The Acolyte’ Manny Jacinto Talks The Stranger Twist

[This story contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte.]

Manny Jacinto’s scene-stealing role as the Stranger on Star Wars: The Acolyte is a revelation for a plenty of viewers, but for several weeks now, fans of Michael Schur’s The Good Place have been proudly reiterating, “That’s the guy we’ve been telling you about.” 

If you’re someone who hasn’t kept up with the high points of network television, then perhaps you recognize Jacinto from his small parts in Top Gun: Maverick (2022) or Bad Times at the El Royale (2018). In the case of the latter, Jacinto’s future Top Gun co-star Lewis Pullman was the one who delivered a violent end to his henchman character, and not long after in terms of production schedules, his own Top Gun pilot character would be on the receiving end of Jay Ellis’ character’s memorably intimidated line, “Shit, that’s Fritz.”

At any rate, Jacinto — who was born in Manila, Philippines and raised in Richmond, British Columbia — has now become the consensus highlight of Leslye Headland‘s The Acolyte, as his Sith Lord character has a compelling magnetism no matter how many Jedi he takes out. Jacinto considers the role to be “three-tiered” since he first played the cover identity of Qimir before his two markedly different versions of the masked and unmasked Stranger. 

However, it’s the fourth role that equally put Jacinto through his paces. He had to keep his character’s many secrets under wraps throughout the series’ global press tour, so he considered this endeavor to be an extension of the character work he’d been doing on the show.

“I’m not a big press and publicity type of guy. So whenever I go into something like that, I just have to take on another character,” Jacinto tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And, having to straight up lie to people’s faces, I was like, ‘Okay, what is my backstory? What am I doing here?’ So it was literally another character that I had to play out of this three-tiered character that I had already just played on The Acolyte.”

He also did a considerable amount of press while in the company of Dafne Keen and Charlie Barnett, whose Jedi characters died at the hand of the Stranger. So Jacinto had to keep tabs on anything they might have divulged by accident.

“There’s a clip from Star Wars Celebration where Dafne and Charlie slip up, and they start talking about my stunt work. These are her words, not mine, but Dafne said, ‘Manny is a stunt god.’ So I had to backtrack things,” Jacinto shares.

As for the season finale’s big cameos such as Yoda and Darth Plagueis, Jacinto found out about them at the same time as the rest of us, so he can only offer guesswork as to their implications. He also doesn’t know why Kylo Ren’s theme played over his character in episode five. 

“Oh, God, all of these Easter eggs, theories and tidbits … I don’t know. I actually don’t know why the Kylo Ren theme was playing,” Jacinto says. “There are so many theories about the original Knights of Ren, but I don’t know, man. I’ll bring these possible theories up and ideas to Leslye, but she already knows about them. So I’ve got to just keep dancing around these questions.”

Below, during a recent spoiler conversation, Jacinto also explains why the Stranger avoided a showdown with his former Jedi Master, Vernestra Rwoh.

Congratulations on this moment, Manny.

Thank you. Have you ever considered an occupation with the Calm app? You have this very calm and soothing voice.

Fittingly enough, you’ve stepped on my opener. We spoke at the junket, and for whatever reason, they didn’t sign me out of Zoom as quickly as they should have. But you assumed I had left, so I watched you turn to Charlie Barnett and Dafne Keen and say, “What a chill guy.” So I’ve been quoting you for two months. 

(Laughs.) It’s so true, man. You have this chill, calm demeanor about you, and it’s good to see you again.

As is the case for many others, that was also the event where you kicked off our interviewer-interviewee relationship with bold-faced deception, and it’s really going to take some time to rebuild that trust, Manny. I really put myself out there to you.

(Laughs.) I know, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.

You’ve been challenged in a variety of ways as an actor, but did that type of press tour performance also test you a great deal? 

Yes, it did. I’m not a big press and publicity type of guy. I have a hard time talking about myself and my work. So whenever I go into something like that, I just have to take on another character. And, having to straight up lie to people’s faces, I was like, “Okay, what is my backstory? What am I doing here?” So it was literally another character that I had to play out of this three-tiered character that I had already just played on The Acolyte. So it was a continuation of the work. 

On top of all that, you had to do a lot of bobbing and weaving while sitting next to Charlie and Dafne of all people. Your character, the Stranger, ended both of their tenures on the show. So did the three of you talk about that awkwardness in between interviews and whatnot? 

No, luckily, it wasn’t something we dwelled on for too long, but there would always be an instant. There’s a clip from Star Wars Celebration where Dafne and Charlie slip up, and they start talking about my stunt work. These are her words, not mine, but Dafne said, “Manny is a stunt god.” And then, right away, I was like, “Yeah, I don’t know, guys. I really didn’t get to do anything cool.” So I had to backtrack things, but you never know what will happen with those two because they’re a hoot. We have an amicable and very friendly and loving relationship even after the execution of their characters. 

I didn’t have time to bring this up to you at that point, but a quick scuffle with Mae in episode two signaled that there was more to Qimir than meets the eye. He was able to defend himself in a way that seemed too advanced for some wily smuggler. Did you treat that as a breadcrumb for the eventual reveal?

Yes, in talking to Leslye, we always wanted to leave crumbs for people to follow. We never wanted it to be a reveal that happened out of nowhere. It was meant for people to be like, “Hey, this is possibly who he is.” So everything from him defending himself to that small little moment that he had with Osha where he says, “You look just like her,” to when he’s hanging upside down and says, “He’ll kill you,” to Mae, all those little tidbits show an underlying darkness to Qimir, even though he’s a silly goof and is low status. We wanted to make people feel those little moments so that the reveal didn’t come out of left field. 

How much time do you think he spent as Qimir? Is it possible that he really did take all these odd jobs around the galaxy, such as gun-running for the Hutts, to maintain a solid cover? 

Yeah, I wouldn’t doubt it. I always think about the possible origin story of Qimir and the different lives that he’s probably lived. He’s incredibly well-versed at becoming the person that the other person wants him to be. So, for Mae, it was somebody that was more subservient. He was more like a little brother or sibling type of character that would help her on this mission. And, for Osha, it’s someone who appeals to her more romantically, or someone who she can be attracted to. So, what it comes down to is that he can transform into whoever you want him to be.

In the finale, he had a chance to confront his former Jedi Master, Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson), who likely gave him that lightwhip-shaped scar on his back. Why did he bypass her in favor of Osha and Mae?

So that’s an aspect or a character trait that we haven’t seen too much of with the Stranger. In the finale, when Vernestra comes off the ship, she senses the Stranger, and then right away, he senses that so he puts on the helmet. But, before he puts on the helmet, there’s almost this childlike fear that he’s overwhelmed with, and I think that implies that he doesn’t want to face that relationship. So there’s something there to be explored. There’s some sort of trauma there to be explored in regard to why he’s hiding from her. It’s something that I need to talk to Leslye about more, because I only really found out about that relationship when I first read episode eight. So I wasn’t really able to dwell on it too much, but there is this innate childlike fear that he has in regard to Vernestra. It could signal why those scars are on his back, whether or not they actually came from her. So there’s a lot more to be explored there. 

Yeah, she’s definitely his Achilles’ heel. Also, why dwell on the past when the future he’s been yearning for the entire series is right in front of him via Osha?

Yeah, absolutely. That’s a great way to put it. If we get a season two, I don’t doubt that we’ll explore that past relationship, but who knows? You never know. 

Speaking of “who knows?” the finale offered a surprise cameo in the form of Darth Plagueis. 

(Laughs.) Who knows, man!? Who knows!?

What do you make of that? Were they cavemates? Were they neighbors? Or was he unaware of his presence?

I’ve only recently started talking about this, but I did not know about that little cameo until I saw the [final cut] myself. So I experienced that as an audience member, and I also need to talk to Leslye about his possible roommate and how that story will unfold. When the first iterations of the episodes were screened for us months ago, that little bit was blacked out. So I did not know that was who that was, and I am baffled just like you and the rest of the Star Wars fan base. But I’m very curious to see where it goes moving forward.

Then I must presume that they kept you in the dark about Yoda as well.

Yes, they did. It was also something that I was not too privy to, but there were maybe rumblings about it. I heard on the sidelines that it could be the case, but seeing that image on screen was mind-blowing to me just like it was to everybody else. So there’s a lot to explore, and fingers crossed we get to explore that.

To add yet another unanswerable question to the mix, has anyone told you why Kylo Ren’s theme played over the Stranger at the end of episode five?

(Laughs.) Oh, God, all of these Easter eggs, theories and tidbits … I don’t know. I actually don’t know why the Kylo Ren theme was playing. There are so many theories about the original Knights of Ren, but I don’t know, man. I’ll bring these possible theories up and ideas to Leslye, but she already knows about them. So I’ve got to just keep dancing around these questions.

Leslye remarked that the final shot of the Stranger and Osha is tragic because we already know their union will give way to other Sith masters and apprentices. Did you let that feeling of impending doom creep in on the day at all?

No, I didn’t. I didn’t actually have any sense of impending doom. I realized that there is that underlying sense of the Sith and the power of two. They say the power of two, but it really ends up just being one at the end of the day, because you don’t want one or the other to be more powerful than you are. So there is an impending layer of doom associated with having those two characters side by side, but for that moment, we really just needed to lean on a sense of hope. These characters have gone through so much trauma through their journeys. They’ve experienced so much pain and so much anguish that they needed just one little sliver of hope in that moment. So I definitely just focused on that element when we shot that scene.

How did the final duel with Sol differ from episode five’s duel? Did you feel even more dialed in at that point?

We shot that after episode five, and I was definitely more comfortable with the lightsaber and the movement by then. I definitely felt stronger. The only difficulty with episode eight was the choreography was consistently changing, more so than episode five. So rather than having weeks to prepare a sequence, I maybe had a night [to prepare] or I’d have to change it on the day. So we had to film it like that, because we just didn’t have enough time to prepare. We were all hands on deck. We were on our last legs. The writers’ strike was impending, and we had to move quickly. So time was the only luxury that we didn’t have, and we had to really adjust the day before or on the day to make these fight sequences work.

I can’t imagine that you or your doubles could see out of the Stranger’s helmet, so did they often add it in post? 

With episode five in particular, we did have that luxury of time, especially with that five-person fight sequence. So I was not only battling Jedi and the helmet that I couldn’t see or hear out of, but I was also battling these trees and branches. So, because I had time to rehearse, I could depend on purely muscle memory, as opposed to vision, because you can barely see anything out of that helmet. But we had different versions of the helmet. We had the hero helmet, which is what you see on screen. We also had one version with eye slits that are a bit more open, and we had another one where they’re completely open. You can see and use your peripheral vision and be more agile and more focused. But, as cool as the helmet looks and as much intensity as that helmet brings to the scenes, it’s not very practical for fighting. I could barely see anything through that thing. 

You shared a stunt viz video of you going all out with the lightsaber choreography. If that’s the “after” video, what does the “before” video look like? 

(Laughs.) The first video is mainly me walking with a limp and just complaining about my lower back and being like, “How do people do this? This is insane.” So it’s a lot of that on those [early] videos and a lot of me hitting myself with the lightsaber. That’s always a good one. But, with time and effort and a lot of patience, we were able to turn it into what I showed on Instagram. But that’s very much Instagram versus reality.

We’ve covered plenty of the big unanswered questions, but are there some smaller questions you’d like to explore in a potential season two if it was up to you? 

When you first meet Qimir [in the Star Wars pharmacy or apothecary], he says, “I took [this outfit] off the guy who owns this place.” I wonder what happened to that guy. 

How many pupils do you think he tried out before Mae and Osha?

Oh, I don’t know. I want to be precious about it. I want to say that there’s only been one or two, but I would go as far to say that maybe Mae was his first crack. He probably spent a lot of time on her, but I also have no clue when he made the switch from being a Jedi to who he is now. So I would go as far to say that maybe Mae was the first, but, by saying that she was possibly the first, that’s me wanting to be precious about her.

Decades from now, when you’re staring into a crackling fireplace and reminiscing about shooting The Acolyte, what day will you likely recall first? 

The one day that’s popping up into my head is me and Amandla [Stenberg] looking out into that beautiful ocean and just taking in the moment of being in beautiful Madeira, Portugal, accomplishing one of our biggest dreams together. There’s no way I could have done this with anybody else. So, it would be sharing that moment with her, and just trying not to make a face as all this saltwater and dirt was covering me. I was trying to look cool for that one specific moment, and so that’s what I’ll remember for the most part. It’s one of many, many moments, but that day in particular will always be memorable to me.

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The Acolyte is now streaming in its entirety on Disney+.