Manny Jacinto earns raves as Sith Lord in ‘The Acolyte’

Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte.” Image: Instagram/@starwars

Filipino Canadian actor Manny Jacinto has apparently been luring viewers to the dark side after his character in “The Acolyte” was unveiled to be the Stranger.

Jacinto was initially introduced as the apothecary Qimir, and was unmasked in the fifth episode of the Star Wars series to be the Sith Lord who murdered several Jedi including main characters Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon and Charlie Barnett’s Yord Fandar.

This revelation seemed to have piqued the interest of the viewers on Jacinto, with most of them taking a liking to his portrayal of the villain role.

The actor has been showered with compliments by fans who couldn’t help but rave about him on social media, particularly on X (formerly Twitter).

“May God bless the dinosaur that died to make the fossil fuel that was treated to become petrol in the car that took Manny Jacinto to the set of ‘The Acolyte’ to play a Sith Lord,” one @skvvalker said.

may god bless the dinosaur that died to make the fossil fuel that was treated to become petrol in the car that took manny jacinto to the set of the acolyte to play a sith lord pic.twitter.com/c61K0JkOHU

— `do the acolyte spoilers (@skvvalker) July 3, 2024

“‘The Acolyte’ knows their audience and it’s ‘people who like to look at Manny Jacinto.’ As one of those people, and [on] behalf of all of us, I say thank you to whoever was involved in this decision,” X user @stevenrogered wrote.

#TheAcolyte knows their audience and it's "People who like to look at Manny Jacinto"

As one of those people, and behalf of all of us, I say thank you to whoever was involved in this decision pic.twitter.com/zAebvqDuKE

— Liv (@stevenrogered) July 3, 2024

“I would also like to praise Manny Jacinto because even though most of us saw this reveal coming, I was still surprised at how insanely different he acts as the Sith. The code switching is insane and he was also so good at the combat scenes? GOAT,” @hellikait tweeted.

#TheAcolyte spoilers

I would also like to praise Manny Jacinto because even though most of us saw this reveal coming, I was still surprised at how insanely different he acts as the Sith. The code switching is insane and he was also so good at the combat scenes? GOAT pic.twitter.com/3bUK18QXqQ

— Hell ✨️ Acolyte era (@hellikait) June 26, 2024

“The feminine urge to gatekeep Manny Jacinto is so real when you’ve loved him since he was Jason Mendoza,” one @AKHSaboutme said, referring to Jacinto’s character in the TV sitcom “The Good Place. “[But] now everyone seen his arms glistening as a hot Sith Lord.”

The feminine urge to gatekeep Manny Jacinto is so real when you’ve loved him since he was Jason Mendoza but now everyone seen his arms glistening as a hot Sith Lord #TheAcolyte pic.twitter.com/DjQq8J97rG

— Mariawatcheseverything (@AKHSaboutme) June 28, 2024

Speaking with Entertainment Weeklyabout his character revelation, Jacinto said, “Basically, we wanted a character that was not just oppressive and powerful, but we wanted a character that when you see him, you feel disturbed by him almost. That’s why a lot of the music and a lot of the effects, it’s almost like horror.”

Meanwhile, Jacinto was also earlier announced as part of the cast members of Disney’s “Freaky Friday 2.” He will be joining Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis in the film.