Well, it's probably safe to say nobody saw that coming!
We had a pretty good idea that the mysterious "Master" would be unmasked during this week's episode of The Acolyte, but we didn't expect him to deal out quite so much death and destruction.
After taking out a couple of red shirts, the powerful Dark-side warrior - now revealed to be Qimir (Manny Jacinto) - murders both Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen) and Yord Fandor (Charlie Barnett) in quick succession.
During an interview with EW, Barnett was asked how he felt about his character's shocking demise.
"Let’s just put it out there: Manny, beyond being an extremely handsome gentleman, is one of the kindest people ever. And in rehearsing it, we’ve got to move slow. So throughout all this time, I'm just being held by Manny, and he is just cradling my head and being like, 'Oh, Charlie, does that hurt when I crack your neck that way?' And I'm like, 'No, man. You're killing me. It's totally fine. You can crack my neck however you're f---ing going to crack it. I'm going to be dead.' But it was actually really comforting and peaceful. And he's so sweet and so kind that it was like I was gently being killed until we were like, Okay, let's speed this baby up.' And then I am dead on the floor. It was a nice death. It was luxurious."
Well, it certainly didn't look very luxurious on screen!
Barnett was then asked about Yord's decision to return to the fighting after Osha tells him that his friends are in trouble.
"When Osha convinces me that Jecki is in danger, I know my duty is to bring this civilian up to the ship and get out of here as quickly as possible, but my heart breaks, and it's the first time my compassion supersedes. And all the responsibility of what you must live up to goes out the window. And yes, sadly, he doesn't survive and win off of that kind of energy. I think it's kind of the fault of not living in that place for more of his life. He was too confined, and you see his demise from it. These are all the reasonings why he loses so much of what he knows he's good at, which is fighting, because his attachments and his emotional connection speak louder in that moment."
What do you make of The Acolyte episode 5 and the character deaths? Drop us a comment down below.
In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.
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.
Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers.
Headland also directed the premiere episodes (Eps. 101 & 102). Directors Kogonada (Eps. 103 & 107), Alex Garcia Lopez (Eps. 104 & 105) and Hanelle Culpepper (Eps. 106 & 108) round out the directing duties on the series.
"I really wanted to tell a story about the Sith," showrunner Headland told EW in a recent interview. "That was kind of my dream Star Wars idea. But it felt like the time period to do that in would be something pre-Phantom Menace. That seemed to be the most interesting trajectory for the Sith: How did the Sith go from the Rule of Two and being quote-unquote 'extinct' to Palpatine coming into power without the Jedi knowing about it?"
Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.