The Acolyte creator breaks down Star Wars show’s shocking opening: “You have to go hard, you have to say the Jedi are going to take some Ls”

The following contains spoilers for The Acolyte premiere. You have been warned!

If The Acolyte wanted our attention early on, it sure got it. From the first few minutes, the new Star Wars show arrived like a concussive Force blast, one that wouldn’t look out of place in the opening duel between Master Indara (Carrie-Ann Moss) and assassin Mae (Amandla Stenberg).

Those who would have assumed action and screen legend Carrie-Anne Moss – most famous for playing Trinity in The Matrix trilogy – would come out on top were quickly and brutally proven wrong.

As Mae strikes the killing blow on Indara, questions may have flooded your head: Why now? What next? And what is going on? It’s something we, ourselves, pondered when we spoke to The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland.

“From a filmmaker perspective, I just felt like with the cold open, especially with a new story, that you just have to go hard,” Headland explains. “You have to say the Jedi are going to take some Ls; you’re not going to know who the good guys and the bad guys are. And it’s going to feel very visceral.”

Headland continues, “Even if you already know it’s going to happen, it doesn’t have to be a big gotcha moment. It just has to be a moment where the emotional and the physical – meaning the fights – melt together. Carrie-Anne, not just being an action legend, is also a phenomenal actress. She was able to play all those beats within the fight as well as, of course, her death scene”

Manny Jacinto, who plays Qimir in The Acolyte adds, “Having Trinity in Star Wars, it really sets the tone of what the audience should expect. This isn’t going to be a type of Star Wars that we’ve seen before. It’s going to be more physical. You just set a completely different tone.”

For more on The Acolyte, check out our latest explainers, guides, and interviews below: 

The Acolyte episodes 1-4 reviewA guide to The AcolyteThe Acolyte release scheduleWhat is The High Republic? The Acolyte’s new Star Wars era explainedWhen does The Acolyte take place on the Star Wars timeline?Who is the masked villain in The Acolyte? What we know about the Star Wars Sith explainedNew Star Wars show The Acolyte’s sets were so big and detailed, the actors needed a map to get around and were literally “tripping on mushrooms”Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae on joining The Acolyte, making history as a Jedi, and why he thinks Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland has a “fresh take” on Star WarsThe Acolyte creator talks pitching The High Republic – and the biggest challenge behind the new Star Wars eraStar Wars’ cute new droid has an incredibly wholesome inspiration behind it