Leslye Headland Talks Baring The Acolyte‘s New Sith Villain

Even for a saga that has dealt with sexuality and attraction plenty, it’s uncommon successful Star Wars really spot radical stripped down to their bare bodies successful ways meant to invoke intimacy and desire. But “Teach/Corrupt”, the latest occurrence of The Acolyte, did precisely that this past week erstwhile Osha recovered herself successful the den of the series’ mysterious antagonist, the Stranger–and recovered herself seeing much of him than she bargained for.

Early connected successful “Teach/Corrupt” erstwhile Osha–having been near to instrumentality the spot of her sister Mae successful a duplicate sister switcheroo astatine the climax of the anterior episode–awakens connected a mysterious land world, we spot her travel Manny Jacinto’s Stranger down a formation to a adjacent excavation of water. Hiding down a rock, and having picked up the Stranger’s lightsaber conscionable successful lawsuit a combat breaks out, Osha and the assemblage alike ticker arsenic the Stranger softly and calmly undresses retired of his robes, earlier stepping nude into the waters. When helium makes it wide to Osha helium knows that she’s there, arsenic they speech the Stranger keeps swimming, earlier re-emerging from the excavation and walking towards Osha to redress himself: again, wholly naked, revealing the scars crossed his muscular assemblage portion besides presenting himself wholly defenseless to her, arsenic helium begins to marque the lawsuit for his ain beliefs to his wary guest.

While we the arsenic the assemblage don’t spot everything Osha sees–no afloat frontal nudity in Star Wars rather yet–the accusation we’re fixed is that she herself is seeing the Stranger laid virtually bare earlier her, with a frisson of vigor moving underneath Osha and the Strangers’ scenes aft this infinitesimal that play with the seductive tendency of some the powerfulness the Stranger has, and successful his earthy physicality. For showrunner Leslye Headland, that sensuality, and presenting the Stranger bare successful it, was an important constituent of the episode’s intent. “Lucasfilm truly believed successful my vision. From a communicative perspective, it had to happen. It had to. He did, like, a Steven Seagal cervix drawback successful the [previous] episode. How bash you, astatine all, get from that to humanity? The lone mode to bash that is to amusement him successful specified a wildly susceptible position, and it has to beryllium visual,” Headland recently told Collider arsenic portion of a wide-ranging interrogation astir the episode. “I can’t deliberation of thing much susceptible than idiosyncratic holding a lightsaber connected idiosyncratic who’s that exposed. I conscionable don’t. I felt similar helium was truthful merciless successful the erstwhile occurrence that helium had to basal successful beforehand of her and say, like, ‘You perfectly tin termination me,’ essentially.”

According to Headland, it was important to opposition these scenes betwixt Osha and the Stranger with what she had conscionable seen of him the occurrence prior–ruthlessly carving his mode done a full squad of Jedi similar a soundless monster–and presenting that done having the Stranger beryllium wholly bare (reminding america and Osha alike that yes, Manny Jacinto is simply a precise handsome antheral erstwhile we’re not watching him skewer a padawan) was the ocular the occurrence needed to amusement the alteration successful their relationship. “The dynamics had to beryllium what they are aft what helium did successful [Episode] 5. He cannot look similar an alpha male-y, intimidating—we cognize he’s susceptible of that from [the past episode]—but that cannot beryllium his dynamic with [Osha],” Headland continued. “It wouldn’t marque sense! We person to spot this different broadside of him, and we person to spot specifically the mode helium is with her. He ne'er fto Mae spot his face, and helium fto her spot him naked. You cognize what I mean? The quality plan was very, precise intentional.”

Given the wide household audience Star Wars usually goes for, nudity and titillation is not thing we typically spot a batch of on-screen, adjacent arsenic the franchise broadens the stories it tells and offers much mature, big worldly successful its attack to violence, language, or, arsenic is the lawsuit present successful The Acolyte, a determination towards astatine slightest acknowledging that kind of evident sensuality exists successful the postulation far, acold distant arsenic overmuch arsenic it does our own. Sure, The Acolyte is inactive cautious to chopped astir it, and is utilizing nakedness not conscionable arsenic intersexual tension, but arsenic an enactment of carnal vulnerability. But it’s inactive a measurement towards thing we seldom get to spot from Star Wars connected screen–and adjacent gets to propulsion successful a spot of lightsaber hilt innuendo portion it’s astatine it, to boot.

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