The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland teases potential Season 2 details, if it gets greenlit, plus says the Sith’s identity was purposefully telegraphed. It’s worth noting that Headland’s interview with EW is post-Episode 5 of The Acolyte. Therefore, the Sith’s identity is discussed here fully. In other words, if you are behind and avoiding spoilers? Then, come back to this story after you have seen Episode 5. Unless of course you don’t care about knowing the Sith’s identity? Your call.
Episode 5 SPOILERS below
First let’s start with what Headland had to say about the reveal of the Sith. Episode 5 saw Qimir revealed as Mae’s Master. Qimir then confirmed to Master Sol he was a Sith. I was a little critical that Qimir being the Sith Lord was too obvious. However, Headland tells EW that the Sith’s identity was intentional teased.
“I think a good twist is not about hiding everything from the audience and then throwing it on them like, “Hey, this is what you didn’t see! We hid it so well that you didn’t see this!” I think a good twist is telegraphing what’s going to happen, and then once it does, executing it without an ounce of pity or sentimentality.”
“I think an example of this where it worked really well was in The Empire Strikes Back, because when Luke leaves Yoda and Dagobah, Yoda straight up is like, “If you face Vader, you’re going to fail. You just are.” It’s not like the audience didn’t know going in that that was what was up. But when Luke loses, he loses in such a devastating way — not just physically, but psychologically. He loses on such a huge level, so the twist of “I am your father” works because you already know he’s going to lose. So you’re just kind of waiting for how it’s going to happen and you don’t know it’s going to cut as deep as it does.”
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Not sure I agree with this fully. I get where Headland is coming from, but whilst we were prepped in Empire for Luke to fail, we were not prepped nearly as much for the parentage reveal. Both things combine to really provide drama. So far in The Acolyte, I’ve seen the ‘twist’ I’ve expected but not the one I didn’t see coming that makes it work. I guess there are more episodes left, so we’ll see.
“It’s not a jaw dropping moment as much as I think the question is, “Well, how is it going to happen? What are we going to see?” There are definitely moments in episodes 2 and 4 where you’re like, “There’s something going on with this guy when he says ‘You look just like her.’” There’s something that you’re like, “Whoa, what’s this about?” But you need a villain that you kind of agree with in some ways. Not his actions, obviously, but when Sol says “What do you want?” and he says “Freedom” — that is something that you can’t argue with.”
Again, fine as long as there’s a deeper climax to all this. The Acolyte is played like a mystery box and those depend on the ending to make it work.
Season 2 and the Sith
Headland also indicated that if The Acolyte were to be awarded a Season 2, then we may be following the Sith more closely. Whether the show does get a Season 2, remainsto be seen?
The following comments were after the passage above talking about the Qimir reveal and his motivations.
“He wants freedom to be able to be who he is and wield his power the way he wants to. But he also wants freedom on a second level that I think we’ll get more into if we get a season 2. But once we knew he was going to kill Jecki and Yord, then it became about: How are you going to execute this in a way that feels satisfying and believable once it does happen?”
Can I guess that second level is killing his Master. Possibly becoming the new Sith Master with ‘someone’ as his new apprentice? A Season 2 focused on Qimir (not his name) and his new Acolyte, does sound interesting. More interesting in fact that Season 1. Though, as said previously, I’ll reserve full judgment till the Season finale.
Qimir’s backstory
Headland also revealed that we won’t as much get the backstory of Qimir in Season 1, but we will get hints to that backstory in the remaining episodes.
“Because it’s Osha’s story, you don’t know much about the Stranger’s background and you’re not really going to learn much about it. But there are a bunch of things in episode 6 and episode 8 that are really big clues as to why he is the way he is and why his philosophy is the way that it is.”
Killing The Jedi – Protecting The Sith
Headland also discussed how Qimir’s motivation is very simple. He needs to kill these Jedi because they have seen him and seen his face. Ergo, they need to die.
“You understand one aspect of the killing is that it’s so shocking, but then he does explain it. He says, “They see my face, they all have to die.” He’s not like, “I murdered them, that was fun!” He’s like, “I murdered them for preservation. They threaten my existence and therefore I have to kill them.” So, in a way, not that you agree with him necessarily, but you also understand.”
“It’s one of the reasons we had him cheat and resort to trickery, because when you’re fighting for survival, there’s no such thing as a fair fight. You have to survive. And the Jedi cannot know he exists. They must die as far as he’s concerned. So it felt like it had to happen. The people that have seen it are like, “How could you do that?” And I was like, “There was no other way around it.””
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“To me it came down to panic. It came down to, these Jedi cannot live if he is to continue existing and if the Sith are meant to stay in the shadows. So I think what happens is for the last three episodes, there are a couple of mysteries going on, but one of them is: How can anybody get out of this? Is there anybody that is going to escape this unscathed when this guy is around?”
So there you have it folks! The link above has the full interview and Headland did talk through another few details. However, I feel like the most important information is what we have covered here.
What do you think of her comments as The Acolyte creator teases Season 2 details, if it gets greenlit? What do you think of the fact the Sith identity was purposefully telegraphed to audiences? Share any thoughts below as always.
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