‘The Acolyte’ Showrunner Leslye Headland Teases Reylo-Style Romance Between Osha And Qimir: “I Was Sent One Fanfic And I Was Absolutely Surprised At How Prescient It Was”
Buckle up, Star Wars fans: A new round of shipping discourse may soon be upon us.
According to The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, despite being clearly introduced as enemies, there may end up being a ‘more than friendly’ bent to the relationship between series protagonist Osha and newly-revealed villain Qimir.
Headland revealed this detail while speaking to Inverse‘s Lyvie Scott following the deadly events of the series’ fifth episode, Night.
At one point during the conversation, the showrunner was asked by Scott, in light of the two characters’ brief interaction at the end of the episode, “The Internet is quietly shipping Osha and Qimir. What can we expect from their relationship now that they’re stuck together?”
In turn, Headland coyly dodged, “How do I answer this? Well…”
Further pressed by Scott “Are you into the good girl/bad guy pairing?”, the showrunner first affirmed her love for the “enemies to loves” dynamic before clarifying that, in terms of Osha and Qimir, “I don’t even think this is ‘good girl against bad guy.”
“I think it’s more like,” Headland continued, “OK, I’ll put it this way. I always really loved the line in A New Hope when Obi-Wan says ‘Vader was seduced by the Dark Side.’ Always loved that word, ‘seduced.’ I can also say that I was sent one fanfic — which I’m really glad has already started — and I was absolutely surprised at how prescient it was.”
On the topic of fan fiction, the show runner further noted, “Somebody sent it to me, and I also thought, ‘Already?’ I mean, it was like Wednesday. The show had not been out 24 hours, and I read it and I was like, ‘OK, damn. OK!'”
“Listen, I’m not hugely in that world, but I do think that when people get into their own imaginations — whether they’re playing Elden Ring or they’re writing fanfic — they can come up with a lot of really, really fun stuff,” said Headland. “People who love Star Wars really love worlds. They love living in it, they love taking their time watching it and looking at every little detail, and then dreaming about it and imagining it, and sometimes that comes out as people writing fan fiction, and sometimes it’s very smart fan fiction.”
To this end, Scott, ostensibly attempting to draw a connection between the Osha/Qimir dynamic and the one shared by Rey and Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy, then inquired with Headland as to whether she could provide any insight into her decision to put “bits of the Kylo Ren theme” throughout the episode.
“Ah, wish I could,” Headland ultimately declined. “It is there on purpose, but I can’t tell you why, and I can’t go into what it is. But you shall see.”
As of this article’s publication, the sixth episode of The Acolyte is now available for streaming on Disney Plus.
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