In last week's episode of The Acolyte, the show's mysterious Stranger was unmasked as "Qimir," an unnamed Sith who has been pulling Mae's strings in his quest to find an "Acolyte."
Talking to Inverse, showrunner Leslye Headland revealed that original plans called for the mysterious villain to be sidelined until season 2. Fortunately, and with no current indication that Lucasfilm plans to bring The Acolyte back for a second year, the writer realised that would be a mistake.
"Originally, even up until shooting, The Stranger was not in a lot of the rest of the season," Headland explained. "He was much more of a tee-up for a second season arc. But I saw Manny’s screen test early on in pre-production, and I just thought, 'There will be riots in the streets if I don’t [go further]. Here we go. I guess I’m rewriting an episode.'"
The showrunner was also asked about the use of Cortosis, an Expanded Universe concept which allowed the Stranger to deactivate the Jedi's lightsabers with his helmet and gauntlet.
"It was very important that it be breakable, that it basically not be super hard," Headland said of wanting to use it in a way that didn't disrespect George Lucas' reverence for lightsabers. "It’s why Jecki can get the helmet off him so quickly. It’s kind of a brittle thing. There’s also a limited resource of it, which is why he doesn't have a whole suit of armor, and it only works for maybe a minute."
As for why the Stranger's final scene in episode 5 is accompanied by Kylo Ren's theme from the sequel trilogy, she added, "Ah, wish I could [tell you]. 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."
Finally, Headland teased what sounds like an epic final few episodes which she promises will see "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," she added. "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."
Headland also promised more links to the wider Star Wars Galaxy by saying, "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."
How much those final few episodes will do to change the minds of The Acolyte's detractors is hard to say, but for those who have enjoyed the series, all signs point to it delivering a satisfying conclusion...with room for a second season.