Featured Image Credit: Disney Plus
Topics: Star Wars, The Acolyte, TV And Film, Disney
Star Wars: The Acolyte really did turn out to be a bit of a tough time for the franchise, as the shows cancellation after one season marked the culmination of months of criticism from the enormous fan base that the universe created by George Lucas attracts.
Setting whatever the exact reasons for that were to one side for a second, it was a show that had a ton of intriguing storylines going for it, and the fact that they are not making it any more may mean that we are never going to see how the writer intended them to be resolved.
Tangentially to those big story threads, there were some more subtle and intriguing hints placed throughout the show that referenced the films, and there is one in particular that feels like a real missed opportunity after The Acolyte's cancellation.
In an interview with Inverse, showrunner Leslye Headland spoke about their upcoming plans for the show (when it was still a thing) and it featured one small teaser that could have had extremely far-reaching implications for the wider Star Wars lore.
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Essentially, The Acolyte featured the use of Kylo Ren's theme throughout several episodes of the show. When asked why that was, Headland had the following to say, "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."
Unfortunately, we likely won't see now (unless it's explained in another Star Wars adaptation), but fans think they have worked out what the intentions were nonetheless.
What it amounts to is the idea that Manny Jacinto's character The Stranger or Qimir, as he's sometimes known, would go on to form the organisation that becomes the Knights of Ren.
What much of that speculation comes down to is how the character is an effective user of both the Light and Dark sides of the Force, and he's searching for students to teach. This would make him a pretty ideal figure to start an organisation as formidable as the Knights of Ren.
That has been further backed up by the character's recent arrival in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, where his description says the following, "Hailing from the High Republic Era, this enigmatic warrior exploded onto the scene in the Forest of Khofar in the Disney+ show, The Acolyte. The Stranger's power is undeniable, cutting down an entire team of Jedi with relative ease. Acting as a mentor to both light and dark side Force users, he seeks to gather a group of powerful students whilst pursuing his own agenda."
So whilst we don't have exact confirmation of the writer's intentions for the character and his connection to Kylo Ren, there's plenty of evidence to say that Qimir may have enjoyed a much bigger impact on the Star Wars galaxy than we first expected.