The Acolyte’s Sith Lord has been unmasked but, according to creator Leslye Headland, the character was originally devised as more of a second season set-up – until the actor’s impressive screen test forced her to change course.
As revealed during the Star Wars show’s fifth episode, the Sith Lord that has Mae (Amandla Stenberg) doing its bidding is actually Qimir (Manny Jacinto), the shady smuggler who has appeared by Mae’s side throughout the season.
Qimir’s arrival on Korriban, which sees Yord and Jecki perish, feels like it’s setting The Stranger up to be the season’s Big Bad. However, as Headland tells Inverse, the Sith was originally "not in a lot of the rest of the season."
"He was much more of a tee-up for a second season arc," Headland explained. "But I saw Manny’s screen test early on in pre-production, and I just thought, ‘There will be riots in the streets if I don’t [go further]. Here we go. I guess I’m rewriting an episode.’ Manny was so impressive in every aspect."
Now it seems that The Stranger will be front and center of The Acolyte – even if a persisting theory suggests that another Sith is waiting in the wings. And even with Qimir no longer being a "set-up" for a second season, the showrunner has already promised "four to five major mysteries" should The High Republic era series make a return.
The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney Plus. For more, check out our coverage from the show:
- The Acolyte episodes 1-4 review
- The Acolyte release schedule
- What is The High Republic? The Acolyte’s new Star Wars era explained
- When does The Acolyte take place on the Star Wars timeline?
- New Star Wars show The Acolyte's sets were so big and detailed, the actors needed a map to get around and were literally “tripping on mushrooms”
- Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae on joining The Acolyte, making history as a Jedi, and why he thinks Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland has a "fresh take" on Star Wars
- The Acolyte creator talks pitching The High Republic – and the biggest challenge behind the new Star Wars era
- Star Wars' cute new droid has an incredibly wholesome inspiration behind it
- The Acolyte crew built lightsabers for the new Star Wars show that could be used "the way Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn use them"
- Upcoming Star Wars movies
- Star Wars timeline
- How to watch the Star Wars movies in order
