The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte, written by Kristin Baver and published by Abrams, has been released in some territories and it reveals a link between the Stranger, played by Manny Jacinto, and Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy.
According to The Art of The Acolyte, the Stranger’s mask was deliberately designed to evoke the helmet worn by Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy. Creature artist Nick Tyrell illustrated the winning design, described as “a rough-hewn and flat-faced bucket with breathing apparatus bent into a sneer and two tiny slits for eyes. The slight frill at the back of the helmet – a design element that dates back to the franchise’s samurai influence and notably first seen in Vader’s design – hints at a link between the Stranger and the Star Wars sequel trilogy’s masked antagonist Kylo Ren, an idea storytellers took from the design.”
“It felt like it foreshadowed a possible connection to the Knights of Ren with the Kylo Ren shape we landed on,” Leslye Headland confirmed. “We just started to go in that direction. 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 culture that we know eventually survives.”
Viewers had noticed that composer Michael Abels added a musical cue to The Acolytethat deliberately evoked Kylo Ren’s theme from the sequels. According to The Art of The Acolyte, this was a deliberate decision intended to underscore the connection. “And since we never name him,” Headland continues in the book, “you don’t know: Does he have a first name and then his last name is Ren? Is he the original Ren? It’s a good way to nod to it without having to give away too much information.”
Order The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk; review coming soon to Jedi News.
