James Whitbrook
The galaxy far, far away has been rocked by the arrival of a new agent of the dark side in the last month, as The Acolyte lifted the lid on its mysterious Stranger—Manny Jacinto’s not-so-shady smuggler Qimir secretly being the dark Master pulling the strings behind its titular Acolyte. But now that the Star Wars streaming series has wrapped up its debut season (and give us a few surprise reveals to chew on while we wait for a season two announce), the Stranger is still as strange to us as ever. So to find out more about his plans, how those major revelations about the Jedi and Sith alike in the finale factor into them, and how he feels about joining the long legacy of the Sith, io9 sat down with the man himself.
James Whitbrook, io9: Now that the finale is out, how has it felt for you as an actor, having to keep this secret about who you were really playing, to have it out in the open and see what the reaction from Star Wars fans has been like?
Manny Jacinto: Yes, it’s been a huge weight off my shoulders. For one thing—I won’t lie to you, James. Honestly, I hurt my soul every time I’ve had to just straight up lie to people’s faces every time they’re asking these thoughtful questions. It’s definitely a huge relief to finally just be able to talk about the role in its full form and full arc. But I’m also feeling incredibly proud of it, and honestly I can’t wait to share any little tidbits that people have in regards to the Stranger now.
io9: There’s a moment early on in the finale where, as the Stranger and Osha are leaving in his ship, we see this peculiar character in the shadows. We now know that this is Plagueis—how much awareness around that reveal did you have going into filming? Were you told about how he was being brought into the show, and his connection with the Stranger?
Jacinto: I had no idea that that was gonna be the reveal. Like, when I saw the episode—because I first saw all the episodes months before, you know, with the CGI still not being built in and all that stuff—and when that scene came on it was… I don’t know if it was green screen or not, it was blacked out, so actually I experienced it [for the first time] as a viewer, I had no idea that was coming up. I need to talk to Leslye [Headland, The Acolyte‘s showrunner] about that in depth, but I was lucky enough to be able to experience that moment just like an audience member, and be shocked. There’s a lot to unfold there.
io9: How do you think the Stranger feels about having this this other presence on this world with him, especially now that, by the end of the finale, he has a new acolyte to train?
Jacinto: I haven’t been able think past [the finale], what the ramifications are of having this other being there. I’ve always approached the Stranger from very much a lone wolf type of character, like it’s just him wanting… you know, he talks about the power of two, so he talks about his ambitions, but the way I was preparing for the Stranger, or Qimir, or however you want to call him, it was in this space of solitude. I get that this switches things up, and I need to talk to Leslye about how we’re gonna do that moving forward, because… yeah, I was definitely almost blindsided by that reveal, in a very good way.
io9: After that moment, we go to Brendok and we have this incredible fight scene with Master Sol. What was the prep like for you for this duel compared to your process and experience filming the big fight sequence in episode 5?
Jacinto: I mean, I think the good part about it is that that sequence was filmed after episode five, I had built a body that was meant to be in tune with that choreography now, and I was more familiar with using the lightsaber, more fluid with the movement. I’ve had a lot of practice with it.
I think the one thing that changed was that we were very… it was very down to the wire, so a lot of the choreography at that point I had to learn either the day before or on the day. We didn’t have the luxury of having a lot of time to prepare for these scenes—the actor’s strike was coming, and we didn’t know how much longer we had to shoot, so I had to move quick. That was the biggest change, that I just had to pick up the choreography a lot quicker, make adjustments and be more fluid on the day. But also, you know, I think I could also rely on the stuntmen more—I didn’t have to do the big wire work and stuff, they could do that and I didn’t have to worry about that as much, even though I wanted to do it. It’s like the kid in me being like “let me be on the ride!” That was the biggest thing: being more open to change on the day, because we just didn’t have that much time to prepare.
io9: In the wake of that duel, the Jedi arrive on the scene, lead by Vernestra—and there’s that moment of realization she and the Stranger alike have about feeling each other’s presence. Again, how much of that connection he has with her were aware of coming into filming, what was it like for you to play that moment of discovery for the Stranger as he watches her from the shadows?
Jacinto: Again, I didn’t actually know that [coming in]. I think Leslye does this in order to not influence our performances, but I didn’t know that connection until we started shooting episode eight, I think. I read [the script] and I found out about that connection, and I could pick Leslye’s brain about it. So luckily, I had a bit of time to digest and figure out what that relationship is.
I think it really mirrors, at least from my talks with Leslye, the relationship that Osha had with Sol. Maybe it had a different outcome, so if we get a season two I think it’s something we can definitely explore and I personally would love to explore—just like how Osha and Sol had a father-daughter relationship, I think this could possibly be like a mother-son relationship between these two.
io9: Speaking of Osha—the finale ends with something of a role reversal, where the Stranger lets go of Mae and gains Osha as a new apprentice. How do you think the relationship he has with Osha differs from the one he had with Mae? What was it like for you to play that difference as we build towards those final moments?
Jacinto: Oh man, so many, so many things that could be done about about that relationship. Two things: I needed to make sure to distinguish, obviously, my relationship between Mae and Osha. So the Mae relationship was always like a sibling dynamic, it was always brother and sister fighting—”we don’t really like each other, but we need each other to appease this master.” With Osha it was always more so… definitely more an intimate attraction and relationship.
I remember having talks with Amandla [Stenberg, who plays Mae and Osha] and Leslye about when that switch does occur, when does he actually realize that oh, he has the wrong twin. I think about it constantly, and I really do think it’s the moment [in episode two] when he goes up to Osha when she’s trying to pretend to be Mae, and he goes “You look just like her.” I think he feels, he can’t help but feel, the depth of her trauma and despair, that it could be used for something greater perhaps, to seduce her to the dark side. I think at that moment he was “this isn’t it, this is exactly who Mae was supposed to be.” I think moving forward from that moment on, in the back of his head the Stranger always saw Osha as possibly the one.
io9: I’m glad you mentioned the intimacy there. Throughout episodes six and eight there’s this frisson of a connection between Osha and the Stranger—there’s fans who have latched on to that connection and dubbed the two of you “Oshamir.” How do you feel about fans not just latching onto that as a potential idea, but do you think it’s something we could see explored as they navigate what this Master-Acolyte relationship is between them?
Jacinto: Mm-hmm! I think it’s definitely a huge, major point to explore if we do get a season two. I think the great part about that dynamic is that it brings in a different type of audience into Star Wars, you know. I think right now, there’s a huge Star Wars fan base, but I think from what people have sent me through texts, they’re noticing people and comments along the lines of “I haven’t seen any Star Wars, but I will it for this,” and, it’s, you know, referencing the Oshamir dynamic. I think that’s such a beautiful thing to be able to bring more people into this franchise, this fanbase. You’ve gotta give the people what they want, and I think there is a lot to explore within that dynamic. Yeah, it’s a really cool one.
io9: The Stranger is now part of this long legacy of Sith characters in Star Wars. Looking back on this series, what you think it is about the Stranger that makes him unique among these characters, that people can look at in him and feel “oh, we’ve never seen this from a Sith before”?
Jacinto: I’ve talked to Leslye about this before, and some of our producers about it, and there’s something about someone who is “bad”—I’m saying this in quotes—or a “villain” and he’s just being who he is. With the other Sith Lords, or if you look at Anakin, or if you look at Kylo Ren, there’s clearly this trauma that they’ve experienced, that they’re fighting something internally and you can definitely see that there’s a glimpse of light in them. And with the Stranger, it’s almost like… he just has no remorse. He’s not apologetic in terms of who he is. He understands that he’s an outsider, that to the Jedi, that he’s not allowed to exist in this society because of his beliefs and his passion.
I think that’s how he differs from the previous Sith, or villains, or “big bads” of Star Wars. He’s just very unapologetic with who he is, he’s like “Take me for who I am, I don’t want to be somebody else anymore.” He was a Jedi in a previous life, but—and who knows what happened in that transformation—but if anything, he’s joyful, he doesn’t have second thoughts about it. He’s accepted it. He says to Sol [in episode five], “I’ve accepted my darkness, what have you done with yours?” He’s an outsider, he knows that he’s an outcast, he knows that he’s a black sheep, and he won’t apologize for that.
The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+.
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