Every Location Where Star Wars: The Acolyte Was Filmed

Quick Links

• Star Wars The Acolyte

• The Four Main Locations

• London

• Reading

• South Wales

• Madeira

• A Different Look

The Acolyte, much like other forms of Star Wars media, takes us to multiple planets, widely diverse locations filled with wondrous secrets. Lush forests, eerie woods, enchanting mountains, and islands surrounded by a seemingly endless ocean. Choosing the appropriate locations for such a wide range of landscapes isn’t easy, but the show’s producers managed to nail it with minimal travel.

Who Is The Villain In Star Wars: The Acolyte?

Who Is the face behind the mask?

We’ll explore the locations chosen as the stage for The Acolyte, how they impacted filming, and how they might have helped shape the show’s vibes. Where was the mysterious era of the High Republic brought to live-action for the first time?

Star Wars The Acolyte

The Acolyte is the first piece of live-action Star Wars media taking place during the High Republic Era. Taking place 100 years before The Phantom Menace, it brings us into a time much more different than the one we’re used to seeing on the big and small screens.

This brought with it a ton of possibilities for making something that feels new in a fictional universe filled with a seemingly endless amount of content, but it also came with a few necessities. How could the producers give The Acolyte a look that would make the series fit in its chronological setting? The answer, mainly, was simple: nature.

The Four Main Locations

Madeira, South Wales, Reading, and London were the main filming locations of Star Wars: The Acolyte. Most of the outside scenes were filmed in one of these places, with the interior scenes having been shot at Shinfield Studios, also in Reading.

The United Kingdom and Portugal offered enough variety to represent multiple different planets, with considerably different biomes. According to Leslie Headland, most of the filming took place in London, and Damien Anderson told Portuguese newspaper Expresso that around a quarter of The Acolyte was filmed in Madeira.

London

London isn’t a surprising location for a big production like The Acolyte. The unexpected part of the Leslie Headland quote, is that she highlights that they “​​did a lot of [their] stuff practically” without using The Volume at all.

For those of you who don’t know, The Volume is a state-of-the-art studio concept used in The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other Disney projects. It is a soundstage surrounded by a nearly 360º LED screen, a superior alternative to the green screen in most scenarios.

When Is The Acolyte Set In The Star Wars Timeline?

A Prequel To The Prequels.

Leslie Headland and the series producers opted for on-location filming and practical effects for most of the show, and it paid off. The landscaped vistas are gorgeous and make the series feel grounded, despite the lightsaber-wielding space-wizards that take the center stage.

Reading

Reading had two main filming locations: the Shinfield Studios for interior scenes, and the Englefield Estate for some outside shots. The State-of-the Art Studios opened in 2021 and has already been used in a ton of massive productions.

The Estate has also been seen multiple times in famous movies and series. Both the House itself and the surrounding grounds have been filmed dozens of times. The Acolyte made good use of the beautiful woods and the remaining greenery for a few scenes.

South Wales

The enchanting woods of Brecon Beacons National Park and a few other locations in Wales can be spotted during The Acolyte. Most of the scenes located in Brendok, Osha's and Mae’s home planet, were filmed in the Welsh countryside.

The seemingly endlessly tall trees made for a proper alien setting, and one that looked appropriately ancient. In an interview with the BBC, Leslie Headland mentioned that Wales was a perfect place for The Acolyte because, “You could shoot in a beautiful wooded area, but then if you moved up further, you’d be in snow.”

While we see the heroes and villains traveling from planet to planet in massive spaceships, the crew was often just moving between different locations in Wales. Despite this, the diverse vistas are one of the series’ strongest points, so kudos to the production team.

Madeira

Madeira might be the most surprising choice of location for The Acolyte. The little Portuguese island, fondly described by the locals as the pearl of the Atlantic, had never been the stage of a massive production like a Star Wars show. Yet, it seems like a perfect fit.

The rocky, wild coast in a permanent back and forth with the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean made for the ideal landscape for most of the scenes starring the Sith Lord. Filming on an Island isn’t always easy, as the weather can be quite unpredictable, but the series actually used that in its favor.

According to Damien Anderson, the producer who chose Madeira as one of the show’s main locations, instead of fighting the weather, the crew decided to roll with it. The frequent changes in weather on the island brought very different atmospheres to multiple scenes, including the first time we see the Sith Lord holding his red Lightsaber.

A Different Look

With the series taking place in an era that we had never seen tackled in live-action before, the setting called for a different look to what was used to in Star Wars. This was an era of peace, an era in which a lot of planets were almost entirely devoid of influence from an outside presence.

The Jedi Order could sometimes appear, as they did in Brendok when Mae and Osha were still children, but it wasn’t a frequent affair. As can be inferred from the events of the series, neither Mae nor Osha had seen a Jedi before, although they were both around eight years old at the time.

This heavily influenced the production’s choices of locations for The Acolyte. Filming on-location, using predominantly practical effects and nature-filled landscapes are the ingredients that make Star Wars: The Acolyte such a nostalgic cake, despite being filmed in 2024.

Kevin Jekins, a production designer for the series, said in an interview with the BBC that they were intentionally aiming for an “older” look. They filmed The Acolyte with the aim of portraying an “older, more peaceful version of the galaxy than we’ve seen so far”.

Nothing illustrates that better than Brendok, the fortress where Mae and Osha were born. An entire village etched into stone, mechanical doors, and relatively advanced tech built into a mountain that looks older than history. As can be seen from the image above, the result is fantastic.

Star Wars: The Acolyte - How Were Osha And Mae Born?

Exploring Star Wars' Second Virgin Birth.