Ever since Amandla Stenberg’s Osha had watched Manny Jacinto’s Qimir aka the Stranger strip down to take a bath, back in episode 6 of The Acolyte, Star Wars fans had not only shipped the duo but also craved some form of physical touch between them. Eventually, the time came for Osha and Qimir’s intimate moment in the season 1 finale when the latter walked over to his new Sith apprentice.
While The Acolyte fans had expected to see a long-awaited kiss between Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto’s character, it unfortunately never happened. Despite building up a moment and playing with fans’ expectations, Leslye Headland scrapped the idea of a kiss and instead shot the iconic lightsaber touch scene for an emotional reason.
Osha and Qimir’s Kiss in The Acolyte S1 Finale was Eventually Scrapped
Season 1 of the Disney+ television series, The Acolyte, ended on a triumphant note for the Sith, as Amandla Stenberg’s Osha, who started the series with ties to the Jedi, eventually joined Manny Jacinto’s Qimir on the dark side, as his new Sith apprentice. Choking her former Jedi master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) to death using the Force after finding out that he had killed her mother years ago, Osha finally gave in to the dark side.
While Star Wars fans had been facing constant dilemmas about Osha’s fate and her potential relationship with Qimir, for a long time, it turns out audiences were right to feel that way as the show had been hinting at intimacy between the duo. Considering Manny Jacinto’s seductive performance and Amandla Stenberg’s character watching him strip down for a bath, fans finally expected a kiss to happen between them in the finale.
Well, to put it out there, The Acolyte undoubtedly shot a kiss between the two characters to end the first season. But unfortunately, it never saw the light of the day, as the kiss was later scrapped. Speaking with Vulture, Manny Jacinto had confirmed that a kiss happened between him and Amandla Stenberg, but Leslye Headland later informed EW, why she chose to not include it in the finale.
I’m just going to put it out there. There was a version that we filmed where Osha and the Stranger actually kiss. But we felt that it may have not been too earned at that moment. I think it was just too early on. The Stranger killed a bunch of her friends, and she just killed her fatherlike figure [Sol]. For them to have this sensual moment just didn’t feel like it was appropriate. It’s just on the cutting-room floor. Jacinto told Vulture.
A kiss was definitely on the table, I would say. [But] I felt like it wasn’t earned yet. For one, I felt like they earned each other’s respect, they earned each other’s allegiance, but physical intimacy beyond a Jane Austen brush, it just felt wrong, and the cast agreed. Headland told EW.
So it seems that despite planning on a kiss, and even shooting it, The Acolyte left it on the editing room floor and compromised it with a touch of the lightsaber. After constantly teasing the possible connection between Osha and Qimir, the show chose not to show a kiss, for an emotional reason.
Leslye Headland Instead Shot the Lightsaber Scene for an Emotional Reason
Taking Manny Jacinto and even Leslye Headland’s comments into consideration, it seems the final decision was indefinitely brilliant, as it not only portrayed a pure moment of intimacy but also informed audiences that Osha and Qimir aren’t going too fast with their newfound connection. Therefore, it turns out that the lightsaber touch was not originally in the script, and was evidently implemented on the day of filming.
In an interview with Inverse, Leslye Headland informed The Acolyte fans about how Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto had come up with the idea at the last minute, probably after their kissing scene. Explaining the reason why she greenlighted the lightsaber scene, Headland stated that it denoted mutual respect and even stood as a metaphor for allegiance. Although there were romantic overtones to it, the creator felt it was justified.
We did. We definitely toyed with it. There was a very long conversation about it actually on set, and there were a lot of pros and cons, but ultimately it was the actors that came up with that option of holding the lightsaber together. They kind of organically came up with it together because we ultimately didn’t land on kiss. So the question was, “What’s a kiss, but not a kiss?”
And I think them being tied together by this lightsaber that has honestly followed Osha all the way through her life – she holds it as a child when Sol hands it to her, it’s the lightsaber that killed her mother, and now that it’s bled, it’s the representation of her ascension into dark sided-ness. The second they did it, I was like, “This is right. This is absolutely right.”
Following Leslye Headland’s explanation, now the touch seems like the perfect compromise for the kiss. It not only satisfied the Star Wars fans’ urge for an intimate scene between Osha and Qimir but also established a bond of respect over romance.
The Acolyte is available on Disney+.
