The Acolyte on Disney+ is one of the better Star Wars series of recent times. But despite its inclusion of some brand new Star Wars concepts never before seen on-screen, there’s a lot the fans don’t agree on. A huge part of that is the on-screen relationship between the characters of Osha and Qimir, aptly dubbed, Oshamir, by the internet. The Acolyte Oshamir concept is a great way to end the season. However, it makes another issue within the franchise, much more apparent.
Please note that the following will contain some spoilers for The Acolyte Season 1, now streaming on Disney+.
What Is Oshamir?
Image via Disney+.
The Acolyte Oshamir is an internet-made ship name for the relationship between series protagonist Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and the, arguably villain Qimir (Manny Jacinto). A similar phenomenon happened in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, where fans shipped the hero Rey (Daisy Ridley) with the obvious villain, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). While that ship never saw fruition on-screen. The Acolyte Oshamir ship seems to have. The season ends with a heavy implication of the two characters being together, or beginning to be romantically involved.
Speaking in interviews, The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland confirmed as much. She also went on to talk about how the relationship’s lack of future is what dooms them. Referring to the concept of the ‘rule of two’, there can only be two when it comes to the Sith. So if Qimir is training Osha, and his master is Plaguies, someone has to die. And we know Plaguies makes it long beyond the time of The Acolyte to take Palpatine as a pupil. This means either Osha, Qimir or both will die or disappear, by the end of the events of The Acolyte series.
“We know that these two are doomed in some way. So to me, it’s a bittersweet tragedy, this foreboding ending” — Leslye Headland.
The Acolyte Oshamir Problem Is A Bigger Star Wars Problem
Image via Disney+.
Osha and Qimir’s tragic end is almost foretold. Given that, we know that their presence in future Star Wars stories is absent. So The Acolyte will end their story conclusively. This highlights an issue about how new characters in a new Star Wars show never really have a future beyond that story. And that is because almost every new Star Wars show has been a prequel.
For example, by the end of The Mandalorian, the character of Grogu will either have to die, or the writers have to explain his absence in future stories like the Sequel trilogy. Or even the subsequent shows and movies that have come, and are yet to come. Will an older Grogu appear in Charmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey movie?
Similarly, an original character from The Bad Batch, Omega’s fate from where that series ended, to the current Star Wars timeline, is uncertain. Will she appear in future shows or movies? Unclear.
Even with Ahsoka, the series explained the absence of the Jedi Ezra Bridger from the Rebels series to their timeline. However, the end of the upcoming season 2 still has to explain if Bridger lives or explain his absence from then to the current day. Will an older Bridger appear to mentor Rey? Almost every new Star Wars show being a prequel, brings up this issue.
No More Prequel Stories
Image via Disney+.
The Acolyte actually does this a few times too in its season 1. Popular characters like Jecki (Dafne Keen), Yord (Charlie Barnett) and Sol (Lee Jung-jae) had to die, otherwise, fans would become too invested in them to want to know their future, but in stories where they didn’t exist. So there would be no in-story explanation for their absence.
We still have many prequels left on the docket of future Star Wars. Andor season 2, Ahsoka season 2, The High Republic movie with James Mangold and the entire world of The Mandalorian. But going forward, instead of creating interesting and fan-favourite characters in prequels, limiting their significance in the franchise, Lucasfilm needs to create new stories. New characters that have a future, are something fans can invest in, without the looming threat of death in their future. Hopefully, the new Rey movies can move the franchise forward in that direction as well.
All episodes of The Acolyte are now streaming on Disney+.
What did you think of The Acolyte Oshamir? Let me know in the comments below, or follow me on X (formerly Twitter) at @theshahshahid for more Star Wars conversations.
