One of the extremely bright spots about the first season of The Acolyte was the Stranger, a character who goes by Qimir. And one of the most disappointing parts about not getting a second season of the show is that the Stranger’s story won’t be continued, at least on screen.
In the forthcoming book The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte by Kristin Baver, showrunner Leslye Headland wrote about some of the ideas she had for the Stranger’s continued story, and it includes one especially interesting detail: the Stranger might be the first Knight of Ren. She writes:
“It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice. Following the Rule of Two – a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice – one way to keep it going is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives.”
This is something that fans have speculated for a while. The Stranger’s design, especially his mask, seemed especially evocative of the Knights of Ren – something that Headland has now confirmed was intentional. What’s more, Michael Abels’s score for the series included several notes of Kylo Ren’s theme surrounding the Stranger at one key point, which was a very curious choice picked up on at the time. Headland confirmed back then that the music choice was intentional, and I wondered if this hinted at a Knights of Ren connection.
It turns out the plan – or at least the idea – was yes. And I think that would have been a great idea to continue exploring. After all, as Headland admits, the rule of two means the Stranger is the odd man out: Darth Plagueis would soon get Sheev Palpatine as his new apprentice. But that doesn’t mean he has to die; it could mean that this acolyte starts a new group of Force users who run around the galaxy on all sorts of adventures. He could be the first Ren. In fact, Headland wrote in this upcoming book that Qimir probably isn’t his actual name, and regardless, it is possible his last name could be Ren. He could be the first of the Knights of Ren.
We won’t get to see that play out on screen, but I think it’s a good idea – one that I’ll consider to be the case in my head until a future story either confirms or refutes it. And it’s nice to get some confirmation of what we speculated, that this connection with the Knights of Ren was intentional foreshadowing.
Star Wars Thoughts 