The Acolyte showrunner reveals how advice Dave Filoni gave her shaped the latest episode of her Star Wars show

The latest episode of The Acolyte introduced some fascinating Star Wars witches – with no tie to the Nightsisters of Dathomir. Warning, the following will contain spoilers for The Acolyte episode 3, so turn back now if you're not up to date!

As it turns out, Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni – who is also Lucasfilm's chief creative executive officer – had some words of wisdom about the coven for Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland.

"Dave Filoni very quickly became kind of a mentor of mine in terms of navigating what this part of the timeline would be like for both the Jedi and then other Force users," Headland told StarWars.com."It was kind of this 'A-ha!' moment for me when he told me, 'You know, not all witches are Nightsisters.'"

We don't find out a lot about the coven in episode 3, but one actor has revealed that they're allied to the dark side of the Force. The witches also don't follow traditional Jedi beliefs about the Force, instead calling it a "thread" – and they certainly not fans of the Jedi themselves.

In the episode, Mae sets a fire in retaliation for Osha wanting to leave to join the Jedi Order. The fire spreads out of control and kills the entire coven, though there are some sinister hints that this isn't quite the full story.

Filoni has also recently shared an update on his Star Wars movie. "Because I've been writing [Ahsoka season 2], things have clicked and I have a much better idea about where things are going to go," he teased. "I will say, I have an opening I really like quite a bit, I'm very excited about it for that picture. I'm excited about the potential of just doing it."