The Acolyte star Amandla Stenberg explains how her new Sith acolyte differs from other Star Wars characters that had been lured to the Dark Side. Playing dual characters in the form of sisters Mae and Osha Aniseya, The Acolyte’s season 1 finale saw Osha embrace the Dark Side of the Force and choose to kill her former Jedi Master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae). Meanwhile, her sister Mae, who had previously been apprenticed to Qimir (Manny Jacinto), had her memory wiped before falling into the Jedi’s hands.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Stenberg explained how Osha’s decision to slay her former Master and embrace the same dark path as her sister is very different to other Jedi who have embraced Sith teachings. Suggesting that showrunner Leslye Headland was intent on showing that Osha had not been manipulated into making her decision, as such, a great deal of effort was put into crafting her character’s season 1 journey. Instead, Osha’s fall to the Dark Side is an autonomous choice that was born from a natural response to her character’s trauma. Check out her comments below:
I think something that was really important for Leslye in constructing Osha, and to me as well, was that the choices that she makes are autonomous choices. She’s not manipulated into the choices she makes. They’re reactive. Of course, they’re responsive to this windfall of information that she gets about her life and the things that have shaped it.
But with that scene with Sol, it was really important that, yes, she is possessed in a way by the dark side, but at the same time, she’s having a human response to trauma. And that was really important to build throughout the entire season. We were very careful and had so many discussions around where Osha comes from and where she arrives to. And something that was really important for her was that she never really had an emotional outlet or a space within which she felt understood or could truly utilize her Force use.
Previous Fallen Jedi Have All Been Manipulated, Not Choosing The Dark
Anakin, even Dooku, was manipulated, and it’s unclear how well he understood his master’s goals.
The Acolyte is a series that even prompts its audience to question what they know about the nature of the Force.
Even from the franchise’s earliest entries, Sith characters such as Darth Vader have largely been approached as tragic figures whose fall to the Dark Side had been carefully plotted by their eventual Master. Playing on their respective frustrations and desires, the scheming Darth Sidious was not only able to manipulate Anakin Skywalker into turning against the Jedi Order, but he was also able to do so with a far more experienced Jedi Master in the form of Count Dooku. Similarly, the sequel trilogy’s Ben Solo would also learn that his own dark path had been secretly masterminded by Palpatine as well.
While these previous examples highlight the core Jedi belief that the lure of the Dark Side is primarily built on lies and deception, Osha’s decision to embrace it willingly appears to shatter this previous conviction. In a show that has intentionally set out to cast the Jedi Order in a far less heroic light, The Acolyte is a series that even prompts its audience to question what they know about the nature of the Force, and the Jedi’s overly simplistic view of Light versus Dark.
However, as adamant as Stenberg may be about Osha’s lack of manipulation, Headland may have been secretly planning to trick both her character and the show’s audience all along. With The Acolyte’s season 1 finale briefly hinting at Darth Plagueis’ involvement, Osha may find herself at the center of a far more intricate web, one where she does not even see the strands drawing her closer toward the Sith Lord’s dastardly endgame. Viewers, much like Osha, may even come to learn that they were being manipulated into rethinking the true nature of the Force, without ever realizing it.