Leslye Headland Explains the Deliberate Choice of Kylo Ren’s Musical Theme for Qimir – There’s a Connection

Last week’s episode 5 was arguably the pinnacle of ‘The Acolyte.’ The show unveiled Mae’s master, showcased intense action, and included heartbreaking death scenes for several key characters. Additionally, it featured some intriguing easter eggs.

One of the most significant easter eggs was the inclusion of Kylo Ren’s musical score during Qimir’s reveal.

Naturally, the connection between Kylo Ren and The Stranger can’t be straightforward, given that ‘The Acolyte’ is a prequel to the prequels, set over a hundred years before Kylo Ren’s “reign.” My colleague discussed the theme’s significance in his analysis, while many fans speculated the choice might be entirely random.

However, in her latest interview with Inverse, Leslye Headland, the show’s creator, clarified that the choice was intentional, though she can’t reveal its full significance just yet.

Ah, wish I could. It is there on purpose, but I can’t tell you why, and I can’t go into what it is. But you shall see.

The original theory suggests that while Qimir cannot have direct ties to Kylo Ren, he is connected to the Knights of Ren, a group of Dark Side followers adhering to the Ren philosophy.

Could Qimir be the originator of this philosophy? That remains to be seen. Leslye Headland explained that we will learn more about The Stranger in the upcoming episodes, particularly episodes 6 and 8. In the same interview, she confirmed what we can expect:

I would say all the dots start connecting. The synapses start firing, especially after the switch between mentors for Episode 6 and going into Episode 7 and 8. There’s more action; there’s more lightsabers. It’s got a lot of the stuff that we’ve already had, but if there’s anything different about the second half of the season, it’s darker. It gets increasingly more emotional. Where we had to start big in the first half of this season to, again, build that world, like, “Here’s where we are. Here are a bunch of new people. There are no references to other Star Wars media.” Now, in the second half of the season, the pieces are all on the board. Now they’re going to start making moves that are going to inform an endgame, and I think that always ends up being pretty emotional at the end of the season or the end of any story.

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