The Star Wars universe is filled with dynamic characters from Sith to Jedi and everything in between. Even the most dedicated of fans can have a hard time recognizing every character by name, especially when you take the franchise’s shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars into account. The animated series expands on the events of the prequel films and fleshes out characters who were never in the films or those whose appearances were so short they may as well never appeared at all.
One such character is Aayla Secura, a Jedi seen in the prequel films, most notably during the Order 66 assassination sequence in Revenge of the Sith. Although movie viewers might have a hard time placing her, her character and backstory are explored more in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Who is Aayla Secura?
Aayla Secura was a Twi’lek Jedi Master known for her kindness, fierce battle skills, and for being the padawan of Quinlan Vos, a Jedi Master who would eventually turn his back on the order. His less morally strict influence would cause Aayla to often be tempted by her own dark nature at times, but Aayla remained a loyal Jedi until her tragic death.
Aside from having one of the coolest character designs in all of Star Wars, Aayla was also a skilled warrior and served as a General during the Clone Wars. Her many achievements in that role are what led to her eventual promotion to Jedi Master.
Cool, but why does she have a French accent?
Yes, Aayla’s accent does have a distinctly French quality to it and there’s a simple explanation as to why: George Lucas said so. That isn’t even us being facetious; according to Dave Filomo, supervising director of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lucas wanted the Twi’lek accent to sound like a French accent (according to Wookiepedia). They’re not the only Star Wars characters to have real-world accents, either — just think about all the Sith characters with posh British accents, or as Wookiepedia dubs them, “Coruscanti” accents.
All Twi’leks speak with this French-sounding accent except for Hera, but even her accent comes out when she lets her emotions get the best of her (like when she argues with her father). Prior to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a Twi’lek character had never really had a spoken line before, so the French accent caught many viewers by surprise. Some fans even thought Hera’s lapse into her native accent was a mistake — but it is a feature, not a flaw.
If that explanation doesn’t satisfy you, there’s also an in-universe reason Twi’leks have accents. When on their native planet Ryloth, they speak Twi’leki with each other; it makes sense that most Twi’leks would have picked up Galactic Basic (read: what Star Wars calls English in-universe) as a second language, thus giving most Twi’leks a slight accent.