THE ACOLYTE Spoilers: Showrunner Leslye Headland On That Shocking First Episode

THE ACOLYTE Spoilers: Showrunner Leslye Headland On That Shocking First Episode

The first two episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+, and in a new interview, showrunner Leslye Headland explains that shocking opening sequence...

By MarkCassidy - Jun 05, 2024 01:06 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Via SFF Gazette

The first two episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+, and Lucasfilm's latest live-action Star Wars series certainly starts with a bang. You might even say it slays!

Major spoilers follow.

The premiere begins with mysterious masked warrior Mae (Amandla Stenberg) walking into a cantina and challenging Jedi Master Indara (Carrie -Anne Moss) to a duel. We've seen quite a bit of their ensuing battle in the various trailers and TV spots, but the outcome is sure to come as a shock to many viewers.

Unable to get the better of Indara in a fair fight, Mae resorts to throwing one of her blades at the bartender, and when her Jedi opponent uses the Force to stop the weapon before it strikes, the Dark-side assassin takes advantage of the distraction by flinging another knife into Indara's chest - killing her almost instantly.

During an interview with EW, showrunner Leslye Headland explained the decision to kill-off the character played by arguably the biggest name in the show during the very first scene.

“The truth is that I just wanted to create a cold open. I think it's the TV writer in me, to create a cold open that you were just shocked by.”

"Not to compare myself at all to Vince Gilligan," she continues, "but the cold open to Breaking Bad is one of the best cold opens ever. So whenever I sit down to write anything, I'm like, ‘Well, I won't be able to top that, but in my show, what's the version of that?’ And it felt like the best I could come up with was killing Carrie-Anne Moss. It was icing Trinity and just having everyone go, ‘I'm sorry. What's happening in this?’”

The mystery surrounding Indara's murderer is revealed shortly after, as we learn that Stenberg is indeed playing a dual role as twin sisters, Mae and Osha.

"I think of them as always in flux with each other," the Bodies Bodies Bodies star tells the site. "So a quality that one of them might really be exhibiting, the other one is lacking. And then when that one starts to take on more of that quality, it weans in the other one. I think of them as always kind of an interplay with each other.”

“I think of them as yin and yang,” she says of the pair. "That was really important to me. And we have some of that imagery in the show. Yin and yang has also been important imagery in the Star Wars universe through The Last Jedi and The Clone Wars. And I love that kind of part of the allure of Star Wars.”

What did you make of the first two episodes of The Acolyte? Were you surprised that Carrie-Anne Moss's character was taken out so quickly? Drop us a comment down below.

In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.

 The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers.

Headland also directed the premiere episodes (Eps. 101 & 102). Directors Kogonada (Eps. 103 & 107), Alex Garcia Lopez (Eps. 104 & 105) and Hanelle Culpepper (Eps. 106 & 108) round out the directing duties on the series.

Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.

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WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/5/2024, 1:35 AM
Weinstein enabler
jst5
jst5 - 6/5/2024, 1:57 AM
@WhateverItTakes - The show was just like I thought it was going to be lol.....going to be funny reading the Disney apologist all over the net talking up this turd and saying the ones who don't watch and don't like it are the problem.

The next two episodes are going to be wild to read after what is coming with those two episodes...it completely changes Star Wars history.Then again...I don't expect many people will be watching this show to even know so the comments might not be as wild as I'm thinking.
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/5/2024, 3:12 AM
@jst5 - I've never really been into Star wars I enjoyed the originals for the most part.....I just watch from a distance. People seem to live this stuff regardless.
Origame
Origame - 6/5/2024, 5:16 AM
@jst5 - I still don't get the lack of lightsaber. So acolytes just don't use weapons? Why? And why are they allowed knives? It's so dumb.
jst5
jst5 - 6/5/2024, 5:24 PM
@WhateverItTakes - It was once the biggest fan base in all of Hollywood.....not so much anymore.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 6/5/2024, 2:00 AM
User Comment Image
ImNotaBot
ImNotaBot - 6/5/2024, 2:09 AM
Kathleen Kennedy is a joke. I can’t belive how predictable is, this shit is just political propaganda all over again.
I don’t mind representation, but this is just dumb representarion and the same shit Disney is feeding is with all their projects, and somehow Star Wars is on another level of stupidity.
jst5
jst5 - 6/5/2024, 2:40 AM
@ImNotaBot - Wait till you read about what's coming in these next two episodes.....if you thought the way Luke was handled was bad just wait till gets out there!That said...not many people are going to watch this show and Star Wars is pretty much dead so it might not be as big of a blow up from the shock and pissed off as the Luke handling was.
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 6/5/2024, 5:03 AM
@ImNotaBot - What was political about it? It was just Jedi’s doing Jedi stuff, uncovering a mystery. Or is your issue that there were no white males? Because if that’d your issue, just say that but that isn’t political. That’s just your own fragility taking ahold.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 6:44 AM
@ImNotaBot - what was so political about this? Please in these two episodes what was so political about it? A minority female main character? Come on man. Do better. Be better.
Matchesz
Matchesz - 6/5/2024, 2:26 AM
ah yes star wars, the wnba of franchises
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 2:28 AM
Have any of you guys watched the last two episodes? They are good.
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/5/2024, 3:09 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I don't need to jump off a bridge to know it'll hurt
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 3:25 AM
@WhateverItTakes - lol. Watch it man. It’s great so far. For you to ignore that because of whatever is driving you crazy. You’re really missing out.
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/5/2024, 3:37 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - instead of reading the back of a bleach bottle while taking a dump I'll stick this on instead.... can't say fairer than this
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 3:44 AM
@WhateverItTakes - Or you are like an ostrich and stuck your head in the ground. Ignoring everything around you. Or a man who refuses to leave the comfort of his cave because he is afraid what is beyond.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 6/5/2024, 6:57 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - They're so afraid to watch something that they've already made up their mind that they hate, because admitting it's good would mean losing face.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 6/5/2024, 7:17 AM
@WhateverItTakes - "I don't need to jump off a bridge to know it'll hurt"

User Comment Image
WhateverItTakes
WhateverItTakes - 6/5/2024, 12:14 PM
@TheFinestSmack - I'm here all week
marvel72
marvel72 - 6/5/2024, 12:39 PM
@clintthahamster - But that could go both ways meaning the ones claiming it's great are afraid to admit it's bad.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 6/5/2024, 12:52 PM
@marvel72 - But see, none of the folks saying that it's good have spent the last four years loudly proclaiming that it was going to be excellent because it was "woke" and female lead, whereas those refusing to watch it have spent that time carping endlessly about how terrible the show was going to be for those very reasons.

Also, another key difference is: Some of us have watched the show. Why are you so averse to simply enjoyiong Star Wars? What if you just said "Oh, new Star Wars, cool, I'll check it out?" What do you have to lose, other than 25 minutes of your life on a Tuesday night?
LSHF
LSHF - 6/5/2024, 3:01 AM
Well, I "was" looking forward to seeing a lot of her fighting, so there went the main reason I was going to watch the show.

No problem, as there are plenty of other shows I'm curious about that I haven't seen yet.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 3:26 AM
@LSHF - she is going to be back in flashbacks. Give it a shot man.
LSHF
LSHF - 6/5/2024, 3:31 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - I'll wait until all the episodes have aired, and then decide.

Hopefully there are a few good flashbacks. Thank you.
Beer85
Beer85 - 6/5/2024, 3:47 AM
You can see the Weinstein influence clearly in this work, the way the JEdis forcefully just mindread people. He thought that lego-figure of a showrunner well.
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 6:29 AM
@Beer85 - dude. These Jedi were going through some stuff this is what leading to their downfall. The high republic is ending and we’re seeing the prequels era.
Beer85
Beer85 - 6/5/2024, 6:32 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - So therefore I should like Weinstein-enabler Lego's efforts to make a Star Wars show with the heart of a fart stuck in jeans?
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 6:43 AM
@Beer85 - what? Dude she worked for him for a year and then quit. You think she knew what he was doing . No one did. That’s why it was a big deal when he got outed as monster. Blaming someone for working for someone doesn’t make them a bad person. For all we know she may have been one of many witnesses against him.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 6/5/2024, 7:23 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - "You think she knew what he was doing . No one did."

Wow. Ok.

"Everyone had heard the stories about Harvey," she said. "If you were in the film industry, there was no way you could not have heard those stories about Harvey."

"I never heard a story from the horse's mouth. But there were always stories about, 'Oh an actress told me', or 'Someone working at Harvey's company told me', or 'Did you hear about that intern who worked for Harvey?'

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41593384
Mrnorth1921
Mrnorth1921 - 6/5/2024, 7:45 AM
@TheFinestSmack - not everyone saw that side of him. They knew he was a bastard but never a sexual deviant.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-hollywood-knew-about-harvey-weinstein/

It was after 2016-2017 did the flood gates open.

But again, why are you targeting the creator of the show. She worked for him for a year. We don’t know the extent of that relationship. She quit after a year and didn’t get any projects until after he was outed. For all we know, she could have been on of the many women to accuse him. To target her is unfair. She isn’t a supporter of Weinstein. She worked at a job.
TheFinestSmack
TheFinestSmack - 6/5/2024, 8:34 AM
@Mrnorth1921 - Seeing as how careers would end if actors admitted they knew about Harvey and said nothing, I tend to believe more of them knew what was happening than not. Especially since there seemed to have been fear of blacklisting.

And I never said a single damn thing about the creator of the show. I only responded to the part about nobody knowing about what Harvey was doing. My assumption would be she knew he was a pervert, probably a few months into working for him. But yeah, she only worked with him a year and some change. I doubt she was bringing him women to harass or anything like that. She also seems like a staunch feminist so I doubt she would have been willingly assisting the guy commit assault.
IronMan616
IronMan616 - 6/5/2024, 7:29 AM
She needs to keep Vince Gilligan and Breaking Bad out of her F-ing mouth. Yes she's no Vince Gilligan and this show will NEVER reach the heights that Breaking Bad and BCS got.

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