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Last week it was revealed that an unknown Star Wars project was set to film at Madeira Island, Portugal. At the time local outlets and television stations believed that the production was for a new Star Wars movie, but I exclusively revealed that the scenes set to be filmed are for the upcoming live-action Star Wars series, The Acolyte. Over the past few days, more and more members of the production have arrived to film at the location photographed by Madeira Island News, with filming set to begin in the coming days.

Madeira Island News is now reporting that the production, which they’re still not referring to as The Acolyte, though it is with PDX (Paradox) signs appearing at the filming locations, will also film at the Fanal forest from March 19th to the 21st. The Fanal forest is really quite beautiful and atmospheric, and though I currently don’t have any evidence, I believe that the scenes being shot at Madeira Island may be for the same in universe location as the Brecon Beacons shoot which took place back in December. The Brecon Beacons shoot took place inside of forests inside of the National park and used a reservoir which had dry ice sprayed over it. Below you can see a few images of the Fanal Forest via Journey Era.

The Acolyte began filming in October of last year, and is due to wrap sometime next month, with a release planned for the first half of 2024. Recently, Disney CEO, Bob Iger, revealed that he’d seen footage for the upcoming series and was pleased with what he was shown. The Acolyte will follow a former padawan and her Jedi master investigate a series of crimes, but encounter forces more sinister than what they’ve imagined. The series stars Amandla Stenberg (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies) as the lead, as well as Lee Jung Jas (Squid Game), Dafne Keen (His Dark Materials), Manny Jacinto (The Good Place), Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang), Charlie Bennett (Russian Doll), Rebecca Henderson (Inventing Anna), Dean Charles Chapman (1917), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) and Margarita Levieva (Daredevil: Born Again).

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