The Acolyte’s Star And Creator Were Surprised The Twist Didn’t Leak

In 2019, the first episode of The Mandalorian surprised Star Wars fans with the reveal of Grogu, who was immediately dubbed “Baby Yoda” among fandom. This week, The Acolyte carried on that tradition by launching with a surprise twist that was successfully kept quiet ahead of the show’s two-episode premiere. And no one is more shocked that the secret remained intact than The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland and the star of the series, Amandla Stenberg.

Warning: the following contains spoilers from the first two episodes of The Acolyte on Disney+. If you haven’t seen the episodes or don’t want to know what happens, stop reading now.

By now, Star Wars fans know that Stenberg isn’t just playing a renegade Jedi killer named Mae. She’s also portraying Mae’s twin sister, Osha Aniseya, a young woman who was once a Padawan learner. Most of the footage seen in the trailers only featured Mae, which successfully hid Osha’s existence until the show’s debut. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, both Headland and Stenberg expressed their surprise that spoilers didn’t ruin the reveal.

“I was shocked,” exclaimed Stenberg. “I totally thought it was going to leak earlier, like a lot earlier.”

“I was surprised,” added Headland before noting that a line from the trailer warning Padawans against trusting their eyes “could apply to the rest of the season as well, not just the promotional materials.”

The other shocking moment from the premiere was the introduction and quick demise of Carrie-Anne Moss’ Jedi Master Indara at the hands of Mae. From a behind-the-scenes perspective of their time working together, Stenberg said “Carrie-Anne Moss is just everything you would hope and expect Carrie-Anne Moss to be.”

“She is such a spiritually grounded, compassionate, warm, kind person,” continued Stenberg. “She kind of took on a mom role with me, while I, [as Mae], was trying to kill her, and that was really kind. She really lovingly guided me, and she gave me tricks and tips, not just physically when it came to the choreography. I learned so much from just observing her, but also just about being in this industry and doing this kind of work over a long period of time and how you sustain yourself when you’re doing this kind of work, because that’s a huge part of it, too.”

The third episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte will premiere on Disney+ on Tuesday, June 11.