‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Has Stages Built in Berkshire Ahead of Filming
Sets are being built for an unidentified production speculated to be the Star Wars: The Acolyte television series in Berkshire, a location previously used for The Force Awakens and (briefly) The Last Jedi to represent the Resistance Base on D’Qar. However, this location appears to be different from the one seen in the first two sequel trilogy films.
Berkshire Live has reported that new sets near Shinfield Studios will be put to use for a show that planning documents indicate will begin filming in October of this year before ending in April 2023. The publication has noted that Shinfield Studios is shooting for a new show, which they cannot identify at this time, but it is believed to be a Star Wars production given that Disney agreed to be their first client. Currently, four temporary stages have been built for the new Thames Valley Science Park facility, but when completed, Shinfield Studios will have eighteen stages in total.
At this time, it is not clear which production this set is being built for, though there are two Star Wars productions shooting in the United Kingdom before the end of the year: the first season of The Acolyte, and the second and final season of Andor. The Acolyte is said to begin shooting from October 2022 to April 2023, while Andor will begin filming this November, so of the two shows, it seems most likely that that The Acolyte is what will be filming in this location.
The schedules perfectly line up with The Acolyte, while something like Andor is likely going to take several more months to film, given the significant amount of time that it took to shoot the twelve-episode first season. It is also possible that the sets that are currently being constructed could be repurposed to fit both productions, but at this time, documents indicate that only one show is filming there.
Check out images of the under-construction sets below:
Star Wars is expected to have a significant presence at Disney D23, so it is likely that we will receive updates on Lucasfilm’s future slate of streaming content, including The Acolyte.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
