The Acolyte star Manny Jacinto teases that a multi-season plan for Darth Plagueis had the series not been cancelled.
Although The Acolyte did wrap up certain plotlines during its first season, there was enough left unexplained that its cancellation was very frustrating for fans. One of those tidbits included the reveal of Darth Plagueis, the future master of Sheev Palpatine. Had the show returned for another season (or even more), The Acolyte star Manny Jacinto teased that we definitely would have seen more of Darth Plagueis.
While speaking at a panel at FanExpo San Francisco (via Collider), Jacinto was asked about his character’s connection to Darth Plagueis.
“Oh man, that’s a tough question. They’re not [connected], they’re definitely not. Oh man, how do I answer that? What time is it? [laughs] There are definitely a lot of different theories, like who he is, because we never actually know his true identity. Is Qimir’s name actually Qimir? We definitely wanted to explore it,” Jacinto explained. “There was definitely going to be more of Plagueis in the second, or if not, the third seasons of the show, but I just can’t say, because, you know, we could come back. I don’t want to spoil anything, or give anybody any false hope, but I would just say there was a lot more to explore, for sure.“
While The Acolyte wasn’t my favourite Star Wars series, I was disappointed by its cancellation. Despite its faults, it did give fans something different and explored a brand-new era in the franchise. Lee Jung-jae, who starred as Jedi Master Sol, was also disappointed by the premature end of the series, although he remains hopeful it could return.
Darth Plagueis is known to be obsessed with achieving immortality, so you can understand why he would be interested in Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) as the first step to his plans. Given what we know of the future, showrunner Leslye Headland previously explained that his presence also likely spells doom for Osha and the Stranger. “Even though [Osha and The Stranger] are standing there, sort of looking out at the sunset, ready to conquer the world, the tragedy is we know they don’t,” Headland explained. “We know there can only be two. We know Plagueis is there. We know that these two are doomed in some way. So to me it’s a bittersweet tragedy, this foreboding ending. But that’s because I know about the Sith lineage and all these other things, whereas I think a different subset of the audience can be like, ‘They’re married!’“
The Acolyte takes place 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace and follows a Jedi Master who investigates a shocking crime spree which pits him against a dangerous warrior from his past. The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Carrie-Anne Moss. You can check out a review from our own Alex Maidy right here.
