Posted in: Disney+, Star Wars, TV | Tagged: Charlie Barnett, Dafne Keen, disney, Leslye Headland, Manny Jacinto, Qimir, Star Wars: The Acolyte, The Acolyte, the stranger

The Acolyte Creator Leslye Headland on "Night" Deaths, Qimir/Season 2

The Acolyte series creator Leslye Headland discusses the fallout from the deaths in "Night," Qimir's motivations, and much more.

Leslye Headland is crossing into some unfamiliar territory with the Star Wars franchise, pulling off a Game of Thrones-worthy surprise in her latest The Acolyte episode "Night." First, the reveal of Manny Jacinto's Qimir, pulling the strings from afar as the Stranger, the "Sith Lord" and master to Mae (Amandla Stenberg), tasking her to kill the Jedi who visited her and her twin Osha (Stenberg) years ago. The other was killing off not one but two major characters in Yord (Charlie Barnett) and Jecki (Dafne Keen), and we still have three episodes to go. Headland spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the developments, why Yord and Jecki, and The Acolyte has a future beyond season one.

The Acolyte Creator Breaks Down the Surprises in "Night"

When it came to Qimir taking out Jecki and Yord in a brutal fashion, "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," Headland said. "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."

As far as the reveal of Qimir as The Stranger, "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." Headland said. "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?"

Headland broke down the inspiration behind what aspects of the High Republic she used for The Acolyte and what elements came from 'Legends' (aka Expanded Universe). "Yeah, but I also wanted to introduce a bunch of things that exist in the expanded universe and bring them into live action, and that felt like if I introduced them at the same time period, then it becomes, "Well, why aren't those things that everybody knows exists?" He uses a lightsaber style called Trakata, which involves turning on and off the lightsaber, which is considered to be very devious. People like the Jedi are so used to training with each other that they're not prepared for someone that's going to use a different style," she said.

One of the memorable scenes during the fight was when Qimir's helmet absorbed a lightsaber blow, causing it to fizzle out. "Cortosis is something also that exists in the EU, and something that I talked with Dave Filoni about. We found it really important that there not be many metals that could combat lightsabers, because you don't want to devalue the lightsaber. It's one of the most iconic, most powerful weapons known to man," Headland said. "So, as we all discussed, bringing Cortosis into this particular period, but it should be something that doesn't work for a long period of time. Meaning, yes, it will turn off the lightsaber, but the lightsaber will turn back on pretty soon afterward. It should be unstable. It shouldn't feel like something that can last forever."

As far as something that could be expanded on into the future, "Right before [Qimir] killed Yord, his gauntlet gets blown off. And also something that we'll look into a little bit more, or probably in season 2 if we get one, is that Cortosis is a finite resource," Headland said. "It's not Mandalorian steel that comes from a particular planet that can be melted down. It's a limited resource. So it just felt like as you introduce things like that, you don't want that to happen where something already exists, or then it's like, "Well, why didn't they use that in the Clone Wars? Why didn't they use that later on?"

You can check out the full interview for more, including Headland discussing whether we'll learn more about The Stranger's backstory, his motivation to take out the Jedi, and the inspiration for his look. New episodes of The Acolyte stream on Tuesdays on Disney+.

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