Star Wars actor Manny Jacinto has said beloved villain Darth Plagueis would have had a bigger role in further seasons of The Acolyte, but didn’t reveal too much because “we could come back.”
Jacinto remained cautious to overpromise but gave fans of the cancelled Disney+ series some hope for a continuation during a San Francisco FanExpo panel hosted by Collider. Darth Plagueis made his long-awaited Star Wars canon debut in the season finale of The Acolyte, and a fan asked how he was connected to Jacinto’s Qimir.
“Oh man, that’s a tough question. They’re not [connected]. They’re definitely not,” Jacinto said. “Oh man, how do I answer that? What time is it? 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. 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.”
It’s this unfinished aspect of The Acolyte that had many fans and, of course, its stars, lamenting the cancellation of the show. Sol actor Lee Jung-Jae said he was “quite surprised” to hear it wouldn’t get a second season, which creator Leslie Headland was thinking about even before Season 1 premiered.
Others, including star Amanda Stenberg, have said they weren’t shocked by the cancellation, however. “I’m going to be transparent and say that it’s not a huge shock for me,” she said. “I was in the bubble of my own reality, but for those who aren’t aware there’s been a rampage of vitriol that we’ve faced since the show was even announced. When it was still just a concept and no one had even seen it.”
Mother Aniseya actress Jodie Turner-Smith raised this issue too, calling out Disney for not doing enough for the cast who faced waves of racist slander online. “They’ve got to stop doing this thing where they don’t say anything when people are getting f**king dog-piled on the internet with racism and bulls**t,” she said.
Jacinto is still eager to create more of The Acolyte though, calling Season 2 his life’s goal not long after its cancellation.
The show earned a 6/10 in IGN’s review, in which we said: “The Acolyte takes us to an earlier era of Star Wars than we’ve seen on screen with mixed results. Awkward dialogue and a small scope rob it of some of the series’ signature space magic, but these old-school Jedi are a thrill to watch in action.”
Image credit: Star Wars.com.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.