Warning: This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte.
Dafne Keenseemed set to be a mainstay star ofStar Wars: The Acolyte, but Episode 5 of the divisive series saw her character, Jecki Lon, and many other Jedi from the series meet their maker at the hands of The Stranger. The actress recently shared her thoughts on the shocking turn of events in the latest episode, and praised creator Leslye Headland for her willingness to buck the annoyingStar Warstrend of usually not killing off central characters.
There have been several bigStar Warsdeaths over the course of the franchise, from Obi-Wan Kenobi inA New Hopeto Hans Solo inThe Force Awakens, but in the main, it is usually quite easy to pick out which characters will survive anyStar Warsproject. However, there are few projects that wield the ax with the same brutality ofThe Acolyte, which saw a dramatic thirty-minute duel between the Jedi and the dark sider known as The Stranger, climaxing withthe identity of The Stranger being revealedamid the death of many of the Jedi, including Keen’s character.
The Acolyte
Star Wars series that take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
Speaking withEntertainment Weekly, Keen shared her thoughts on how Headland is avoiding the trope of having characters supposedly dying only to be resurrected through one loophole or another. Keen said:
“There are so many directors in blockbuster sagas that are so scared to kill off their characters, and are so comfortable with bringing characters back to life, and all of these little writer tricks that I think are quite cheeky. And I really like that she was actually killing people. Because if you’re not making it dangerous, then why are we even here? Why are we concerned by the story? Why do we care? Leslye has such a backbone as a writer, to make you fall in love with these characters and then slaughter them all like pigs and be like, “Yeah, this is our villain. We’re not just saying he’s so big and scary, we’re actually showing you how big and scary he is.”
The Acolyte Has Brought Death from Its Divisive Start
The Acolytedebuted with a strong response from critics, landing itself one of the highest Rotten Tomatoes of the franchise’s recent Disney+ output. However, audiences told a different story, once again seemingly failing to connect with the modern, changing world of theStar Warsfranchise.
One thing thatThe Acolytecannot be accused of is playing things safe. The opening episode set up exactly the kind of series it was about to deliver, with the shocking death of Carrie-Anne Moss’ Indara, despite her character featuring heavily in the marketing of the show. Despite taking a dark route that manyStar Warsprojects actively avoid, it has not helped generate more positive reviews, and has instead seen the audience score drop to just 14% out of 25,000 reviews.
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There is still a strong chance thatThe Acolytewill bepicked up for a second season, but in her own interview withEW, Headland explained that she is not quite thinking about where the story will go next after “throwing everything” at Season 1. She said:
“I threw everything into Season 1, because who knows what’s going to happen? And then I’d say there are four to five major mysteries and plot points that have to get hit in Season 2, but until we get a proper pickup, I worry that spending a lot of time in that world — especially being in a period where I’ve worked so long on this project that honestly I’m exhausted by it coming out — to kind of jump right into like, ‘All right, Season 2….’”
The Acolyteis heading quickly towards its conclusion, and the first five episodes are available now on Disney+.
