The Acolyte has introduced heaps of new characters to the Star Wars franchise, though Dafne Keen's Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon has emerged as an early fan favourite.
With the Disney+ series taking place roughly 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, it's not clear what ultimately becomes of Jecki or any of The Acolyte's leads (three of the Jedi have already been killed thanks to the mysterious Master pulling Mae's strings from the shadows).
While the prevailing theory is that he's a Sith, The Master could be a Dark Jedi, meaning this series won't necessarily fill in the gaps in the Star Wars franchise's timeline many fans hope to see addressed here. So, potentially no Darth Plagueis!
In the meantime, they're quickly becoming invested in these characters, including Jecki and Osha's budding friendship. When Decider (via SFFGazette.com) asked Keen whether The Acolyte is "continuing its wonderfully queer agenda by introducing a possible romance between Jecki and Osha," she responded:
"I am so happy you asked that because this is my favorite question ever. Ithink, for Jeckie, it’s very confusing because as a Jedi you’re not allowed to have feelings for other people...And I think...I think she...[Laughs], I think she does. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that, but I think she does."
"Jeckie’s such a young character. She’s an 18-year-old, but she’s not a normal 18-year-old. Like she hasn’t gone to school and she hasn’t had interactions with other like people. So it’s her first real experience, I think, of those kinds of feelings and almost the guilt and confusion that comes with it."
"She’s such a controlled, like self-judging, like perfect student, that I think it’s also almost self-hatred that comes from having those feelings and the kind of constriction, but also the inevitable magnetism that she has towards Osha because of that."
The Logan star added that she also enjoyed exploring the possible competition between both characters with Jecki now Sol's Padawan after Osha left the Jedi Order years earlier.
In fact, that also served as a basis for the Padawan's "confusing feelings" for the former Jedi.
"There’s that kind of almost competition as well, that they’re both Sol’s Padawans. There’s that the first scene where we meet Jeckie, she’s like, ‘Is that your old Padawan?’ Like there’s this unspoken thing of the competition."
“But also the magnetism and the friendship that they build and the camaraderie — and the fact that they become a team later — and it was really fun to play with like confusing feelings and we don’t really know ever what it is...But to me, I played it like that."
While Jecki's possible feelings for Osha likely won't be addressed head-on in The Acolyte (beyond Keen using it as subtext for her performance), we're sure many fans will be in support of this romance...others, not so much.
As always, you can let us know your thoughts on these comments in the usual place.