In today's episode of The Acolyte, Manny Jactinto's mild-mannered Qimir is unmasked as the Sith villain Entertainment Weekly (via SFFGazette.com) has dubbed the "Stranger."
We've been referring to him as The Master until now but, according to the villain himself, he has no name (perhaps making "Stranger" a better fit). Either way, after seeing him brutally slice his way through the Jedi - including a couple of fan favourites - we know this baddie shouldn't be taken lightly.
Talking to the site, showrunner Leslye Headland addressed the twist and the fact some viewers may have seen this reveal coming.
"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!'" she said. "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."
"That's what I loved about starting with the red shirts," Headland adds, referring to the unnamed Jedi who accompany Sol, Jecki, and Yord on this mission. "You're kind of like, 'Oh, he's just going to kill a bunch of red shirts, and everybody is going to be fine and... OH MY GOD, JECKI'S DEAD! Okay, I'm listening.'"
For Jacinto, playing Qimir/the Stranger meant exploring a duality we haven't really seen in Star Wars since Darth Sidious was posing as the unremarkable, kindly Senator Palpatine in The Phantom Menace.
"We talked a lot about how you take a low-status character and convert him to a badass," the actor explains. "He's a guy that is so under the radar, that nobody is paying attention to, and all of a sudden he's actually the guy pulling the strings."
"We wanted a character that was not just oppressive and powerful, but when you see him, you feel disturbed by him," Jacinto adds. "We wanted a character that isn't just a Darth Vader type of guy who overpowers the screen. It's the concept of the uncanny. It can be a stumble in a person's walk or a twitch in somebody's eye. It's very subtle, and it's just like this uncomfortableness that people experience — and that's what we wanted to hone in on for this Sith Lord."
As the episode ends, the Stranger finds the downed Osha and says, "What extraordinary beings we are. Even in the revelation of our triumph, we see the depth of our despair."
Asked what that means, Jacinto says, "I think it's essentially our introduction into the third act. It's basically summing up everything that you thought you knew in these first episodes. Now we're going into completely different territory. Now it's a different world that we're going to introduce you to, and not just a new story, but new motivations for all of the different characters."
"Osha is going to want to hear some of the things that the Stranger has to say," he concludes, teasing what sounds like an exciting final few episodes.
What did you think about today's episode of The Acolyte? Let us know in the comments section below.