Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Acolyte's fifth episode! If you haven't already, be sure to check out IGN's review of The Acolyte: Episode 5.
The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has confirmed Episode 5 includes an intentional nod to Kylo Ren but says fans will have to wait and see to find out what it means.
Just in case anyone was in doubt, Headland told Inverse that the Kylo Ren Easter egg spotted by eagle-eyed viewers in the fifth episode of The Acolyte was a deliberate reference. "It is there on purpose, but I can't tell you why, and I can't go into what it is," she said, urging viewers to keep watching as she coyly added: "You shall see."
The eyebrow-raising moment came towards the end of the last episode when the newly unmasked Master approached a wounded Osha, and fans heard Kylo Ren's theme music from the Star Wars sequel trilogy playing in the background, prompting fan theories about whether the villainous character is a Sith Lord or a Knight of Ren.
While the status of The Master, now known as The Stranger (or "Darth Teeth" in some circles), is unclear, it sounds like future episodes will reveal more about the Kylo Ren connection. Some believe The Master is himself the apprentice of Darth Plagueis, made famous by Palpatine in Revenge of The Sith. The Acolyte is set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the Skywalker Saga, and so fans reckon it will lead into and potentially explain the events of Episode 1, 2, and 3.
Headland also warned that the second half of the season will be "darker" than the first, leading up to the show's "emotional" finale on July 16.
"There's more action; there's more lightsabers. It's got a lot of the stuff that we've already had, but if there's anything different about the second half of the season, it's darker. It gets increasingly more emotional," she shared. "[The characters] are going to start making moves that are going to inform an endgame, and I think that always ends up being pretty emotional at the end of the season or the end of any story."
The fifth episode was the most action-packed chapter so far. It featured an epic lightsaber battle between the Jedi and The Stranger, who was able to shut down his opponents' weapons using his armor. Headland confirmed this was due to Cortosis — a metal that is not only resistant to lightsabers but also briefly shorts them out.
"Cortosis was such a great new element, and I had always thought of it as such a cool thing to incorporate... There's also a limited resource of it, which is why he doesn't have a whole suit of armor, and it only works for maybe a minute," she explained, saying there would be "other Legends stuff" to discuss after the finale.
With three episodes of The Acolyte remaining, there are lots of jigsaw pieces still to slot into place, but the story threads are starting to come together. IGN called Episode 5 an "exciting and brutal episode" in which "The Master is unleashedand unmasked, leading to thrilling and shocking results that truly upend the series."
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
