‘The Acolyte’ Creator Intentionally Made Sith Lord’s Identity Obvious: “A good twist is not about hiding everything”

Episode 5 of ‘The Acolyte’ finally unveiled the Sith Lord training Mae. Even before the reveal, we speculated that the most likely candidate was Qimir, as he was the obvious choice.

The show made a significant effort to portray him as a goofy, insecure sidekick, but he stuck out like a sore thumb. In episode 4, things became even clearer when he was the only person on the planet, besides Mae and the Jedi search party, with access to Kelnacca (who was confirmed not to have killed the Wookiee Jedi).

Fans were hoping against all odds that it wouldn’t be Qimir, but alas, when the helmet came off, it was Manny Jacinto underneath. Since then, he has faced heavy criticism, not because of his performance, which was excellent, but because his identity was so obvious from the start.

Leslye Headland recently explained in her interview with Entertainment Weekly that this twist was intentionally left obvious. The true twist wasn’t the Sith Lord’s identity but the fact that he killed all the Jedi.

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!’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.

Headland said that she wanted to lull the viewers into a false sense of security:

That’s what I loved about starting with the red shirts. “You’re kind of like, ‘Oh, he’a 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.

I have to admit, if The Stranger / The Master hadn’t eliminated so many, I wouldn’t have been able to take him seriously, especially given how Qimir was portrayed before the big reveal. However, this aspect was executed well.

That said, the demise of all the Jedi was also predictable. My colleague had theorized that to maintain ‘Phantom Menace’ canon, all the Jedi on Khofar had to be eliminated.

However, not all the Jedi are dead. Both Osha and Mae are still alive, having switched identities. Additionally, Master Sol is still in play.

Master Sol is likely to play a crucial role in whether the Jedi Council discovers the Sith Lord. Episode 5 suggested that he has quite a few secrets to hide. There’s a popular theory that Sol is actually Qimir’s father, and for that reason alone, he will remain silent.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!