The Acolyte Showrunner Teases Whether We'll Learn The Stranger's Backstory

The Acolyte's Sith villain won't get a big origin story in Season 1.

By Charlie Ridgely

In its fifth episode, Star Wars: The Acolyte finally pulled back the curtain on its big villain. The unmasking twist wasn't a massive surprise, with plenty of fans guessing the Stranger's identity ahead of time, but the devastating way in which the reveal was executed helped make it such a memorable sequence. We know exactly who the mysterious Sith lord is now. If you want more about the character's history, though, you'd better hold out hope for Acolyte Season 2. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers from The Acolyte...

This week's episode revealed that Manny Jacinto's Qimir was actually the masked Stranger the whole time, hiding in plain sight and pretending to be a timid messenger for the villain. His big unmasking came as he shockingly killed Jecki and Yord, two of the most prominent and popular Jedi on the show. This debut gave fans a ton of questions about the Stranger's backstory, but creator Leslye Headland wants everyone to know that this season is very much about Osha.

"Because it's Osha's story, you don't know much about the Stranger's background and you're not really going to learn much about it," Headland told EW. "But there are a bunch of things in Episode 6 and Episode 8 that are really big clues as to why he is the way he is and why his philosophy is the way that it is."

The Acolyte hasn't yet been renewed for a second season. If there is one, it seems like Headland is ready to explore the mind of the Stranger a little further.

"He wants freedom to be able to be who he is and wield his power the way he wants to. But he also wants freedom on a second level that I think we'll get more of if we get a Season 2. But once we knew he was going to kill Jecki and Yord, then it became about: How are you going to executive this in a way that feels satisfying and believable once it does happen?"

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Set during The High Republic, Star Wars: The Acolyte delivers an investigation into a mysterious string of crimes, which pits a Jedi master against his former apprentice in a race to uncover the truth. The more that the pair learn about the situation, the darker their journey becomes, as they confront things that darker than either of them could have imagined.

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. Star Wars: The Acolyte premiered on Disney+ on June 4th.

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