The third episode of the debut season of The Acolyte is only a few days away, and while that brings plenty of reveals and information along with it, there’s one big twist at the heart of the show which didn’t leak ahead of it’s screeners, press screenings and premieres when it hit Disney Plus last week. Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, star (or should that be stars?) Amandla Stenberg and showrunner Leslye Headland discussed that twist, and their surprise that it was a reveal that for once was kept secret.
Instead of Stenberg just playing Mae, the vengeful assassin who’s targeting Jedi from her past, she also plays Mae’s twin, Osha, a space mechanic (or meknek in Star Wars terms), who’s wrongfully accused of committing Mae’s Jedi murders due to their shared likeness. The twin sisters were separated 16 years earlier for reasons that will soon come into focus, and needless to say, Stenberg and Headland are stunned that the character of Osha remained a secret to the majority of the audience.
“I totally thought it was going to leak earlier, like a lot earlier,” Stenberg tells The Hollywood Reporter.
However, Headland hints that the deception may not be over yet, as Master Sol’s words will have further significance throughout the rest of the season.
“I also think that line could apply to the rest of the season as well, not just the promotional materials, which, yeah, it did work,” Headland says.
Stenberg first turned heads in 2012’s The Hunger Games by way of Rue, a role she manifested for herself upon reading the original source material. And then, as fate would have it, The Acolyte manifested Stenberg by designing concept art with her in mind before she was even cast. Headland credits 2018’s The Hate U Give for this turn of events, as that’s when she knew that Stenberg could handle not only the dual role of Mae/Osha, but also the responsibility that comes with leading a Star Wars project.
“The Hate U Give, though, was really what pushed me over the edge into the Mae-Osha territory of just feeling so deeply emotionally invested in a performance,” Headland shares. “[Amandla] was my first choice of someone who would be able to not only embody the characters … but to also understand what she was stepping into. And I felt that in that film a lot, too.”
Be sure to follow Fantha for our Acolyte coverage. Our Guides to Episodes 1 and 2 are already on the site, our Making Tracks Reaction Chat can be found over at Fantha Tracks Radio and our group review of the first 2 episodes will be with us later today.
