In a wide-ranging Inverse interview with The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland, we got a whole lot of new information about Qimir, if that’s even his name, the new Sith that has introduced last week in a stunning fashion.

One thing that stood out was his wild combat style which involved butchering multiple Jedi, and his unique look which involved bare (as many noted, very jacked) arms, a flowing draped robe and just two pieces of armor, a helmet and gauntlet made of lightsaber-killing Cortosis, now made canon, pulled from the EU.

Headland talks about her theory for designing Qimir’s Sith form, and references something very nerdy and very gaming-specific:

“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 f***ing crazy.”

“Why wear armor if you’re not going to get hit,” goes hard, and what she is no doubt referencing is the most famous example of this in Elden Ring, a player named Let Me Solo Her who spend months helping players beat Malenia, the hardest boss in the game, wearing nothing but a loincloth and a pot on his head, who became legendary in the game’s fandom. Though in fact, many high-skill players do naked or “no-hit” runs in the game wearing essentially nothing.

Headland also has a lot more to say about Qimir and his explosive debut:

  • She references seeing Qimir/Osha fanfic and says it is was surprisingly “prescient,” indicating a potential romance there. Or just the “seduction” of the dark side, which is a concept she really wants to explore.
  • She rewrote an episode because of Manny Jacinto’s incredible performance and he will appear more in season 1 than initially planned.
  • The “red shirt” Jedi were a misdirect and she always planned to kill major characters like Jecki and Yord in that fight. The goal is to embed in viewers that they have no idea who will actually survive the series.

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  • If she could not get Manny Jacinto, she was not going to do the character at all (I love Jacinto but I am really curious why she drilled down on him specifically, which she doesn’t say).
  • The Kylo Ren theme playing in the episode was on purpose, but she can’t explain what it means yet.

I am very impressed with her thought process on all this, and her creation of Qimir especially in collaboration with Manny Jacinto. I went from being pretty neutral on this show to not being able to wait and see what happens next in tonight’s episode. See you then.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.