Leslye Headland Reveals Why She Decided To Include Darth Plagueis in ‘The Acolyte’ Finale: “Plagueis was always in finale”

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ concluded its first season this week, and despite the show suffering from several issues over its run, two massive cameos somewhat redeemed some of these issues.

Sometime during the final episode, we can spot a dark and shadowy figure watching Osha and Qimir from the cave. Considering the timeline and the species, fans were quick to connect the dots, Leslye Headland has put Darth Plagueis in ‘The Acolyte.’

For some of you who are not avid followers of Star Wars canon, Darth Plagueis is Palaptine’s old master, the earliest mention of his we get is when Palpatine uses his story to pull Anakin to the Dark Side. He is also the mysterious Sith figure obsessed with immortality, a drive that Palpatine inherited.

Plagueis eventually met his end at the hands of his student, but the idea lived on. The events of ‘The Acolyte’ however take place before the prequels, in 132 BBY to be more exact and that offered us an opportunity to see Darth Plagueis’ rise to power.

Headland recently sat down with IndieWire and commented on why she decided to include him in the final episode. Headland revealed that Plagueis was always in every draft of the finale, and she needed him to “step on” that moment of Qimir’s and Osha’s triumph:

Plagueis was always in the finale, in every version. […] There was a version where he was the button of the finale [instead of Yoda], But having the sinister figure be the last thing that we see never felt quite right. You want to feel Osha’s triumph. You want to feel her joining forces with The Stranger. Plagueis stepped on [that moment]. […] 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,

Headland also commented on the ramifications of Plagueis’ appearance and she teased a very dark future for both Qimir and Osha:

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!’

Recently, Headland said that she does have an idea on how to connect Plagueis to Palaptine’s story and ‘The Acolyte,’ but it’s really messy and really complicated. I guess if ‘The Acolyte’ sees a second season, we’re going to see it play out in some way.

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