The fifth episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte revealed the identity of the villainous “Darth Teeth” Sith Master, and it’s one thing that a lot of fans of the show are talking about.
If you haven’t watched the episode yet, you might want to skip this article.
This most recent episode of the series was essentially a 30-minute lightsaber fight that saw several Jedi characters die at the hands of the mysterious and powerful Sith Master.
In the middle of that, the identity of the villain was revealed to be Qimir, the timid trader played by Manny Jacinto. This wasn’t a surprise to me or a lot of others, and it turns out that this is a reveal that the creative team wasn’t looking to hide from the audience.
The Acolyte Showrunner Leslye Headland opened up about the reveal and how they made sure to leave breadcrumbs behind leading to the reveal.
Headland explained to EW.: “I think a good twist is not about hiding everything from the audience and then throwing it on them like, ‘Hey, this is what you didn’t see! We hid it so well that you didn’t see this.’”
“I think a good twist is telegraphing what’s going to happen, and then once it does, executing it without an ounce of pity or sentimentality.”
Jacinto also talked about preparing for this reveal, saying: “We talked a lot about how you take a low-status character and convert him to a badass.
“He’s a guy that is so under the radar, that nobody is paying attention to, and all of a sudden he’s actually the guy pulling the strings.”
When talking about his fight training for the episode, he said: “I had almost four months to train for that fight scene. That was the first time I really got to dig into something with so much action and really make use of my dance background.
“We worked on everything. We did boxing, we worked on kicks, we worked on all the choreography. It was tough. They conditioned my body so that I could get through this five-person fight scene.”
The fight sequence is being praised by a lot of fans, not only for the fight, but also for killing offer several Jedi characters. Not all the fans are invested in this series or these characters, but for those who are, it was a shocking chapter of the story.