The Acolyte star Carrie-Anne Moss wasn't expecting such strong reactions to the very early death of her character in the Star Wars show.
In hindsight, however, she can understand why. After all, her Jedi master Indara was killed in the very first scene of the series, although she later appears in flashbacks.
"The reaction to it from the fans, I kind of thought, 'Wow, how did I not think of that?,'" Moss told Business Insider, which recalled fans taking on social media to criticise the show for "wasting" the actress with such a small role, and yet using her prominently for promotional materials.
"I mean, I serve the writers and the directors. It didn't cross my mind. But afterward, when people made a big deal about it. I was like, 'How did I miss that?' I didn't think it would be a big deal at all," she added, revealing that she knew Indara was killed off early on when she signed on to play the character.
In the scene, which opens The Acolyte, we see Moss' Jedi master engaging in a thrilling fight against Mae Aniseya (played by Amandla Stenberg), which ends up with Mae killing her.
The series' showrunner Leslye Headland told GamesRadar+ that she wanted to grab viewers' attention from the very start. "From a filmmaker perspective, I just felt like with the cold open, especially with a new story, that you just have to go hard. 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, " she explained.
"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," Headland added about the shocking scene.
Despite these bold decisions and a massive ending cliffhanger, The Acolyte was canceled after only one season.
For more, check our list for all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows in 2025 and beyond.
