Lucas needed a lot of Jedi to fill out the climactic battle in “Attack of the Clones,” which sees the Jedi Knights trying to face off against Dooku’s army. This is where Allen’s date with destiny came into play. As she explained:

“One day my Production Manager, who had just come back from Sydney, put a photocopy of a ‘Star Wars’ comic featuring Aayla Secura on my desk and said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ And of course I said yes! A couple of months prior to that I dressed up as a blue Twi’lek for a scene in the DVD version of ‘The Phantom Menace,’ so I had already done it, and of course I wanted to do it again. I didn’t realize at the time that Aayla Secura would become this cool character.”

Even though she didn’t have much by way of dialogue, Aayla Secura’s very distinctive look helped her stand out in the eyes of fans. She may have been one of many Jedi killed during the execution of Order 66 in “Revenge of the Sith,” but that was far from the end for the character in the larger franchise.

Aayla has since returned in the animated show “The Clone Wars,” which itself has become a wildly popular part of the franchise for the newer generation of fans who grew up on the prequels. And it’s Allen, who just so happened to be in the right place at the right time, who gets the credit for bringing that character to life.