Leslye Headland Confirms That Was Indeed Darth Plagueis In 'The Acolyte' Finale
Image Source: Comic Vine
Fair warning, some mild spoilers are ahead. From truths finally being told to revenge being taken to the fine, desperate dance of Galactic politics regarding the Jedi, the season one finale of The Acolyte went out with a bang. A particularly noteworthy moment was when a specific character who hadn’t appeared in live-action before crept on-screen. Series creator Leslye Headland confirmed it was Darth Plagueis, and in an interview with IndieWire, she discussed the moment and overall context.
Headland explained, “Plagueis was always in the finale, in every version.” However, the exact way in which he appeared wasn’t static. She continued, “There was a version where he was the button of the finale [instead of Yoda]. You want to feel Osha’s triumph. You want to feel her joining forces with The Stranger. Plagueis stepped on [that moment].” The timing of the appearance was a strategic choice of its own, “I was OK with having the cameo come so early if it meant I could wrap up these characters in a way that their final shot was not a, ‘And he’s been pulling the strings the whole time’ feeling.”
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Image Source: IMDb
The director discussed the reality of the situation, “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. 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!’” There’s something for everyone to focus on with this ending.
Broaching the subject of canon and Legends when it comes to a character as lore-embedded as Plagueis, Headland stated, “Obviously the species has been determined, if not by [Star Wars] canon, then by Legends and definitely by head-canon for everybody. So when we were designing him and talking about his appearance, it was a lot of ‘Crimson Peak,’ of Guillermo del Toro.” Headland tied off her comments with a reminder of the moment:
“They’re not running the First Order. They’re not running the Empire. They’re not the Chancellor of the Senate. They’re hiding out. The Sith [in this time] are fighting for survival.”
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