Star Wars: The Acolyte fans almost saw Osha and Qimir kiss during the season 1 finale.
Manny Jacinto, who plays Qimir a.k.a The Stranger, revealed that he filmed a romantic scene with costar Amandla Stenberg that ended up on the cutting room floor.
“I’m just going to put it out there. There was a version that we filmed where Osha and the Stranger actually kiss,” Jacinto, 36, told Vulture on Friday, July 19 after the finale aired. “But we felt that it may have not been too earned at that moment. I think it was just too early on.”
Jacinto recalled the discussions about Osha and Qimir’s slow-burn romance, adding, “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.”
He added: “ But I suggested, ‘Maybe not the kiss, but how about a hand-hold?’ Some sort of wanting to console, some sort of physicality that expresses that he cares for her and feels for her and that they’re in this together now. That’s something that, if we do a season 2, maybe we can work toward, if the fans want it.”
During the season 1 finale, Osha (Stenberg) killed Sol (Lee Jung-jae) after learning that he was responsible for her mother’s death (Jodie Turner-Smith). Osha’s lightsaber ultimately turned red as she veered closer to the dark side — and subsequently decided to take Qimir up on his offer to train her.
Osha and Qimir, who shared emotionally charged scenes throughout the season, gave fans everything fans were waiting for when they ended the season holding hands while looking at a sunset.
Creator Leslye Headland also mentioned how Stenberg, 25, and Jacinto worked together to build Osha and Qimir’s connection.
“We sat in a tent talking forever about what should happen, what they should do,” Headland told Entertainment Weekly. “We just knew that there needed to be a moment of intimacy that denoted mutual respect and the joining of an allegiance. There can be romantic overtones to that. A kiss was definitely on the table, I would say.”
Headland defended the decision to cut the kiss — for now.
“Physical intimacy beyond a Jane Austen brush, it just felt wrong, and the cast agreed. The physical intimacy is beautiful,” she explained. “They’re just figuring it out with each other. They’re figuring out what that physical intimacy is. You don’t want to force that stuff. You want it to feel intriguing and beautiful and something soft with characters that have always been portrayed as so hard. You want to show that this pupil-master relationship is going to develop into something a little more human.”
Although Disney has not yet renewed The Acolyte for season 2, Headland is already thinking about where the story goes from here. Headland specifically addressed the fact that fans have yet to see a Star Wars romance between two characters who are both on the dark side.
“The Sith code begins with ‘Peace is a lie, there is only passion.’ It seems really obvious to me that this would be an element of their relationship, and to see the beginnings of something like that —whether it’s romantic or not,” she concluded. “But you don’t want to be like, ‘Here’s the whole package. kids!’ You definitely want to show that this is a simmering thing as opposed to a full boil.”
Star Wars: The Acolyte is currently streaming on Disney+.
