LucasfilmThe Star Wars saga has been doubling down on dead-end storytelling for years now, which makes Disney’s cancellation of The Acolyte — among other missed opportunities — a particularly stinging blow. The series boasted some of the best ideas the franchise has seen since The Last Jedi, but it never got the chance to flesh them out. It was canceled after one season in 2024, but showrunner Leslye Headland and actor Manny Jacinto aren’t shy about all the potential that Lucasfilm left on the table.“I did run into an article about, and I think Leslye cleared things up a little bit, that a possible path was that Qimir was one of the first Knights of Ren,” Jacinto recently told TV Insider. His dark-sided warrior Qimir (also known as the Stranger) would have bridged an intriguing gap between the High Republic era and the age of the First Order, supplying the origin story for another major plot hole. It’s one of a handful of great threads The Acolyte could have explored in seasons to come, but Jacinto was also looking forward to filling a void that Star Wars — and other franchises of its ilk — has routinely struggled to address.“I would’ve loved to explore, obviously, the relationship with Osha more,” the actor continued, citing the Stranger’s burgeoning partnership with the former Jedi padawan played by Amandla Stenberg. The Stranger seeks her out as his apprentice, or acolyte, throughout the series, and Headland and her collaborators lean heavily into the idea of being seduced by the dark side as they grow closer. There’s an unmistakable air of sexual tension between the Stranger and Osha, a kind of heat that’s never been seen in the Star Wars saga, and that Jacinto believes could save many a blockbuster franchise.Jacinto emphasizes the importance of romance in The Acolyte: “We were taking it back to having a relationship in this big world.” | Lucasfilm“I feel like with a lot of the franchises that we currently have, it’s missing the romance,” said Jacinto. “It’s missing a lot of love and relationships. We have the big fight scenes and the origin stories of these heroes and whatnot, but they don’t really have a relationship with other people. It’s such a weird thing. And that’s why I loved the Qimir and Osha relationship, because we were taking it back to having a relationship in this big world. I think we just need more of that.”Jacinto isn’t wrong. Though TV Insider argues that Star Wars has always had some undercurrent of romance — from Han and Leia in the original trilogy to the doomed love between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, arguably the plot driver of the prequels — it’s since dropped the ball in a major way. The franchise is one of many succumbing to a new wave of unbearably chaste storytelling, and on the off-chance it does attempt to explore romance, it’s bungled before it has the chance to take off. The tangled attraction between Rey Skywalker and Kylo Ren/Ben Solo could have (and to a vocal sect of the fandom, should have) been the central romance of the sequel trilogy, but the three films could never get on the same page tone-wise. By the time the doomed dyad consummated any attraction, it was way too late. (The Rise of Skywalker cut Ben’s life short for good measure, ensuring that there’d be no future for the dynamic in other media.)Romance and desire turned the tide for The Acolyte. It could do the same for Star Wars. | LucasfilmFor all the franchise’s disinterest in (or incompetence for) romance, it’s nevertheless the very thing that fuels genuine interest in new Star Wars stories, even keeps them alive. Romance — and its lusty cousin, thirst — are often overlooked or ridiculed as girlish pursuits in fandom, but both helped turn the tide for The Acolyte. The series faced an uphill battle upon its premiere, with “anti-woke” trolls making a concerted effort to slay it in its cradle. It didn’t help that The Acolyte felt a bit disjointed in the first half of its season: it suffered from some flaws in pacing, but all that fell away when Qimir unveiled his true identity as the Stranger in Episode 5, “Night.” His reveal gave The Acolyte exactly what it needed, drawing in new fans with shockingly brutal action and a new object of thirst for good measure. Seemingly overnight, the conversation surrounding the show turned on a dime. Discourse was no longer overwhelmingly, irrationally negative; instead, it was dominated by fans who saw romantic potential between the Stranger and Osha, the subject of his ambitions. Video edits of Qimir drew Star Wars novices to the franchise for the first time, while other contributions, like fan-written fiction and art, steered discourse in a more positive direction. The Acolyte even leaned into that potential in its back half: finally, it seemed like Star Wars had learned its lesson from the sequels. Finally, the fandom had a genuinely compelling relationship to root for. (The fact that, for the first time, the franchise was centering two characters of color didn’t hurt either.) Fondly known as “Oshamir,” this relationship singlehandedly gave the saga a new lease on life. Without it, though, Star Wars is back to the same old, same old. Subsequent stories feel staler than ever, especially now that Andor — the only other series to get even remotely close to exploring adult relationships from every angle — has aired its final season. Romance is much more crucial to the Star Wars saga than the powers that be are willing to admit, and the longer Lucasfilm ignores the need for diverse stories, the further the franchise slips into irrelevance.The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+.