The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen and Charlie Barnett to discuss
The Acolyte
.
Is Jacinto’s Qimir to be trusted? Is Barnett’s Yord really the model Jedi he appears to be?
Keen also discusses the importance of her character being half-human and half-Theelin.

As described in the show’s official synopsis, the new Star Wars series, The Acolyte, stars Amandla Stenberg as Mae, a young woman with a tragic past who gets caught up in a dangerous mystery. On her tail is Lee Jung-jae’s Jedi Master Sol, a strong and respected warrior with a vital connection to Mae. “As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.” When “all is not what it seems,” who can we trust? Whose intentions are pure? Who’s susceptible to the allure and power of the dark side of the Force?

One of the most curious characters of the bunch? Manny Jacinto’s Qimir, a “shiftless drifter” who appears dedicated to helping Mae. Jacinto insists that while playing Qimir, he leaned into his lightheartedness and the class clown aspect of the character, but given the deadly nature of the mission Mae is on, it’s hard not to be suspicious of everyone she encounters.

In The Acolyte, there are even some different modes of operation among the Jedi. Charlie Barnett’s Yord is considered to be an overachiever and all-around A+ Jedi, but while at Star Wars Celebration, Barnett mentioned, “Through the development of these characters, you realize that bad and good is at the eyes of the beholder.” Could we see Yord’s perception of others evolve as the story progresses?

And as for Dafne Keen’s Jecki, while she is the proud Padawan to Master Sol, Keen did stress the importance of the fact that, essentially, these children training to become Jedi have been ripped from their homes. She begs the question, “What does it do to a child to take them away from their family, away from their planet, away from their culture, and be thrown into this?”

We’ll start to peel back the layers of all three characters when The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ on June 4, but in the meantime, Barnett, Keen, and Jacinto all offered teases of the paths their characters could be heading down during our interview in celebration of the show’s big debut. You can hear it all straight from the trio in the video at the top of this article, or you can read the conversation in transcript form below.

‘The Acolyte’s Charlie Barnett Got in Trouble for This Question at Star Wars Celebration

PERRI NEMIROFF: Charlie, I’m following up on something you told my colleague at Star Wars Celebration. You said that one of the most exciting things about working on this project was that, through the language and the development of these characters, you realized that bad and good are in the eyes of the beholder.

CHARLIE BARNETT: I got in trouble for this question.

Really?

BARNETT: Oh yeah.

Can you tease how Yord personally must reckon with that particular idea?

BARNETT: It’s hard because in the episodes there’s so much we can’t give away. Yord is invested and committed to the Council. He is committed to this Jedi force leading the people, leading the universe into a positive light. I think he truly believes the good that is grounded in that. You know, though, life is way more complicated. I think of the times when we, as kids, when you realize your parents aren’t gods, you know what I mean? That moment when the shatter comes and everybody becomes just human. You have a little bit more empathy, but it also creates this kind of, ‘I feel like I’ve been lied to or manipulated in some ways.’ I think that’s some of the experiences that Yord is terrified by and may come to experience, but I can’t really talk about things. [Laughs] But yes, I did get in trouble for this answer at Star Wars Celebration.

DAFNE KEEN: He got heat.

BARNETT: I got heat. And in my mind, it’s so funny to me because literally, as a person who’s outside and just a fan coming in, that was what was so beautiful and interesting to me. People have been talking to me online about how Darth Vader is such a bad person. It’s very clear, and it’s very well established from those actions. But if you can’t look and see that [Luke] blowing up the Death Star possibly killed millions and millions of people – I’m gonna get in trouble for saying this right now.

KEEN: Yeah, you should just shut up. Shut up. [Laughs]

BARNETT: But that is the beauty of this story! And it’s the beauty of life.

KEEN: That there’s nuance.

BARNETT: It’s not about not holding people to the fire when they do make the wrong decisions or when they are bad, but recognizing why they led to the places that they led is important. I think it’s why Lucas wrote it.

It’s why I’ve kind of stopped using the word “villain,” because I feel like people look at a villain as a surface-level bad person, whereas if I say “antagonist,” at least that implies depth and that we’ll get some justification for why they’ve done what they’ve done.

BARNETT: Which is honestly, in the end, better for understanding and not trying to be best friends. We’re not trying to take everybody in but knowing where you have your protections and your boundaries.

I love how I’m following up that really thoughtful answer with this particular question, but I always wonder about this. Did Leslye ever tell you why his lightsaber is yellow?

BARNETT: Oh, I did my own research. They actually gave me a green one first, and — [to Keen] you were calling me out about this — I was super excited to have green just because of the connections to all of those characters. And when they were like, ‘Well, actually, we’re gonna switch you out and give you yellow,’ a tear dropped. And then I did my research, and I also realized, ‘Wait, Rey has a yellow one and she’s pretty freaking cool. That’s dope.’ But now I know that the dynamics of duality of using the force, and being good Council member.

Why Becoming a Jedi Is “Salvation” for Jecki in ‘The Acolyte’
Image via Disney+

Dafne, I don’t know if this is something that you spoke to Leslye about, but what does it mean for Jecki to be half human and half Theelin? How does that influence who she is, how she carries herself and the choices she makes?

KEEN: That’s a really good question. We did have a lot of conversations about that. I like to know the whole backstory to my character and Leslye sort of gave me a lot of freedom in. I’d talk to her, but I’d come with all the ideas and she’d be like, ‘Yeah, that’s good,’ or, ‘That doesn’t work.’ But we spoke about it a lot, and I do think that does really influence you. I think also, [Charlie and I] spoke about this a lot, how these characters come to be is through their childhoods, and these are children who have basically been ripped of their childhoods and taken into this institution where they’ve been trained to be Jedi. So, what does it do to a child to take them away from their family, away from their planet, away from their culture, and be thrown into this?

BARNETT: A melting pot, too. With a bunch of other …

KEEN: Yeah, exactly. I think the way that we looked at it was from that point, from, ‘Well, how does that affect a child, and what does that child look like now as a grown-up?’

Do you think that she left her home world and her people with enthusiasm for training to become a Jedi?

KEEN: I think so. The way that I imagined it, she comes from a poorer background, and I think that was the salvation in a way.

Related Vernestra’s Biggest Strength in ‘The Acolyte’ Is Also Her Biggest Weakness The High Republic series premieres on Disney+ on June 4.

Manny, I don’t trust Qimir. When you are playing a character who is mysterious and has to spark that doubt in viewers, do you have to come up with an anchor of sorts, something to play that game, but still make sure he has some consistency to him?

MANNY JACINTO: Yeah. I feel with Qimir and having long conversations with Leslye as well, it’s very much leaning into the lightheartedness of a character that has to hide or that doesn’t really trust anybody or is kind of a lone wolf. You either get the class clown aspect or you get the charismatic Han Solo character, so we lean more into the class clown, kind of aloof and doesn’t really know what’s going on, but maybe is smarter than you think type of deal. But yeah, when it comes to the Jedi or the Sith to him, it’s about creating his own path as opposed to following either or.

I don’t know if having discussions with friends and their theories getting in my head is affecting this, but I don’t know how much I believe what you’re saying!

JACINTO: [Laughs] Don’t believe anything that I say.

I feel like there’s more there, and I can’t wait to see more beyond Episode 4.

Image via Disney+

Leaning back into the lightsabers, I read a quote from you, Manny, saying you had lightsaber envy until you realized how physically demanding the training was. So for the two of you, what single aspect of lightsaber training surprised you in terms of how difficult it was to master?

BARNETT: The choreography aspect of it.

KEEN: The choreography is difficult. Also, making it look cool is the hardest part.

JACINTO: You guys made it look cool.

BARNETT: But you watch masters of stunts go and do this before you.

KEEN: And they’re like, ‘Oh, just do this.’

BARNETT: You’re stuck in the corner doing it, and you’re just like, ‘He’s gonna be called in.’ And you’re like, ‘I really want to succeed!’

KEEN: We’re both very competitive people, so we were like, ‘I need to achieve it.’ That was really difficult. Also, for me personally, I’m a short person and when we got on set — this is really embarrassing — the lightsaber kept hitting the ground whenever I’d twirl it so they had to give me a short-person version of it because it really did not look cool. I’d twirl it, and it’d be like bonk.

For what it’s worth, I would have had the same problem.

KEEN: Well, I’m glad someone relates to it because it was really embarrassing!

Manny, if you could steal one person’s lightsaber in this ensemble, whose would you choose and why?

JACINTO: It would be Rebecca [Henderson’s] lightsaber whip.

I thought that was the right answer.

KEEN: I think it’s pretty obvious.

BARNETT: No question about that.

KEEN: I think we all want Rebecca’s lightsaber.

We’ve only seen the tiniest snippet of what it’s capable of in live-action form, but my god, that looks so badass.

BARNETT: I’ve watched it on repeat like 15 times.

I don’t blame you!

BARNETT: Just that clip.

You and the entire internet!

Image via Disney+

Related Here’s How Many Seasons of ‘The Acolyte’ Leslye Headland Wants To Make There’s a pathway through the galaxy for the show’s story.

I’ll end with a group question for all of you about working with Leslye because obviously I’ve been a big fan of hers from her other work for a long, long time, but another thing that I keep reading that came in handy on this set was that she is a Star Wars superfan. Can you each give me an example of a time when her extensive knowledge of this lore helped you crack a tough scene or find something in your character that you wouldn’t have been able to without her?

BARNETT: Leslye was incredible, and she is incredible at this in every one of her projects, collaborating with the people that are involved. And I can only speak from our aspects, but such a brilliant job at bringing us on and allowing us to find our own voices and our own connections to the characters, which I just think breathes life into a performance in a very specific and detailed way. I will say, I started going off — [laughs] I’m not even gonna go into half of this — I started going off into the planets that I felt like I could have been from initially, and I picked some really obscure, weird ones just to be like, ‘What is Leslye gonna say about this?’ And, ‘I’m not gonna just be from Alderaan.’ Let it be known, I chose Alderaan eventually. [Laughs] But I laid out three or four different planets just to be like, ‘What about this one? This one I read is this. Isn’t it cool, I’m Yord-ing it right now in life.’ And she was just like, ‘Oh no, that one doesn’t work because of this, this, this, and this.’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’ And she’s like, ‘And that one is too far out. It’s a different galaxy.’ I’m like, ‘She really knows all this?’

KEEN: Also, off the top of her head! This isn’t like she Googled it.

BARNETT: This is in the moment. I was like, ‘How? Okay, Alderaan is it. We’re good.’ [Laughs]

JACINTO: I can’t remember specific phrases or sentences, but Leslye really does love to pay an ode to the original trilogy or the prequels. There are certain lines that are in there or certain scenes and how they’re filmed cinematically that they are really mimicking or they are parallels to previous scenes that we’ve seen in other movies. She knows her stuff.

KEEN: For me, a really sweet detail is that she said to me that her favorite species of alien was Theelin, and she wanted to give that to me because when she was a kid she saw the performer in the Cantina. That was just a real honor that I got to bring her vision to life.

The Acolyte
The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.Release Date June 4, 2024 Main Genre Sci-Fi Studio Disney+ Franchise Star Wars

The Acolyte debuts on Disney+ on June 4.

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