We talked to the showrunner of 'The Acolyte' about her plans for season 2 and the future of the series

With a woman as showrunner and a very diverse cast, to no one's surprise, the always toxic fandom started spewing hatred before the premiere of The Acolyte, but while some were writing negative reviews of the series without even watching it, Star Wars fans who decided to give it a chance have been enjoying a great spin-off every week.

Leslye Headland has not only shown to have a great knowledge, respect, and affection for everything related to this franchise - be it movies, series, novels, comics, or even fanfics - but she has also proven to be a great storyteller.

With grateful 30-minute episodes, The Acolyte has managed to keep interest week after week while burning plot and advancing the story, respecting the episodic structure and dosing the information in a way that what is held back never seems forced.

The perfect example of this generosity was finding the resolution of one of the big mysteries in the fifth episode, something that most series would have kept as an ace up their sleeve for the final minutes of the season.

In the fourth episode, the series brought all its protagonists together on the planet Khofar following Kelnacca's trail. Mae and Osha arrived with their respective allies, and by the end, the inevitable encounter with the Sith took place, which was resolved in the fifth chapter, the best of the season along with the flashback, which not only revealed the identity of its villain but also left several memorable fight scenes and did not hesitate to kill off main characters.

'The Acolyte' 1x06

One episode away from the season finale, it is inevitable to start wondering if the series has a closed ending or will have continuity, something that EL ESPAÑOL spoke with Leslye Headland about before the premiere on Disney+.

"If there's one thing I've learned after working in television for a decade, it's that when you have a first opportunity, you take advantage of it," she says when asked how many seasons she has planned to tell the story.

"If you've been given a first season, don't write it thinking about saving things for a second season. At least you shouldn't. The only thing you should think about is creating a story with a beginning, middle, and end," she states, indicating that the ending of this first season of The Acolyte "will be satisfying in terms of narrative structure."

However, this doesn’t mean that if the series is renewed, Headland wouldn't have new paths to explore.

Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, and Leslye Headland on the set of 'The Acolyte'

"Once we have told this story and resolved the main conflict we posed at the beginning of this installment, we also leave some clues that suggest what we could explore in case we have continuity."

"If we are renewed for a second season," she continues, "that will be the moment when we will start mapping out how many installments we believe we can take this story, always being realistic. And thinking of new characters to kill off (laughs)."

Regarding what to expect from the season finale, Headland revealed in an interview last week with Inverse that in the last two episodes "There is more action and more lightsabers," also, "the tone is darker, and everything is more emotional." 

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence