With the debut of The Acolyte on Disney+, fans are getting something not that common in the Star Wars franchise; Mae (Amandla Stenberg), the primary antagonist of the series thus far, has Force-like powers but when she goes into battle it's not a Jedi or Sith's lightsaber she uses: it’s an array of knives.

It's an interesting change for a Force-sensitive person in the Star Wars universe, but a welcome one. And, surprisingly enough, it came from the mind of Stenberg, herself.

"I got to write Mae's backstory," the actress revealed. "And in my version of how Mae was raised, she spent a lot of time in her adolescence, like on the streets, bouncing around, fending for herself without really any parental figures or any community or support. And I imagined that in the alleyways of said galactic cities that [knives] became her weapon of choice."

It certainly adds a new dimension of combat to the series, as the Jedi being hunted don't just have melee attacks to worry about. Instead, Mae can pick them off from afar by simply using her powers to fly a knife into its intended target.

Of course we also know that Mae isn't Stenberg's only role in the show. In reality, she's playing twins Mae and Osha. And, in a revelation that should be surprising to nobody, playing two lead roles simultaneously in a Star Wars show can be pretty tricky, even if it's a wonderful experience.

"Being able to create two different characters and play them simultaneously is such a wonderful challenge," Stenberg told GameSpot. "And it's so much fun. And then it's really challenging, schedule-wise."

The scheduling proved to be the trickiest part, as the actress darted back and forth between both roles and the costuming that goes with them.

"Usually if you're, you know, playing the lead role, then you have your co-star, but I was my own co-star," Stenberg explained. "So that meant that we were squeezing in training whenever we could, and I was training for both of them. [It] was mostly a logistic challenge."

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She wouldn't change the experience, though, as Stenberg called the adventure "creatively fulfilling." There's no word on whether The Acolyte will continue beyond a single season. However, Stenberg is soaking up every bit of it she can. The actress even recently performed a new arrangement of John Williams' iconic Star Wars theme, composed by Williams himself, on her violin

The Acolyte streams Tuesdays on Disney+. In GameSpot's review of The Acolyte, Phil Owen praised the show and specifically appreciated that it "doesn't dilly dally with the reveal that Osha and Mae are separate people--the show begins by inferring that Osha has a normal life and moonlights as an assassin, but we learn the truth about Mae before the end of the first episode. A lesser Star Wars story would have tried to milk that mystery for several episodes at least."

The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+ now. Don't miss our Easter Egg breakdown of the first two episodes.