‘The Acolyte’ Showrunner Leslye Headland Stands Behind Qimir Bathing Scene: “From A Narrative Perspective, It Had To Happen. It Had To.”
According to The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, the ‘nude Qimir bathing scene’ featured in The Acolyte‘s most recent episode was not just included solely for fan service, but primarily because it was absolutely necessary to the series’ narrative.
One of the opening set pieces of the Star Wars series’ sixth episode, Teach/Corrupt, the scene in question centers on Osha (Amandla Stenberg) as she discovers that, following her confrontation with him and her sister Mae in the last episode, she is now under the care of the Dark Side wielding Qimir (Manny Jacinto).
Following a couple solid minutes watching Qimir disrobe, slink into a local hot spring, and begin to wash himself, Osha approaches his gear and contemplates striking him down with his own lightsaber.
However, much to her surprise, the villain is already aware of her presence, as just when she places the weapon’s hilt in her hand, Qimir calls back, “Feels good. Doesn’t it?”
Taken aback by his question, Osha proceeds to freeze, unsure of how to respond to her captor’s surprisingly calm demeanor.
Her hesitation palpable, Qimir proceeds to not fight back against Osha, but instead wax poetic to her about his philosophy regarding The Force, the Jedi, and the true power of the Dark Side.
In a significant thematic deviation from other Star Wars production – but much to the delight of fan girls everywhere – during this entire first part of the pair’s conversation, the camera makes it a point to focus – almost the point of reveling in – on Qimir’s very nude body.
And though this extremely ‘thirsty’ moment seemed out of place, in Headland’s opinion, it was absolutely necessary for the series’ overall plot.
Pressed during a post-Episode 6 interview with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt as to how far she was “allowed to push things with how much skin was shown”, Headland explained, “Lucasfilm really believed in my vision. From a narrative perspective, it had to happen. It had to.”
“He did, like, a Steven Seagal neck snap in the [previous] episode,” said the showrunner. “How do you, at all, get from that to humanity? The only way to do that is to show him in such a wildly vulnerable position, and it has to be visual. I can’t think of something more vulnerable than someone holding a lightsaber on someone who’s that exposed. I just don’t. I felt like he was so merciless in the previous episode that he had to stand in front of her and say, ‘You absolutely can kill me.’ Essentially, ‘I’m at your mercy.’ It couldn’t feel like a put-on. It had to feel like he genuinely was like, ‘Totally. You can do this. There’s nobody around.’
“‘No one’s gonna judge you for it, so what’s up?'” Headland continued. “And again, it feeds in narratively to her decisions of still upholding this. He says, ‘You’re wondering if it’s honorable to kill me like this. You’re still hanging on to the rules. You’re still hanging on to this code.’ Listen, part of it is just decency, and she’s a good person, but I think he’s also starting to teach her. He’s also starting to go, ‘I deserve this.'”
From there, the showrunner further argued, “The dynamics had to be what they are after what he did in [Episode] 5. He cannot seem like an alpha male-y, intimidating — we know he’s capable of that from 5 — but that cannot be his dynamic with her. It wouldn’t make sense!”
“We have to see this other side of him, and we have to see specifically the way he is with her,” she concluded. “He never let Mae see his face, and he let her see him naked. You know what I mean? The character design was very, very intentional.”
As an aside, it should be noted that this absolute thirst over The Acolyte‘s Manny Jacinto is nothing if not hypocritical.
After all, imagine a showrunner trying to use this same logic for a ‘sexy female character’? Or even just trying to make such a character? The outrage and thinkpieces would be endless.
(And just to be clear: The issue is not with individuals enjoying Qimir’s ‘attractiveness’. Rather, the issue is with the thirsty’s glaring hypocrisy.)
The Acolyte‘s next episode is currently scheduled to hit Disney Plus on July 9th.
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