there was ANOTHER BUBBLE right in the middle of the design. >.<

Take Three

Lather, rinse, repeat. Or in this case, melt, pour, chill.

This time I heated the SiliNOT! as much as I dared and did the absolute slowest, narrowest pour I could manage, giving the air extra time to escape as the mold was filled from the bottom. The risk with stringing out the pour like this is that in a thinner stream, the heat escapes faster, leading to uneven viscosity as the liquid fills the mold. I don’t think that’s a major problem for this particular piece, but it’s something to pay attention to as regards leveling and degassing, especially for larger molds that will take longer to fill.

The result of pour three:

/siiiiigh/ Well, at least the bubbles are smaller, this time. They may not show up enough to matter in the final cast. I’ll give it a try.

Casting

I had leftover workshop resin that was getting on toward the end of its shelf life, so I used Smooth-On Smooth-Cast 300 for my initial resin trial. It’s an opaque white resin with about a 10-minute cure time (the fast turnaround is why we use it for workshops).

Before pouring, I had to do a little mold cleanup where the SiliNOT! had managed to sneak under the edge of the Worbla (I think I’d loosened the corner of the star from prying it out of so many molds), but since the SiliNOT! stretches so well, it was pretty easy to invert it to get little scissors down into the bottom of the depression.

For the first cast, I didn’t use anything but the resin in order to get a baseline. Ideally I’d like to cold cast or dye the resin so I don’t have to worry about paint chipping, but since I’m doing a trial here (and need multiple buttons anyway) I figured some plain white extras wouldn’t hurt.

So, my first cast…

…smacked into a big problem, which I probably should have seen coming: The resin I’m using is a fast cure formula, which means it discharges a fair amount of heat as it's going through that rapid chemical reaction -- enough heat to melt the SiliNOT!, as it turned out. When I tried to demold it (after giving it a few extra minutes beyond label time to be sure it was done), the surface of the mold had melted to the resin and even embedded itself in a few places. It’s difficult to see the resin detail in the photos (my camera went into white balance panic mode with all the shades of white and blue), but you can see how pitted the formerly-smooth mold surface is.

In fairness to the SiliNOT!, the bottle does say that you should put the mold in the freezer for half an hour before casting high-temperature materials. But I assumed high-temperature material was something like candle wax or melted chocolate, rather than ordinary resin. (And the mold had just come out of the refrigerator.)

So, on to pour FOUR of the SiliNOT! mold…

Take Four

NGL, this is getting a little old. >.<

Fourth mold definitely needed some cleanup around the edges, and there are still a couple of tiny bubbles I can’t seem to get rid of, but it’s good enough for a test. (I’m starting to despair of using these for actual production, given how many times I’ve had to redo the molds because of bubbles...)

Deep in the recesses of my basement, I found some transparent epoxy resin with a 24-hour cure time -- much slower and lower-temperature than the Smooth-Cast. Since it cures clear, I went ahead and mixed in some metallic powder pigment on the off chance that I get a usable button out of this one. I had excess resin after mixing, so I poured that into my first mold, which has a bubble in the design but is otherwise fine. Two test pieces are better than one, right?

Results

Here are the results of the slow-curing resin out of mold #4:

Finally, a (mostly) clean cast!

As you can see, the detail reproduction is excellent -- certainly on par with the pulls from the silicone mold I ended up making while waiting on this set to cure (purely for time reasons; I couldn’t afford five days to cast the buttons using slow-curing resin, and with a silicone mold and fast-curing resin I could get them all done within a couple of hours).

However, you can also see a few spots where bits of the SiliNOT! embedded themselves in the final cast. Part of that may be due to design flaw in the original; I didn’t want to glue anything permanently to the antique button, and that resulted in a tiny gap between the button and the resin hemisphere. Silicone has enough strength to resist tearing out in that kind of area, but apparently the SiliNOT! doesn’t. The bits of mold around the outer edge seem to have stuck just to be difficult, as there was no structural reason for those to have become embedded in the resin. This means the mold could be damaged by successive casts, reducing its usable life and accuracy.

Still, the mold definitely produced decent results for a first cast, and a different shape might not have had as much of a problem with tearing off mold parts. The slow-curing resin is a bit of a limitation, but not a unique one (I use this same epoxy resin for any glass-clear casts I do, and only use the Smooth-Cast 300 for opaque items or things I need very quickly). I don’t personally use UV resin, but I’d be curious to learn how it performs with the SiliNOT!

IN SUMMARY:

Here’s the TL;DR on SiliNOT!

Pros

Cost effectiveness. This is the most obvious advantage of SiliNOT! over silicone; it’s (theoretically) infinitely reusable, and even with natural attrition/inevitable contamination from use, you can likely get over a hundred pours out of a bottle. That's a lot cheaper per use than silicone.

Non-toxicity. SiliNOT! is touted as food contact-safe, so you don’t have to panic if you get it on your skin or kitchen counters. While platinum-cure silicone is also relatively harmless (some varieties are labeled for food or life casting), other common moldmaking materials such as tin-cure silicone or urethane are not. (NOTE: Since the company is very hush-hush about what actually makes up the SiliNOT! secret formula, I do not know if it might release any vapors or fumes that would be irritating or harmful to pet birds. In general, I advise not doing any kind of casting around birds.)

Eco-friendliness. This is the biggest draw for me personally: Given the number of casting workshops I run and all the things I sell commercially, I have constant guilt about the amount of waste I generate for creative projects. In most areas of life I’m an aggressive reduce/reuse/recycler and try to use organic materials instead of synthetics whenever possible, so a mold that’s reusable and compostable is very appealing.

Ease of use. It’s honestly pretty hard to mess this up -- just microwave according to the directions and pour. No measuring, no A/B mixture, no concerns about chemical contamination from latex or sulfur, etc.

Shelf life. Unlike silicones, which have a shelf life of anywhere from six months to three years depending on storage conditions, the SiliNOT! purports to be shelf-stable. It's compostable, so don’t bury it in your yard, but otherwise it appears that it could be kept on hand for years.

Cons

Bubbles. Honestly the most irritating thing about this stuff for me. I’m used to being able to see bubbles forming as I pour, tap them to the surface, and remove them. The fact that I poured four molds of the same object and never once got one without bubbles is super irritating.

Stickiness. I’m not a big fan of the tacky surface texture, and while I haven’t done any cold casting yet, I can imagine that it would be very difficult to clean out any pigment or mica powder that got where you didn’t want it. I probably wouldn’t use this for any kind of cold casting that required isolated colored areas or changing colors between casts.

Set time. The SiliNOT! may take longer to cool than a fast silicone would to cure when dealing with larger molds, so it’s not ideal for projects with a really tight turnaround. (But cosplayers would never be casting something the night before a con, right? We always plan ahead and never, ever procrastinate!)

Library life. The SiliNOT! may or may not structurally degrade over time the way urethane, latex, and tin cure silicones do, but I noticed even in my very limited casts that it was prone to having tiny bits of the mold (particularly at edges) stick and pull off. While I keep most of my platinum silicone molds for years and reuse them, I don’t feel that the SiliNOT! molds would hold up to repeated casting, and they’re far more sensitive to ambient temperature, so they’re probably best used for short term only. (I also wonder about the possibility of oil leaching out in long-term storage.)

Comparative Ranking

Ranking it against other mold-making materials, I’d place SiliNOT! below platinum-cure silicone in terms of performance, but maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of urethane and tin-cure silicone. It's definitely superior to latex. (Though to be honest, I'd rank Play-Doh above latex. I hate working with that stuff.)

Factoring in cost and environmental impact, it beats out urethane and tin-cure silicone. I'm still not sure if I'd rank it above platinum-cure silicone, though... Silicone costs much more and isn't eco-friendly, but the performance and lifespan is significantly better, so it still makes more sense for some projects.

Alginate is another type of material entirely, but in some ways SiliNOT! is comparable to it -- both are more cost-effective than silicone, both are biodegradable, both are skin safe, and both have long shelf lives. But SiliNOT! is easier to use for beginners than alginate, which has to be mixed to the right consistency and has an extremely short lifespan once poured.

Overall, I would recommend SiliNOT! for:

People who want accurate, non-shrinking molds but don’t have the budget for platinum-cure silicone

People who are committed to eliminating waste from single-use materials, and are willing to trade off a little performance for a more eco-friendly material

Projects with smooth surfaces and no indentations/sharp edges/undercuts where bubbles might stick (e.g. cabochons; simple geometric forms)

Projects where you need only one or two casts of something, rather than many casts from the same mold

Casting oddly-shaped pieces around which the mold needs to stretch in order to demold

Use with slow-curing resins that do not generate much heat

I would NOT recommend SiliNOT! for:

Extremely complex or detailed pieces, or pieces with a lot of surface texture that bubbles might stick to

Two-part molds

Projects requiring many identical casts out of the same mold

Molds that you intend to add to your library for future or repeat casting

Use with fast-curing resins, melted wax, melted Monster Clay, or any other material that emits heat

Cold casting with precise color application

My Overall Opinion

It's... okay? I will almost certainly keep SiliNOT! in my toolkit for certain specific applications. It's MUCH cheaper over the long term, I love the idea of recycling mold material, and there are some projects for which it will likely perform very well (those listed in the above bullet points). I will also admit that three days of working with it does not constitute a comprehensive familiarity with the product, and it might be the sort of thing that you get better at working with after more practice. (Just learning how to eliminate bubbles would go a long way toward making me adopt this for more projects!)

However, I don't quite buy the "better than silicone" tagline. It's definitely more difficult to get a perfect result, and there are some projects for which platinum-cure silicone is always going to be more reliable (e.g. high-temperature casting, mass production, large-scale life casting).

For those looking for a recommendation of whether or not to buy, I'd say look at your project budget and the applications for which you're going to be making molds, and let those factors guide which mold material you go with. People doing some kinds of projects are likely going to find this a godsend, while those doing different projects would probably hate working with it.

[benchowmein]

Having never seen Rise of Skywalker but having seen Jenny Nicholson's videos on it where she not only talks about the actual film but the leaked draft scripts and treatments leads to me having an incredible and utterly nonsensical film in my head. I wouldn't give up clone Snoke if it killed me

[papasmoke]

Sitting in a crowded bay city theater to watch rise of Skywalker for a second time with my family after already seeing it opening night with my best friend, surrounded by people bred in flesh pits under our country's mall parking lots like the uruk hai to be our economy's perfect consumer base, sharing with this crowd who i could not feel more personally alienated from a profound sense of comraderie as we all collectively sat in tortured silence through nearly three hours of the most painful-I do not have the words to directly describe how excruciating it felt for me to watch this movie in theaters a second time, when Chewbacca died and 20 seconds later was revealed to still be alive because one of the 10,000 producers on this film was afraid that some suspense might accidentally leak into the narrative I felt like one of those ww2 vets who got ptsd flashbacks from the private ryan normandy scene, the prestigious fortnite brand is forever tarnished for associating itself with this atrocity.

[skiplo-wave]

Daisy Ridley is coming back to play in a SW film. It might be good and might be bad for Reylo. All the rumors was true then and the reason for the 15 time gap from Rise of Skywalker is because the rumors are saying that the script that's finished is saying there's a 14 almost 15 year old new Skywalker. Among all the theories including Reylo, it looks like another one is coming true. Shmi Skywalker. When Ben saved her, they unknowingly created a child through the force which would technically finally come full circle. I just don't like the idea of the child without a father :\

Some are saying it's going to be the new Cade Skywalker but again rumors are saying they are looking for or already casted a young female with LONG STRAIGHT BLACK HAIR and GREEN HAZEL EYES.

It's literally not a fanfiction, it's from the rumors and a small leak. They need to get a hold of their shit before they start filming and all the spoilers get leaked out like Rise of Skywalker.

Hmm

[accursedkaleeshi]

Hi general. I didn't dare ask but I've had a question on my mind for a long time: how did you survive Mace Windu's Force crush ? I mean, how did the medical droids (if it was them) save you ? Because that ability nearly killed you ! 😨

Grievous was always enthusiastic to talk about the injustices he suffered during the Clone Wars. He hadn’t had anyone to complain to. Probably by design. Just more fuel for the rage.

“Because I could never have a clean victory when certain jedi were about, eh? I was on the ship, the gang plank was rising,” he began incredulously, as if he couldn’t catch a break. “Windu flew in out of nowhere. We made awkward eye contact. He used the force??” Grievous mirrored the motion that Master Windu had used, raising an arm & clenching his fist. His incredulity compounded, knowing that it had to have been the Force but writing it off as cheating.

“Crushed me like a droid!- kofk koff- Crumpled my chassis into my bacta vessel. I marched over to the Supreme Chancellor to have some words with him but Dooku made me stand clear. He said it was so I did not make any regrettable decisions & ruin our hard earned victory or what have you. Tch’. Also so I did not spill my nutrient fluid on his very expensive shoes, I imagine. I did not look my best. Leaking, pressure sensors beeping, durasteel creaking, pistons smoking,”

“Of course, since the Invisible Hand was my personal flagship it was equipped with everything to rebuild me thrice over. My mechano-medical droids work spectacularly under threat of utter annihilation. Except A4-D, who was just in it for the bragging rights. Replacing the vessel is not so hard. Everything I am is attached to the collar unit…they just put it in a new jar. Like pickled vegetables, Armav.” At the last sentence he looked to you with an encompassing gesture to convey the grotesque indignity of it all.

“It only took quarter standard hour & most of that was resealing the respirator ports to what was left of my lungs. One of my breastplates had crushed half a lobe off of my good lung. The good one! Nothing a medical droid could do about that, eh?”

“We did not have the parts nor did the droids have the clearance to alter my respirator schematics to account for the loss but that did not matter. Rinsed the viscera off, donned a clean cloak & went to the bridge because I knew Kenobi & Skywalker would show up. You know the rest then.” Grievous left it at that. The fact that he went on for several days & an anticlimactic spat with Kenobi getting less oxygen to his brain didn’t seem to concern him.

The Invisible Hand Grievous pit crew in summary:

[starwarsrecrimination]

Star Wars: Recrimination Season 2 Episode Titles/Subtitles and Full Descriptions [LEAKED]

Episode 1: Ostinato

Performers take their places as an old song begins anew. 

It is the Chiss new year. The Ratite has been approved to return to full combat capabilities after a probationary period following her actions in the finale’s battle, and Vah’nya has progressed in her training. Unable to participate in the holiday’s traditions, Eli, Ronan, and Jona celebrate in their own way. Iunh reaches out to Zicher to formally discuss pilot training, Isocel connects with a peer over her artwork, and Idsvey questions fundamental religious tenets. Vah’nya grapples with her future and newfound abilities. Eli makes his first formal contact with Abeloth, Beloved Queen of the Stars. 

Episode 2: Verse

A riotous new act claims the stage.

Eli’s latest assignment was pitched as a simple infiltration-and-heist job, but once he’s on the ground the situation gets a lot more complicated. In order to obtain the payload without catching the attention of a very capricious warlord, he teams up with a group of young operatives who got their start as Imperial conscripts, led by a curt and vaguely familiar young woman. Working with “Jade” and the self-titled “Hand of Judgement” turns the upscale nightclub into the backdrop for a wild firefight, but the mission is ultimately successful and Eli and Mara, the former recalling where he first saw her, part ways as friends.

Episode 3: Refrain

Much is spoken, but little is said.

The annual referendum on the Skywalker program, started by Regional Director Borika and Syndic Thalias, is being held at the Ratite for those able to attend in person. For the seventh consecutive year since he joined the program’s statistical analysis division, Eli is not invited. Vah’nya attends, however, and as she connects with other navigators in her cohort who have since graduated the program, she learns that she may not be the only Skywalker experiencing a resurgence in their Sight. Zicher is also in attendance, heading a panel for former navigators aiming to pursue civilian piloting/navigation careers. The girls socialize with other children whose caretakers are busy at the conference, playing pranks and getting into general mischief. Jona is eventually accepted into the group after impressing them by levitating objects. Thalias attempts to speak to Eli privately but is rebuffed. 

Episode 4: Rise

Actors take their marks unseen.

Vah’nya takes Iunh, Isocel, and Idsvey on shore leave, hitching a ride with Thalias, Zicher, and Borika. Jona questions why she is unable to join them, and Eli struggles to explain the history behind the Ascendancy’s new restrictions on aliens in Chiss-controlled space. Leaving her alone to attend parent-teacher conferences, he learns about Iunh’s secret research into the piloting academies, Isocel’s artistic development and emotional turmoil, and Idsvey’s increasingly perplexing references to memories that are not her own- memories that belong to Jona. Eli goes to speak with his youngest, but Abeloth prevents him from doing so. Meanwhile, the ship that had been carrying the seven skywalkers has encountered a freak storm and crashed on an abandoned colony moon. Evacuating into escape pods, the party is split into four: Iunh and Idsvey, Isocel and Vah’nya, Thalias and Zicher, and Borika on her own. The groups begin to attempt to make their way back to the others– Iunh and Idsvey head into the woods, Isocel and Vah’nya into a deserted city, Thalias and Zicher up a mountain, and Borika towards a lake at the bottom of a valley (furthest from the crash site, invisible from the ground)– and Abeloth finally lets Eli in to see Jona as she senses what has happened through her fledgling force-bond with Idsvey. 

Episode 5: Chorus

All must face their own trials. 

Ar'alani, as the highest-ranking officer in proximity to the crash, is called to mount the rescue, and when Eli informs her that Jona may be able to locate the survivors, she agrees to take them to the planet with her alongside a retrieval team of her finest. When they arrive, already on the scene is one Captain Roscu, who eventually lends her support to a joint operation after Eli, who she has history with, tells her that his daughters are on the moon. Each of the seven face their own challenges: Iunh struggles with the conflicting desires to stay alongside and protect her little sister and to venture ahead on her own, Idsvey’s lack of focus leads her into peril, Isocel doubts her instincts, senses, and family’s love, Vah’nya is indecisive and unable to choose a path with confidence, Thalias fears jeopardizing the image she believes Zicher has of her, Zicher in turn resents her mother’s inability to be honest with her, and Borika fights to keep her head above water as her own long-buried power surges within her. By the end of the episode, all seven have gone through individual arcs, and Iunh, Isocel, Idsvey, and Borika have located crystals for their eventual sabers.

Episode 6: Fall

There are many paths, and only one destination.  

Roscu and Ar’alani’s teams make landfall on the moon. Sensing Idsvey, Jona, along with Eli and two soldiers from each commander’s forces, moves into the woods. Roscu takes one half of her remaining forces in the direction of the abandoned city, while Ar’alani and her remaining half journey to the mountain. Eli and Jona’s team locates Iunh and Idsvey by their mostly-operational pod without much incident, and convene through comms with Thalias and Zicher, who Ar’alani’s team has located. Iunh thinks she saw where Borika’s pod landed and suggests that she take the pod up and attempt to locate her, revealing that she has been training to be a pilot in secret. Eli reluctantly agrees, with the caveat that he goes with her. As Roscu’s team moves deeper into the city, they notice strange noises and movements, despite no signs of life in proximity. When they try to cut through the rock to reach Vah’nya and Isocel, they accidentally open a massive tomb of stone statues, which come to life and attack. Vah’nya’s arm is trapped, and Isocel is forced to amputate it with the saber. Eli and Iunh locate Borika through an intense storm she has inadvertently generated. Finally, all are able to return to the crafts and escape the moon. 

Episode 7: Bridge

Melodies intertwine.

Vah’nya is recovering from her amputation and adjusting to her new prosthetic, and has become increasingly withdrawn since the events of the previous episode. In particular, her relationship with Isocel is strained, as the younger girl wants to apologize but isn’t sure how. Roscu, reeling from the loss of her soldiers, reconnects with an old friendly rival in the former captain Ziinda. After witnessing Borika’s Force-fueled breakdown, Eli gets approval to visit her facilities on Ool, hoping to speak to her about everything they’ve pointedly left unsaid in the years they’ve worked together. Ronan attempts to help Iunh, Isocel, and Idsvey construct housings for the crystals that chose them on the abandoned moon and inadvertently exposes the ship’s navicomputer to a dangerous virus while trying to remotely access blueprints in old Imperial databanks. Idsvey gets help from Jona, and the two discuss Jona’s own crystal. With Eli away and Ronan occupied, Vah’nya is called to the comms by interim captain Neevi to respond to a distress signal in Basic that turns out to be from Mara and the Hand. Vah’nya and Mara bond strongly, and her high spirits return. At the end of the episode, Isocel presents Vah’nya with a decorative casing for her prosthetic that she assembled and engraved with Ronan’s help, which the older woman accepts, reassuring her that she is not to blame for what happened. The Hand asks if Isocel is willing to work on their armor, and she happily takes on the job. 

Episode 8: Solo

A promising young talent makes her debut. 

As Mara and the Hand depart in search of their next job, Jona sneaks aboard their ship unseen (and undetected by Mara). A single-pilot fightercraft prototype is supposed to undergo testing on the Ratite, but the talented young pilot is not nearly as mature as her station requires, and she promises to take Iunh out for a spin in an attempt to impress her. After his stilted conversation with a still-icy Borika leaves him with more questions than answers, Eli sets his reservations aside and tries to ask Abeloth for guidance. She gives him more information about her past with Mitth Patriarch Thomoro, as well as with Queen Ochta, the last regent of the Grysk. Meanwhile, now planetside, Jona makes her way into the heart of a massive machine embedded deep within the earth, in search of a mysterious item that has been calling out to her for some time- what Idsvey knows she has been sensing. On the ship, Abeloth undergoes a bizarre change, as her physical appearance “ripples” and her mood alters drastically. She instructs Eli to go to his child, and to keep her twin away at all costs. Emerging from his quarters, Eli is informed by the crew of massive atmospheric and geological disturbances, as well as similar reports from all over Chiss territory. Idsvey witnesses him packing and insists that she come with him to find her sister, but he refuses, which pushes her to attempt to use a mind trick- it appears to work for a brief moment, but a mirror shatters and breaks her concentration. Eli leaves the ship on his own and makes the jump to Jona’s planet with Abeloth’s assistance, and the episode ends as they jump into a warped, “glitching” version of hyperspace. 

Episode 9: Collision

Curtains close. 

Eli experiences a strange sense of déjà vu as he travels through hyperspace. Abeloth is now worryingly inconsistent, continually switching between distant coldness and frantic mania. On the machine-planet, Eli finds Mara and the Hand, and starts off into the planet’s “Badlands” in search of Jona. Against his wishes, Mara contacts Vah’nya aboard the Ratite, and Neevi obtains permission from Admiral Ar’alani to approach the sector, which is not part of Chiss space. Jona, almost in a trance, reawakens components of the ancient machine, causing additional disturbances in the system that a local aspiring warlord attempts to take advantage of, not counting on having to face Mara and the Hand. When the warlord sends forces into the upper atmosphere, Iunh and the test pilot have to work together to stay alive in real combat. Idsvey tearfully explains the “fight” she had to Isocel, who finds Vah’nya in the throes of a Third Sight vision, and, unable to locate Iunh, works up the nerve to go to the bridge herself and order a full scan of the planet based on what her family members’ varying insights have revealed. On the surface, Eli finally catches up to Jona, who has the heart of the machine in her hand and is standing slightly behind a figure made of mist that resembles her mother. As he approaches, the planetary disturbances increase and the electricity in the room arcs closer and closer. He calls out to her and she turns to fully face him with eyes made entirely of a blinding light. She walks towards him, cradling the heart in her hands, and when she is close enough and the machine is reaching its zenith, he takes her hands in his, stopping the heart and causing the apparition to disappear. Electricity continues to arc around them as he carries her out of the chamber, but the intensity and light in Jona’s eyes is fading, and the opaline heart held in her hands glows rather than blazes. They return to the Hand’s ship in silence as the Ratite, under Isocel’s command and Iunh’s protection, aids the planet in its reconstruction efforts. When Eli asks Abeloth, who has been quiet since he entered the chamber, to teach him a lullaby in Gryss, she agrees.

Explanations:

Ostinato- a musical motif or phrase that is repeated frequently in a piece, often featured in the introduction

Verse- a series of lyrics that tells the main story of the song and establishes a sense of progress throughout the piece 

Refrain- a line that is repeated at different points in the song 

Rise- a section of the song that builds emotion and intensity in preparation for the chorus 

Chorus- a repeated section of the song that releases musical tension 

Fall- maintains or increases sonic energy similarly to the chorus  

Bridge- a unique section that connects two primary musical themes

Solo- a section designed to highlight the talents of a specific performer or instrument 

Collision- a section in which different motifs and musical elements overlap

(Discrete arcs, as indicated by the episode titles, are color-coded)

[fridayincarnate]

Am I missing something where is this from - @powerofthefirstorder​

This is from the leaked script of Colin Trevorrow’s version of Episode 9, tentatively titled Duel of the Fates. It was scrapped when Trevorrow was replaced by JJ Abrams and Abrams took a different direction for The Rise of Skywalker.

One key difference involves the First Order taking over Coruscant, where Hux serves as the Chancellor to Kylo’s Supreme Leader. DotF starts with a ten year time skip so - somehow they manage to work together that long without killing each other, haha!

This article lays out some of the differences between DotF and TRoS

This one shows Colin Trevorrow confirming the leak and also links to some concept art

And if you’re so inclined, here is the whole leaked script!

Kylux people, we should really talk about the Duel of the Fates script more often

Kylo promotes Hux to Chancellor? Someone calls Kylo Hux's master? Hux gazes out at Kylo's ship and watches it disappear into the stars? Our Empire? Bickering on the phone where Hux complains that Kylo has been away too long?

And that's not even to mention the part where Kylo just appears in their Hux's bedroom unannounced and Hux acts like that's completely normal

They're married, your honor

[tremendouskoalachild]

Timeline of The Acolyte development

16 December 2019

Variety interviews Lesley Headland at The Rise of Skywalker premiere (video published 23 April 2020)

LH says she would love to write for Star Wars, has plenty of ideas

22 April 2020

Variety leaks news about LH's untitled sw show

Details of the exact plot of the series are being kept under wraps, but sources say it will be a female-centric series that takes place in a different part of the “Star Wars” timeline than other projects. Headland is said to be attached to write and serve as showrunner on the series, with the show currently staffing.

4 May 2020

First official announcement on starwars.com, as part of larger announcement of new projects

In addition, Emmy®-nominated writer Leslye Headland (Russian Doll, Bachelorette) is currently developing a new untitled Star Wars series for Disney+. Headland will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner for the series.

2 November 2020

YouTube interview with Fantastic Frankey

When I first pitched to Lucasfilm I didn't pitch necessarily as a television or a feature film, I just kind of pitched character and story and all the things that are dear to my heart as a playwright starting and a person that's writing their own fanfiction. I'm just kind of pitching on that level, but ultimately when I settled on television and specifically streaming, it felt right, because I think that there is a different type of storytelling when you come from tv. Especially episodic tv, meaning not bingeable tv. You are waiting each week to see something.

10 December 2020

Announcement as part of Disney's Investor Day Event (video, archived link)

Leslye Headland, Emmy nominated creator of the mind-bending series Russian Doll, is a boldly innovative filmmaker bringing her new Star Wars series to Disney+. The Acolyte is a mystery thriller that will take us into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

28 December 2020

Cbr.com reports Rayne Roberts is co-developing the series

Rayne is currently focused on developing new films for Lucasfilm's theatrical slate, and is also co-developing the upcoming Leslye Headland-created Star Wars series for Disney+.

21 June 2021

The A. V. Club interview with Leslye Headland (archived link)

AVC: Now you have the opportunity to both talk the talk and walk the walk with this show. Obviously, I don’t know if there’s going to be any queer characters, I can only hope. But you have put together a writers’ room. What were your guiding principles there? What you were looking for in a writer?

LH: First of all, I really wanted people that were different than me. I certainly didn’t want a room full people that were just agreeing with me vehemently. Not ideologically, but artistically—people that kind of had different writing styles or were interested in different things, all that kind of stuff. But there was a certain intention, in terms of putting together a room that I felt like were people that I hadn’t been in a room with before, if that makes sense. I don’t think I can go much further into that, but like, “Oh, I haven’t had this experience yet, and because I think it’s weird that I haven’t had this experience yet.”

Having worked in this industry for over a decade now and having been in a couple of writers’ rooms, I felt like the demographic breakdown of rooms, it’s not something you actively take into consideration. For example, on Russian Doll, we ended up having an all-female writers’ room, but I don’t know if that was really something that we said at the front: “We were only going to hire women.” I think when you have a dictate like that, you’re closing your mind to, again, people that are going to challenge your particular artistic POV. Mostly what I looked for were people that I felt could execute a great script, number one. And then in the job interview, just really talking to people who had different life experiences than I did, and had different connections to Star Wars than I did.

What I also learned about hiring my room is that everyone’s fandom was very different. No one had the same experience with Star Wars. There were people like myself that were like later-in-life [Dave] Filoni acolytes. I literally had one writer that was like, “I have never seen any of them. I’ve never seen any Star Wars media.” And she’s texting me before we started the room, she’s like, “Luke and Leia are brother and sister, what the…?” [Laughs.] And it was so great, because I would really love to know from someone who is not fully immersed in this fandom, what do you think about the pitch we just made? So while she did her due diligence and did a lot of background work and research, at the same time, she was somebody that we would kind of talk to and say, “Okay, so if we take all the kind of signifiers out of it, and this is Star Wars version of X, what does it mean to you?” She would be able to give some feedback: “Well, I’m kind of wondering what’s going on with this character. And in this scene, I’m wondering why so-and-so isn’t saying this.”

8 December 2021

Variety reports Amandla Stenberg is in talks to star in lead role

17 May 2022

Vanity Fair article about upcoming sw projects (archived link)

To endure, Star Wars will need new actors, new characters, and a new era, vaulting away from the timeline as we know it. Another upcoming series, The Acolyte, reportedly starring Amandla Stenberg, aims to do that. The show is in the casting phase, but the writing is largely complete, says showrunner Leslye Headland, cocreator of the time-looping Netflix show Russian Doll. She has been planning for it for two years, mostly from the confines of her home.

18 May 2022

Vanity Fair interview with Kathleen Kennedy

"(The Acolyte) sits right on the edge of the High Republic Era. It's a bit of an experiment for us because it isn't building within the timeline and the era that Jon (Favreau) and Dave (Filoni) are. It isn't necessarily going to be where features are. We are moving into a new era with what [showrunner] Leslye Headland is doing. There are certainly reflections of things that people are going to recognize, and it will have connectivity in Star Wars. But this will be a whole new [era] of storytelling if we determine-like we did with The Mandalorian-that it works and that there's interest. I think there will be."

24 May 2022

Vanity Fair interview with LH (archived link)

What can you share about how The Acolyte originated?

I was pitching with Kathy Kennedy and we were developing this with [Lucasfilm development execs] Michelle Rejwan, and Rayne Roberts, who was like my main gal on this project. She was the person that literally found me and shepherded this idea all the way up to the top. We were really getting into it, and what's so exciting about those [influencing] stories is that you don't always know exactly who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. You're not quite sure whether you can trust the heroine in this case as a result of that.

Honestly, my pitch to Kathy was the first time that everybody in the room was a woman. I've done many of those types of pitches and I was like, ‘This is trippy that my big [intellectual property] meeting is all ladies.’ That was pretty cool.

Since this is the first screen story told from the High Republic era, what was their ambition for it? Were they looking to break free of the well-explored Star Wars universe?

The truth is that I, as a major mega fan, came to them with this idea. And I said, 'I think the best place to put this is in an era you guys have not quite explored yet.' They were very enthusiastic. It wasn't that they didn't want to explore that [existing] world, but I think that they already were because The Mandalorian and a lot of the other television projects were really relying on legacy characters.

I was coming at it as a fan who was much more into the RPG [role-playing games] that the Extended Universe feeds on. I came hard at that in the '90s, and then got introduced to [the animated series] The Clone Wars. I knew the timeline really well. And I was like, "I think if you want to explore Star Wars from the perspective of the bad guys, the best time to do it is when the bad guys are wildly outnumbered. When they actually are essentially the underdogs, for lack of a better term." So this would be that era.

Kathy Kennedy and I talked about how Star Wars publishing can serve as a kind of storytelling test kitchen. They’ve been putting out a lot of books about the High Republic in recent years. Was that a factor in the creation of the show?

[Publishing] had just launched Phase One for the High Republic, and I think it was just kind of kismet. "Actually we could do that. That is something that we're now prepared for..." The deep, deep fans are actually much more like, ‘Okay, I’ve got it. I know what this is. I know what place I'm in.’ I was pitching something so specific that would only really work in this time period. And [Lucasfilm] was like, ‘This is actually a time period we're interested in pursuing.’

22 July 2022

Amandla Stenberg is officially announced in the lead role

5 August 2022

The Face interview with Amandla Stenberg

Filmmaking was the avenue Stenberg was convinced she’d go down next. But about nine months ago – and much to her surprise – The Acolyte came along. Set a century before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Episode I), when the Jedi were at their most powerful, it’ll tell the story of how the dark side, as personified by the Sith lords, emerged.

As showrunner Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) explained to Vanity Fair: ​“My question when watching The Phantom Menace was always like: ​‘Well, how did things get to this point?’ How did we get to a point where a Sith lord can infiltrate the Senate and none of the Jedi pick up on it? Like, what went wrong? What are the scenarios that led us to this moment?”

“The Lucasfilm team came to me with this project which was fully conceptualised with me in mind, and I was astounded,” Stenberg says breathlessly, conscious of the fact she needs to remain tight-lipped about the whole thing.

She’s already picked up kung-fu lessons as part of her preparation for the role, and is plotting a move to the UK, where the series will be shot. ​

30 October 2022

The Bespin Bulletin reports that filming has begun at Shinfield Studios

7 November 2022

The cast (8 new actors) is officially revealed on starwars.com. includes synopsis, first official behind the scenes photo

Today, Disney+ announced the cast for The Acolyte, an upcoming Star Wars Original series from Lucasfilm. Joining the previously announced Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give) are Emmy Award-winner Lee Jung-jae (Squid Game), Manny Jacinto (Nine Perfect Strangers), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Jodie Turner-Smith (Queen & Slim), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll), Dean-Charles Chapman (1917), and Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix).

synopsis:

A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

From creator, showrunner, and executive producer Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), The Acolyte has begun production in the U.K. The executive producers are Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson are producing. Headland will also direct the series pilot.

2 December 2022

Deadline Hollywood reports Margarita Levieva has been cast

The Deuce and Revenge actress Margarita Levieva has signed with Paradigm in all areas. In addition, we’ve learned she booked a guest star role on Disney+’s upcoming The Acolyte.

3 February 2023

Hollywood Reporter article mentions Charmaine DeGraté as writer

DeGraté has established herself as one of the town’s rising writers thanks to buzzy TV work. She was a writer and co-executive producer on House of the Dragon, which is coming off of winning a Golden Globe for best television series, drama, and she was a co-executive producer on Amazon’s upcoming rock band drama, Daisy Jones & the Six, which stars Riley Keough and debuts in March. She also wrote and is co-executive producing the upcoming Star Wars series created by Leslye Headland, The Acolyte.

28 February 2023

Discussing Film reports Kogonada and Alex Garcia Lopez are directing episodes

We have learned that the directing team for Star Wars: The Acolyte has expanded with After Yang director Kogonada and The Witcher director Alex Garcia Lopez. The two are joining the directing team alongside showrunner Leslye Headland who is also currently helming episodes of the Lucasfilm series in the United Kingdom.

9 March 2023

Público reports filming will take place on Madeira mid-March

Madeira will serve as the setting for part of a new Star Wars TV series, PÚBLICO has confirmed. Much equipment is already on the Portuguese island, as reported by Jornal da Madeira. Antena 1 Madeira details that the filming will take place in areas of the south and north coast. A regional road will be closed between March 11 and 14 due to the filming of "a series with international notoriety and with strategic interest for the region", according to the Regional Directorate of Roads, and everything indicates that it is the production of the series The Acolyte.

PÚBLICO knows that the shooting counts on executive production on the field, that is, other national or European companies are doing the field work, and that prospecting started a few years ago, and since January there are already moves in Madeira to set up the structure. The Acolyte is one of two Star Wars productions known to be currently being shot - the other is the second season of Andor in London.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

27 March 2023

short Collider interview with Jodie Turner-Smith

"Obviously, the subject matter is different. It's different when everything that you're doing is light-hearted, and that's not what I was doing for Star Wars. But I was working with my favorite director that I've worked with so far, Kogonada, and under the leadership of Leslye Headland. It is incredible to see. I can't wait to see how this show turns out."

"Amandla [Stenberg] is such an incredible performer. I, unfortunately, didn't have any scenes with her, but I got to see a little bit of what they've been doing, and I think it's gonna be epic, and it's nothing that anyone has seen before inside of that universe."

7 April 2023

First day of Star Wars Celebration 2023

Lucasfilm studio showcase panel reveals new logo, plays first footage

from IGN's coverage of the panel:

The teaser ends without a release date, just saying "2024". The Acolyte is still filming, but is set to wrap up shooting next month.

Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-Jae interview

AS: What was so wild about this show and my experience coming on to it was that Leslye and Lucasfilm had already developed the show around me before I even had my first meeting. That first meeting was wild. I was presented with the concept art that had already been drawn up with my image which was like, yeah. Fall on the floor moment.

AS: And then I started training in Wing Chun at a local school. Which was really cool because going into training I had already kind of had that basis when I did my initial training period with my master.

Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, and Charlie Barnett interview

DS: We had a whole Force training, like two weeks of just us in rooms being like … (mimes telekinesis)

Jodie Turner-Smith and Rebecca Henderson interview

RH: Watching Leslie from the very beginning, from her coming up with this idea, of pitching this idea, having the show begin, and now we're still shooting and being here – it's been incredibly emotional.

RH: I don't think I really processed it until my first day on set in the Jedi robes, green, and in a Jedi Temple – which was actually built – and then I was like, huh. Okay.

They practically built so much of it. You know, on the volume it is built and so we really are in the world it's it's really very cool. Huge hand-painted backdrops, it's insane. And on location as well.

We might have had some different settings. We shot some different things. We were never on the same set, the two of us.

Joonas Suotamo and Dean-Charles Chapman interview

JS: Luckily we had the a same stunt team as we had in Solo, so it was a familiar crew. And we had some awesome training partners with Dean and everybody else.

8 April 2023

Rayne Roberts interview

Leslye's like a dream come true filmmaker that you get to meet when you're working on Star Wars. Because I had been tracking her independent films for a while, watching her films at Sundance, and when she came in the first time and seemed to know everything about Star Wars, I was truly shocked. And just so pleasantly surprised, because she also immediately pitched me this incredible emotional story that was very personal to her that fit inside the Star Wars mythology, so that sounded like the gold star of the filmmaker that you get to work with.

One of the things I’ve had the pleasure to learn from working under Kathy for all these years is, you just get the best people you can get. So in terms of building out this world we were really lucky to get Kevin Jenkins, who was the production designer on Rise of Skywalker, and also has been a concept artist at ILM and Lucasfilm on a lot of our films for years and years. And he was just really excited to create a new world, a new era that's distinct from what you've seen before. And then we've just got the best costume designers and we're looking at the drawings inside the High Republic book series, we've got amazing hair and makeup team.

[deadsprout]

i'm not saying they should remake the rise of skywalker (because that kind of thinking is stupid and you get what you get), but i am saying that rian johnson should leak his fanfic of what he would have done instead

[murderous-snake]

me wanting to read TROS leaks to see all the pro-reylo content but also not wanting to ruin the whole plot in the process

[emrys-girlwithasaber]

If the leaks are right in that Kylo ascends into the abyss, don't worry. That's what a hero does in the monomyth. AND THEN, HE RESURRECTS!

[dreamxeyes]

I think people need to calm down about leaks on Star Wars

Reddit is not a reliable source. It’s all just hearsay. Claiming, “Oh, I heard this from someone who saw the movie.” Does not prove anything. The new leaks even said that it was viewed by someone who isn’t a fan of Star Wars and has only seen the new movies once, so how in the world would they have seen it? The only ones who have seen it are the Star Wars cast. That’s it.

[luminous-leia]

star wars : the rise of skywalker - the movie that launched a thousand AU fics

[bonesgadh]

I swear to God, if the latest leaks are true and there’s a fucking R*ylo kiss at the end of TROS I will cancel this fucking trilogy and if I ever meet JJ Abrams I will throw fucking rotten eggs at him.

[dragonrebelrose]

Okay, so I saw some "leaked" photos and a little text from TROS and...I'm a bit concerned, not gonna lie, but I don't remember what the old leaks said, but apparently they're matching up a bit to the pics. Now this could mean nothing, like you could see those pics and just make up some bullshit like how leakers usually do.

[sepialunaris]

Why is this so funny