Star Wars Confirms Plans to Make Fan Favorite Character the First Knight of Ren
Star Wars fan theories about The Stranger's ties to Kylo Ren were indeed correct.
The Acolyte promised something tantalizing when it premiered on Disney+ last year. Star Wars fans had been waiting for a deep dive into the dying High Republic for a long time, and the series planned to deliver one over several seasons. Unfortunately, it was abruptly cancelled due to low ratings and budget overruns, so we’ll never get to see what it had in store.
Luckily, new revelations from The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte book reveal what many fans had already guessed after that huge finale cliffhanger: Qimir, a.k.a. The Stranger (Manny Jacinto), was set to be the first Knight of Ren.
The Stranger’s design and combat style, already reminiscent of Kylo Ren, definitely weren’t coincidences. Even his musical cues subtly borrowed from Kylo’s theme, sparking theories that The Acolyte was laying the groundwork for the Knights’ ancient origins. And those theories were absolutely right!
Showrunner Leslye Headland has confirmed that Qimir’s story would go on to echo through the Skywalker saga. “It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice,” she notes. “Following the Rule of Two – a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice – one way to keep it going it is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives.”
The Acolyte was clearly building toward a big moment in Star Wars history, and it seems that would have revolved around the transition from the High Republic to the Sith-dominated Republic era, with the villainous Qimir as the darkness at its heart.
The good news is that even though The Acolyte was cancelled, fan favorite characters can always return in future Star Wars projects, something that Jacinto is aware of.
“I would love nothing more [than] to run it back,” Jacinto said during a recent panel at Fan Expo Chicago. “I feel like with the prequels, I mean, I grew up on the prequels as well, and you know, as a kid, you watch that, and you’re just in awe of it. And then we grow up, and then now we have money… and we have more confidence as well, and we’re able to voice our opinion.”
He added, “So I do hope that, you know, it finds new life, or it continues to find the love… you know, being out here has been so much love, and I just hope it continues, and we’ll see. Never say never.”
Star Wars is known for giving its fans what they want, even if it takes them years (or decades) to get around to it. It’s likely that we haven’t seen the last of The Stranger, despite the untimely death of The Acolyte.
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Kirsten Howard has paid their dues. Yes sir, the check is in the mail.