Manny Jacinto Comments on the Romance Between Osha & Qimir: “Give the people what they want”

‘The Acolyte’ wrapped up its first season this week. The show wrapped up most of its loose ends while still managing to hint at some things for the future of the show. Master Sol is dead, we’ve had cameos of Plagueis and Master Yoda. We finally got the confirmation that Vernestra Rwoh is Qimir’s former Jedi Master, and there’s also that whole relationship between Qimir and Osha.

Qimir and Osha were teased as a couple back in episode 6. Episode 6 stirred fans due to Sith getting naked and “seducing” Osha to the dark side.

Even back then Leslye Headland confirmed that the show truly is shipping Osha and Qimir, and fans have gotten wild over it. Now in his recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Manny Jacinto, the face behind Qimir confirmed that the show did truly wanted to allude that there’s more between Osha and Qimir than the mere thirst for power:

It was always something that we wanted to allude to. From the beginning, we knew the journey of these characters, that it would end up in sort of this more intimate type of relationship. Everything from the being seduced by the dark side to the power of two. There is this sense of intimacy and romanticism that is just there, especially when you have two people that are thought of as being outsiders. You want somebody to go through this world that doesn’t accept you. You want to go through it with somebody. It was always implied.

I remember that specific scene, I was only meant to stand beside her. Amandla was just standing there looking out into the ocean, and I would just stand beside her. And we were just supposed to look out into this vast ocean together. And I suggested, “Hey, would it be cool if I reach my hand over where she’s holding the lightsaber, and I kind of just wrap my hand around her hand?” And fortunately, Leslye is very collaborative and she was like, “Yeah, let’s try it!” And then we filmed it a bunch of times and she was like, “I really like this!” And then lo and behold, we kept it for the final cut.

Manny Jacinto also teased that we might see more of that if the show gets a second season:

I think it alludes to something more romantic, but it also alludes to something I think a lot of Star Wars fans are yearning for. In this IP, you have the ships like Reylo, and you have all those relationships that people just innately want to see — these romantic relationships that people want to see in Star Wars. So Leslye was like, “Give the people what they want. Let’s lean into this.” And hopefully we can explore more of that again in a possible season 2 and in subsequent seasons.

Despite Qimir’s and Osha’s relationship having much potential, there’s also something that Headland has hinted at in one of her interviews recently. No matter how perfect and good for each other Osha and Qimir seem, the appearance of Darth Plagueis changes everything. You know there can only be two…

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

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