Leslye Headland Addresses Potentially Canon-Breaking Episode 3 of ‘The Acolyte’: “There Isn’t One Answer”

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ recently released its third episode, and that it is controversial would be an understatement of the year. In a flashback episode, viewers discover events on the planet Brendok 16 years before the main storyline takes place. It showcases a secretive coven of witches hiding from the Jedi and the Republic, akin to the Nightsisters of Dathomir, they have a unique Force abilities distinct from the Jedi and Sith.

Osha and Mae, the only children on Brendok, are strongly hinted at being born from the Force’s power. Mother Aniseya’s conversation with Mother Koril implies their unusual conception, hinting she may have played a role in their creation. Echoing a line from ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,’ she notably states, “There is no father,” mirroring the phrase used to describe Anakin Skywalker as the Chosen One.

Mother Koril allegedly carried the twins physically while Mother Aniseya created them through some unusual means most likely by manipulating the force, or directing force until the life manifested.

Fans took insult since the whole episode kind of nods in the direction that Anakin is nothing special and that the force created not one, but two chosen ones 100 years before the events of ‘The Phantom Menace.’

In her recent interview with Entertainment Weekly Leslye Headland explained how they crafted the episodes and hinted at how the mystery behind the origin of the twins might be resolved:

I was very inspired by the Nightsisters storyline and the Ventress storyline on The Clone Wars when I was a budding writer. So when I got the chance to make a show set in the Star Wars universe, it felt like, ‘Well, of course I’m going to do my version of witches. I just am going to shoot my shot. […] As the characters developed, it made a lot of sense that they would be at the center of a coven. That the girls would be almost revealed not as children, but as the legacy of what their mother started. […] he power of one, the power of two, the power of many. In our show, the Jedi have the power of many. I think their mother started as one, and the girls are two, and she wants her legacy to be the power of many. So it was thought of as paying homage to The Clone Wars, but it eventually became the story of a mom and her children and the way that our parents have particular expectations for us. And if Star Wars is anything, it’s got a lot of parents and children and living up to or rejecting the legacy of those parents.

Directly addressing the fact that the girls were “created” rather than conceived the natural way, Headland explained that the point of the show is that different characters believe different things:

If you keep watching the show, we do talk about that and explore that. I would say there isn’t one answer to it. Some characters believe certain things, and other characters believe other things in terms of what she means by that. So you’re going to have to watch and decide which side of that argument you’re on.

We will likely have to wait for the final few episodes of the show to understand the true origin of Mae & Osha, but also to discover the identity of Mae’s dark Sith master. Fans however already started theorizing that the twin has some kind of a connection to Darth Plagueis who was rumored to have the ability to create life. The timeline doesn’t really check out with this approach, but who knows?

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!