Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 39 Things We Learned From The Director's Commentary

11. Praetorian Guards

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Praetorian Guards
LucasFilm

The design of the Emperor's Royal Guards was one of Johnson's favourites in the Original Trilogy, and he wanted to homage that, but also they had to be built to move.

The Throne Room fight sequence with Snoke's Praetorian Guards was developed very early in writing process. Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver trained constantly for the battle scene, which allowed Johnson to shoot them doing the choreography in wide shots and meant he didn't need to use stunt performers, so he could really show them fighting. The director cites Jackie Chan and Jet Li movies where performers can just carry it, which is what he wanted to achieve here.

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NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.