The Good Place Fans Are Having A Field Day With Manny Jacinto's The Acolyte Character: 'This Is My Kylo Ren'

SPOILERS are ahead for Episode 5 of The Acolyte, now streaming with a Disney+ subscription.

Back in 2016, Manny Jacinto really did a 180 on us in The Good Place when his Buddhist monk character Jianyu Li was revealed to be a total front in the afterlife. In the first few episodes of the comedy, Jacinto made a hilarious turn to his actual character of DJ and drug dealer, Jason Mendoza. The actor’s latest role in the Disney+ series The Acolyte just did something similar, in its own Star Wars way, and fans of The Good Place cannot get enough!

During the latest episode, “Night” we learned that Jacinto’s character of Qimir is actually a Sith master who has been disguising himself as a smuggler. Upon the villainous turn, people cannot stop talking about it. Here’s one reaction from Twitter’s @lsirikul:

Manny Jacinto is beloved by The Good Place fans for playing a character with the energy of a puppy dog, and now we’ve just been introduced to a ruthless villain played by the same actor? It’s rather jarring, but in the best way. As this tweet added:

When the sequel trilogy for Star Wars involved an unlikely romance between Kylo Ren and Rey, Adam Driver’s appeal was a controversial one, with many citing how toxic the villain was. However, when it comes to Manny Jacinto’s villain, fans are fully ready to embrace Qimir as their next crush. Amidst the internet getting real thirsty over Jacinto in the latest The Acolyte episode, D’Arcy Carden, who was of course part of The Good Place cast as Janet, the informational assistant "not a girl" Jason falls in love over the course of the series, responded. The actress wrote on Twitter:

Posts like this are leading tons of The Good Place fans to talk about how much they always loved Manny Jacinto in the comedy, and noticed their attraction to him back then.

Of course, now the actor is on a new level given he's joined the characters in the Star Wars universe. The reveal of Qimir’s actual identity is leading some people to already call him the “hottest Star Wars character”. And apparently, the actor trained super hard to look so formidable as the Sith Master. Jacinto shared an awesome behind-the-scenes video on his Instagram that shows this.

Fans are obviously losing it over all of this, and some are referencing other classic comedies to make their feelings known:

Qimir’s wrath led to the deaths of some major characters, too! The episode five reveal is certainly laying the groundwork for an exciting second half of the series. Of course, The Good Place fans can’t help but notice this parallel between the two (now iconic) characters and what could happen next:

Perhaps the reveal will get more The Good Place fans to tag along with The Acolyte as well! The next episode of the series premieres on Tuesday, July 2 on the 2024 TV schedule, and that's when we'll find out more about Manny Jacinto's villain.