Star Wars: The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland addresses a strange scene in the season 1 finale featuring Bazil. The Tynnan tracker has been an ally of the Jedi and has played an important role on the show since his introduction in episode 4. Bazil is also one of the few characters to survive the massacre that occurred on the planet Khofar and all the violent tragedies that transpired in season 1, making what he witnessed all the more important.
While speaking with Collider, Headland explained why Bazil sabotages Sol’s ship in the finale when the Jedi Knight is pursuing Mae. As an ally of the Jedi, Bazil presumably would have helped Sol instead of helping Mae, who murdered Jedi Masters Indara and Torbin. The creative decision ultimately had more to do with Sol than it did with Bazil. Check out Headland’s explanation below:
I think he’s kind of like, “What is going on with this guy?” I love Bazil, I wanted to give him a hero moment. I wanted Sol to be completely on edge. I think that Bazil has witnessed the handcuffing, you know what I mean, because he’s hiding in the ship. We don’t cut to him because that would slow down this very important scene between two of the main characters, but I kind of liked the idea that he came in and was like, “What’s going on in here?”
Bazil Is Now The Greatest Threat To The Sith
He Saw The Sith On Khofar
Every character in The Acolyte who sees the red lightsabers of Qimir/the Stranger and everyone who sees him unmasked is dead, with the exceptions of Mae, Osha, and Bazil. Since Mae’s memories of Qimir are now wiped away and Osha has joined Qimir, Bazil is now the only individual who saw the Sithin action. On Khofar, Bazil sees Qimir wielding the red lightsabers, and he even gets a glimpse of an unmasked Qimir when the Sith returns to the ground after being temporarily taken away by umbramoths.
Vernestra Rwoh senses Qimir when she lands on Brendok and recognizes him as her former Jedi pupil, but she does not see him in action as a full-fledged Sith the way Bazil did on Khofar. Bazil’s knowledge makes him a genuine threat to preserving the secrecy of the Sith’s survival. He can expose Qimir in a way that no other character currently can, although someone else will need to translate, as the deceased Yord Fandar was one of the few Jedi fluent in Bazil’s language.
Headland makes it clear that Bazil sabotaging Sol’s ship had more to do with further unbalancing the Jedi Master than with the Tynnan tracker. Nevertheless, Bazil’s concern about the erratic way Sol was acting and the decisions Bazil makes proves that he is not blindly loyal to or subservient to the Jedi. This could take his character in intriguing directions if The Acolyte receives a season 2, and may explain why his seeing a Sith does not become common knowledge to the Jedi.