Leslye Headland Says She Was Hoping Someone Would Stop Her Regarding ‘The Acolyte’: “Anakin killed a bunch of children”

The fifth episode of ‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ has recently aired, marking the halfway point of the series, and the plot is intensifying. Several shocking developments unfolded in the latest episode. Firstly, two significant characters, Yord and Jecki Lon, met their demise at the hands of Qimir—who is revealed to be The Stranger, also known as Mae’s Sith Lord master.

Additionally, it was revealed that Mae and Osha have swapped roles, with Mae heading to Coruscant to meet Master Sol, while Osha has been taken captive by Qimir.

While we speculated that the show might eliminate all Jedi on the planet to maintain the Sith Lord’s mystery, this actually occurred. The series sacrificed two major characters and several minor ones, marking the largest Jedi purge since ‘The Revenge of the Sith.’

The cast and crew were taken aback by these events, with Headland jokingly referred to as a masochist. Headland herself remarked on her surprise at what she could push the boundaries of within the typically family-friendly franchise.

I just figured someone would stop me and nobody did. I figured someone would say, ‘This is too far!’ But they didn’t. […] I guess I always thought, ‘Well, Anakin killed a bunch of children, so…'”

However, Dafne Keen, whose character was at risk, praised Headland’s bold direction:

There are so many directors in blockbuster sagas that are so scared to kill off their characters, and are so comfortable with bringing characters back to life, and all of these little writer tricks that I think are quite cheeky. And I really like that she was actually killing people. Because if you’re not making it dangerous, then why are we even here? Why are we concerned by the story? Why do we care? Leslye has such a backbone as a writer, to make you fall in love with these characters and then slaughter them all like pigs and be like, ‘Yeah, this is our villain. We’re not just saying he’s so big and scary, we’re actually showing you how big and scary he is.

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