The showrunner of ‘The Acolyte’ says character death violated Disney rules

The AcolyteThe mounting tension reached its peak in episode 5 with the big reveal and unexpected character deaths. Showrunner Leslye Headland explained how these scenes subverted expectations of how the hero’s journey should actually end.

The audience was divided The Acolyte The brutal fight scenes and sudden deaths in Episode 5. Expectations were subverted, but many were so shocked by how Yord, Kelnacca, and Jecki were killed without warning or proper send-off. If anything, their deaths served the big reveal and confirmed that the Stranger is a force to be reckoned with. Many suspected the Stranger would be Manny Jacinto’s Qimir, but the confirmation was shocking nonetheless. Showrunner Leslye Headland said the boldness of Episode 5 was justified given the events leading up to this showdown. In an interview with Inverse, she explained why fan-favorite characters died in the carnage.

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“I think the reason I felt like we could get away with so much in Episode 5 was because we had the four episodes before that,” she said. “We built up this understanding of, ‘OK, this is what the High Republic looks like in live action. This is what the Jedi are like at this time.'” The first episode also wasted no time with Indara’s death, setting up expectations for how the rest of the show would go. “We’re going to kill Carrie-Anne (Moss) so you know the Jedi are going to take some beating and people are going to die,” Headland added. “In Episode 5, I felt like we were able to really go hard because we had all that other stuff built up.”

The Acolyte undermines the hero arc

Headland also dealt with the war of stars the franchise’s recent disregard for heroic stories; for example, the deaths of Yord, Kelnacca and Jeckie were downplayed as plot elements. Headland confirmed that these scenes were designed for shock value. “I think it’s kind of cool that there’s a lot of, for lack of a better term, self-awareness among the war of stars franchise,” she claimed. Referring to Jeckie’s death scene, she added: “There are certain Disney rules like, “Oh yeah, you’re not going to kill that character. How could you?” And not only did we kill that character, but we killed the character in such a shocking and frankly disturbing way – and then didn’t even really give her the heroic death. I mean, she has the heroic death because she takes Qimir’s helmet off before she dies.”

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Headland said Jackie’s death served its purpose in setting up Qimir’s The Stranger. “For me, that’s the reveal,” she continued. “…The reveal is that a dead body falls and you see this guy. The reveal is “Your favorites are going under. Welcome to your new favorite.”” The Acolyte has two episodes left and “The Stranger”, now without a mask, stands out as an unexpected fan favorite.

The Acolyte is streaming on Disney+.

Source: Inverse

The Acolyte

A Star Wars series that takes viewers into a galaxy full of dark secrets and emerging dark side forces during the final days of the High Republic era.

Release date

June 4, 2024

Creator

Leslye Headland

Pour

Amandla Stenberg, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lee Jung-jae, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett

Main genre

Science fiction

Seasons

1

franchise

war of stars

Creator

Leslye Headland

Number of episodes

8th

Streaming service(s)

Disney+

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