‘The Acolyte’ Showrunner Leslye Headland On Space Witch’s Bizarre Black Smoke Form: “I Believe That Aniseya Is Transforming Herself And Mae Into The Force”
According to showrunner Leslye Headland, the absolutely bizarre ‘black smoke cloud’ form taken on by Mother Aniseya in the latest episode of The Acolyte was a result of her literally “transforming herself and Mae into The Force”.
As seen in the Disney Star Wars series’ seventh episode, Choice, the leader of the space witch coven shows off this canonically new ability during the Jedi’s outreach mission to recruit Osha into their order.
Following her initial refusal to allow her daughter to train with them, Mother Aniseya is eventually met with a second plea from Master Sol, who assures the space with that the Jedi “come with noble intentions.”
However, after the Jedi asks her as to the circumstances of the twins’ birth, the space witch rebuffs her guests and dismisses, “Someday, those noble intentions you all have will destroy every Jedi in the galaxy.”
With this declaration, the tension between the Jedi and space witch forces becomes nearly palpable, each side waiting with baited-breath for the other too make the first move in the anticipated battle for Osha’s future.
Enter Mae, who having just realized that her attempt to burn Osha alive in order to prevent her from joining the Jedi is actually producing results, bursts into the meeting area crying for her mothers to help her save her sister.
Upon hearing her daughter’s cries, Mother Koril’s kicks into ‘mother mode’, drawing her staff and moving to strike out against the Jedi.
In response, Master Torbin draws his own lightsaber and prepares to stand in defense of Master Sol.
And it is here that Mother Aniseya takes on her new form, as in response to this ‘shot heard round the space witch coven’, the magic-user, her eyes signaling the change by first turning pitch black, turns herself into a cloud of black smoke and attempts to protectively drape herself over her daughter.
But before she can, her life is brought to an end by Master Sol, who acting out of instinct draws his own lightsaber in self-defense and – somehow – delviers a fatal counter-stab to the cloudy-Aniseya.
Confused by that entire recap?
Well, you’re not alone, as per even the briefest of reviews of any social media platform, most viewers walked away from the episode wondering as to just what the hell they had watched.
To this end, Headland would eventually clarify viewers’ confusion not during the episode itself, but rather a post-episode interview given to The Nerdist’s Michael Walsh.
Pressed by Walsh “When Mae asks for help Aniseya not only starts dematerializing her own body, she makes Mae turn into a a shadow as well. What can you tell us about what exactly is happening there and why?”, the showrunner explained, “Aniseya’s main concern is that violence will be used in this confrontation.”
“[Mother Aniseya actor] Jodie (Turner-Smith) and I talked about that meaning two things,” recalled Headland. “One, that Aniseya must have come from someplace that utilized violence. It’s something she would have seen when she was a child, something that she would’ve endured in her coming of age. So the main concern is obviously the safety of her children, the physical safety of them. The secondary concern is, ‘I do not want my children or my legacy to be affected by something violent. I want to remove them from whatever that is.'”
“The ‘why’ (about the dematerializing) is the first thing that Jodie and I talked about in seeding the character,” she continued. “What she is doing is what Jecki says in episode four, that it’s an honor to see anyone transform into the Force. I believe that Aniseya is transforming herself and Mae into the Force in a way that doesn’t kill them.”
And there you have it, Star Wars fans – official, canon confirmation that The Force is, at least to some extent, literally female.
The next episode of The Acolyte is currently set to bring the series’ first season to a close on July 16th.
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