Disney’s most recent Star Wars project, The Acolyte has been on Disney+ since June 4, 2024, and despite all the controversies and review-bombing, the series is still one of the most talked about shows at this time, which shouldn’t really come as a major surprise, seeing how much hype and controversy it caused.

The series’ showrunner, Leslye Headland, has been one of the principal sources of controversy, as her comments and reactions caused a lot of stir online. But the series has begun to see better days after Episode 5, and it seems that the series might get better reviews before it’s over, despite the hate directed towards Headland and her decision.

And while the season will only have eight episodes, with two more left to go, it seems that Headland has a lot in store for us and that the final episodes will provide us with a lot of interesting content. That can be deduced from a recent interview for Inverse, and one of the topics discussed was how the character of Qimir was designed to have a positive influence on the audience.

Headland’s comments on the series and the Star Wars universe in general have been a hot topic online and it seems that they will remain as such for a while. The series had a rocky start, but it’s been picking up the pace since Episode 5 and is now one of the most popular shows currently being broadcast (alongside The Boys and House of the Dragon).

During an interview with Inverse, Headland discussed many things related to the series, and one of the topics was how Qimir’s character was designed to attract audiences:

You’ve been vocal about making The Acolyte accessible to both core fans and novices. Did you expect Manny Jacinto’s arms to be such a huge draw for the series?

[Laughs] Yes. And Manny did, too. His character design was a long process. I mean, it was for everybody, but specifically for his character, to create a new Sith. Sith have been done so well, so it was very difficult to say “All right, this is a guy in hiding. This is the guy that moves differently. This guy’s helmet has a different purpose…” and having to unpack that. I remember we were showing him a Qimir costume sketch, and it just showed his arms a little bit, and he was like, “No.” He’s not a guy that says no very often. He’s very collaborative. He’ll do anything for you. I was surprised. But then I saw his first screen test with the whole outfit, and I was like, “Ha, ha, ha!”

This is an interesting tidbit: Originally, even up until shooting, The Stranger was not in a lot of the rest of the season. He was much more of a tee-up for a second season arc. But I saw Manny’s screen test early on in pre-production, and I just thought, “There will be riots in the streets if I don’t [go further]. Here we go. I guess I’m rewriting an episode.” Manny was so impressive in every aspect.

So much of Qimir was understanding how to use your body and not just standing there in a suit or being encumbered by a suit. We were like, “We have to get him in something flowy.” As soon as I said he didn’t have armor, everyone lost their mind. “How can you not have armor?” I was like, “Why would you wear armor if you’re not going to get hit?” It’s like the Elden Ring costume. The Elden Bling. When you summon people, you always summon the people that aren’t wearing anything, and it’s like, “These people are fucking crazy.”

Source: Inverse

As you can see, Qimir has obviously been tailored from the beginning to be one of the main characters, as well as one of the most popular ones, and it seems that the people behind the project have managed to do just that.

Since his reveal – which we have talked about and which wasn’t all that surprising, really – Qimir has been trending online, and fans have been loving his character development. But, he has also been very popular because of his physical appearance and has been labeled as the “hot Sith” that everyone wants to see.

So, if the series failed in some other aspects, this one is not it, as it is quite obvious that they achieved what they planned with Qimir.

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