The Believer showrunner Leslye Headland made an interesting and rather fitting comparison between the show’s villain and Elden Ring.
Inspiration always comes in mysterious ways, sometimes from unexpected places. Star Wars is a sci-fi series, and even with some very light fantasy elements, you wouldn’t expect it to necessarily borrow from games like Elden Ring, but in a recent interview with Inverse, Headland revealed that she did borrow some interesting things from FromSoftware games and incorporated them into the prequel series.
Spoilers for episode 5 of The Acolyte below.
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In the fifth and latest episode of The Acolytes, we finally learn who the Stranger is, a Sith who has led one of the show’s two main characters astray, and that person is none other than the goofy Zimmer, played by Manny Jacinto. It’s not particularly surprising, who else could it be, but what is a bit shocking is how powerful he is. He manages to knock out a bunch of Jedi, and by knock out I mean totally kill them, and he does it without wearing that much armor – which is exactly where the comparison to Elden Ring comes in.
When asked if Jacinto’s arms would appeal to fans (you know, his arms are big and muscular), Headland laughed and replied, “Yeah. Manny, too. His character design was a long process. I mean, it was about creating a new Sith for everybody, but especially for his character. The Siths are already so well done, so it’s hard to say, ‘Okay, this is a guy who’s hiding. This is a guy who moves differently. This guy’s helmet has a different purpose…’ and have to unpack that. I remember we showed him a sketch of Chimire’s costume that showed just a little bit of his arms, and he said, ‘No.’
“A lot of Qimir is about understanding how to use your body and not just standing there in a suit or being restrained by a suit. We were like, ‘We have to put him in some flowing clothes.’ When I said he had no armor, everyone went crazy. ‘How can you not wear armor?’ I said, ‘Why would you wear armor if you can’t get hit?’ It’s like an Elden Ring costume. Elden Bling. When you summon people, you always summon people who have nothing on, and it’s like, ‘These people are really crazy.’”
It’s an interesting comparison that I can see both in the show and in the general experience of playing Elden Ring (some of you really should bundle up, The Lands Between looks like a chilly place). Now we just have to see if Headland can get Jacinto’s arm around the rumored Elden Ring TV show/movie.
