THE ACOLYTE showrunner talks about (SPOILER)’s death, how it was due to “benign sexism,” and the big lightsaber scene

In the last moments The AcolyteOsha has turned to the dark side and joined the Stranger. And Mae, the former apprentice of the mysterious Sith villain who killed Jedi, has turned her back on the Wrath and, after a memory wipe, allied herself with the Jedi and Vernestra Rwoh.

It’s quite a contrast from the series’ early days, and in a lengthy new interview with Collider (via SFFGAzette.com), showrunner Leslye Headland said the goal was always to turn the tables and have the twins switch places.

“That’s why the memory erasure was so important to me, because I felt that Mae had to become completely submissive and Osha had to embody this anger and despair,” She explains. “So, again, trying to make this all work took so much time and effort, and I can’t tell you how proud I am of our writers for pulling this off and the actors for being so brave.”

The deciding factor was that Osha, a former Jedi Padawan, turned her back on the Order and Master Sol learned that she had lied to him about the circumstances of her mother’s death.

Explain that Sol’s desire to protect Osha is “benign sexism”, Headland elaborates on this point by saying: “Ultimately – again, this is a father-daughter relationship – as women move forward in their lives and develop their own personalities independent of their fathers, at some point they have to reject that protectionism.”

“When he says, ‘I did everything because I love…’ he’s going to say, ‘I love you,’ and that’s not only the kind of affection that an unbalanced Jedi would have – he clearly loses it in the second half of the season – but it’s also the justification for that kind of behavior between father and daughter.”

“The daughter must surpass him in some way,” She carries on. “She can’t stay a little girl or an adolescent or a young adult. At some point she has to say, ‘I reject what you told me, what I have to do to make you proud, to follow in your footsteps.’ That’s what she has to do.”

In fact, Headland believes that when Sol tells Osha that it is okay, he accepts his fate and gives his “daughter” freedom of action and “(The) energy to clench your fist for the last time.”

During this confrontation, we see Osha bleeding Sol’s lightsaber, turning the blade from blue to red. According to the showrunner “She takes it from him and claims it as her own. I just couldn’t resist making this three-act structure out of it. I’m so proud of it. I wanted it to feel like the lightsaber had its own journey over the course of the season.”

Much has been made of the possibility that Mae and Osha – who are supposedly a single consciousness split into two bodies – are a Force dyad. The connection between Rey and Kylo Ren gave them an unbreakable Force bond, and Headland left open the question of whether this is the case, even going so far as to suggest that Sol’s interpretation of the situation might be wrong.

“I hope that at the end of it all, people just don’t know any more details. I think it’s something worth exploring as we continue to tell the story, but I also felt strongly that I shouldn’t mention Force Dyad because it sounds a little like insider knowledge to a regular viewer.”

“I’ll say this: I think there’s a world where Sol simply doesn’t have the vocabulary or the information to express what he sees. Maybe he misinterpreted what he sees.” She says. “After everything he’s done, I’m not sure he’s a reliable narrator at this point, you know? That’s why I wanted to keep it vague enough for you to explore it yourself.”

There is much that needs to be addressed in The Acolyte if there is a second season, but if the war of stars If there’s one thing that sequels have taught us, it’s that Lucasfilm has no problem leaving us without definitive answers. Hopefully that won’t happen again here.

All episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+.