The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland recently shared her explanation for why the head witch in the show, Mother Aniseya, turning into an ashy dementor was actually her becoming one with the Force.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 23: Leslye Headland attends the launch event for Lucasfilm’s new Star Wars series The Acolyte at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on May 23, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
In the show’s most recent episode the Jedi confront the witch coven after discovering that the witches had split a single consciousness into two bodies with the twins Osha and Mae. During this confrontation Mother Aniseya transforms into an ashy wraith reminiscent of the Dementors in Harry Potter. Her transformation comes in the wake of Mae seeking her out after burning her sister’s journal and then lighting her room on fire. It also comes just as Koril and Torbin are about to engage each other in combat.
Not only does Aniseya transform into this wraith, but she begins transforming Mae as well. Later in the episode, Koril, another one of the witches, is able to use this ability as well.
The Jedi are BAD Confirmed#TheAcolyte pic.twitter.com/XRIque16M6
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In an interview with Nerdist, Headland was asked about this scene, “When Mae asks for help Aniseya not only starts dematerializing her own body, she makes Mae turn into a a shadow as well. What can you tell us about what exactly is happening there and why?”
Headland answered, “Aniseya’s main concern is that violence will be used in this confrontation. Jodie (Turner-Smith) and I talked about that meaning two things. One, that Aniseya must have come from someplace that utilized violence. It’s something she would have seen when she was a child, something that she would’ve endured in her coming of age. So the main concern is obviously the safety of her children, the physical safety of them. The secondary concern is, ‘I do not want my children or my legacy to be affected by something violent. I want to remove them from whatever that is.’”
She then detailed she was actually becoming one with the Force, “The ‘why’ (about the dematerializing) is the first thing that Jodie and I talked about in seeding the character. What she is doing is what Jecki says in episode four, that it’s an honor to see anyone transform into the Force. I believe that Aniseya is transforming herself and Mae into the Force in a way that doesn’t kill them.”
Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©.
That’s right Headland is claiming that a group of of witches who have described their own powers as dark and unnatural earlier in the show have obtained the ability to transform into the Force on a whim. Individuals engaging in dark and unnatural abilities would not have the ability to transform into the Force given they are corrupting the Force and are clearly not aligning their will with the will of the Force.
Furthermore, the show previously described the ability that the witches use as the Thread instead of the Force.
(L-R): Koril (Margarita Levieva) and Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Headland would describe how she views the witches’ power when asked how it differs from the Nightsisters, “The Nightsisters utilize magic exclusively. With my witches, it’s a bit of a hybrid. They’re definitely dabbling in the Force and calling the Force by a different name. They’re trying to cultivate their sensitivity to it without having to be trained by the Jedi. Is that even possible?”
She continued, “But I also think that in the Ascension ceremony you see how they’re utilizing not just wherever the vergence may be physically on the planet, but the eclipse. These powerful movements of heavenly bodies and whatever’s under the earth, that type of thing, what is meant to be expressed there is that they are drawing their power from nature, magic, and the Force. So we never sort of go, ‘They’re using magic the way that the Nightsisters are. They’re using the Force even though they’re not Jedi.'”
(L-R): Little Osha (Lauren Brady), Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Little Mae (Leah Brady) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
This is just another corruption of Star Wars and more proof that George Lucas was 100% right that the current people running the Star Wars ship at Lucasfilm do not understand Star Wars and certainly do not understand the Force.
Lucas stated at the Cannes Film Festival, “I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was … who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it. The Force, for example, nobody understood the Force.”
He added, “When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up.”
Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
READ: Leslye Headland Admits ‘The Acolyte’ Is About Breaking “Down The Jedi As A Concept”
As for how he defined the Force, Lucas explained during a writers meeting for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “The only way to overcome the Dark Side is through discipline. The Dark Side is pleasure, biological, and temporary, and easy to achieve.”
“The Light Side is joy, everlasting, and difficult to achieve. A great challenge. Must overcome laziness, give up quick pleasures, and overcome fear which leads to hate.”
What do you make of Headland’s claims that Aniseya was transforming into the Force?
NEXT: Leslye Headland Confirms That A Season 2 Of ‘The Acolyte’ Has Not Been Greenlit
