Big things were planned for The Acolyte! Manny Jacinto reveals that a multi-season arc was planned for the Star Wars villain Darth Plagueis in the series.
The Acolyte is such a heartbreaking tale for Star Wars fans. To many, it was a perfect series with standout performances by Manny Jacinto and Amandla Stenberg. However, a combination of a vocal minority lashing out against the series, a massive price tag, and less-than-stellar viewership numbers led to the show getting the axe.
This clearly wasn’t the plan originally envisioned for The Acolyte. It’s clear the show was meant to be the next Disney Plus moneymaker for Star Wars. Not only did Manny Jacinto’s Qimir have a lot of runway as a villain, but the show heavily suggested that Darth Plagueis was a controlling force behind the scenes. This was enough fertile ground for several seasons worth of stories that will ultimately never come to life.
The Scrapped Plans For Darth Plagueis In The Acolyte
It seems future seasons of The Acolyte weren’t just hypothetical either. When speaking about his role in the Star Wars series, Manny Jacinto revealed that there were plans in place for Qimir and Darth Plagueis and Qimir. While he declined to share exact details due to hopes the show gets picked up again in some form, it does seem at least three seasons of content were at least in mind.
“Oh man, that’s a tough question,” Jacinto spoke during FanExpo San Francisco when asked about a connection between Qimir and Darth Plageuis. “They’re not [connected], they’re definitely not. Oh man, how do I answer that? What time is it? [laughs] There are definitely a lot of different theories, like who he is, because we never actually know his true identity.”
“Is Qimir’s name actually Qimir? We definitely wanted to explore it. There was definitely going to be more of Plagueis in the second, or if not, the third seasons of the show, but I just can’t say, because, you know, we could come back. I don’t want to spoil anything, or give anybody any false hope, but I would just say there was a lot more to explore, for sure.”
It’s a shame that The Acolyte was cut down when Star Wars fans have been begging for a literal half-decade to see Darth Plagueis take center stage. The series serves as a reminder that, in the modern age of streaming, shows can’t only do good. They have to excel above and beyond, and even then may not be renewed for a season 2. It’s a lesson all fans should heed, even if they’re not attached to a massive fandom like Star Wars.
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