It seems that television is now the future of Star Wars. I can’t say that’s a bad thing, considering the recent movies have been underwhelming. With Rogue One being the next Star Wars movie that won’t release until 2023, we Star Wars fans need something to fill the gap. After Disney Investors Day, there are a plethora of Star Wars shows coming to Disney+. Some sound more interesting than others, but one of them sounds particularly intriguing.
This upcoming show will be called The Acolyte. It won’t be about the Jedi like most other Star Wars forms of media. The Acolyte will center around the Sith, the primary villains of the franchise. That alone sounds interesting, but now I’m definitely curious. This show will be different from what we’ve seen in the past, but it’s also a chance to further explore the lore.
The Acolyte will take place during the end of the High Republic Era, a time when the Jedi were in their prime. We’ve heard about these stories about this time in Star Wars history coming to us soon where the Jedi fight space pirates called the Nihil. That sounds exciting to me and I hope to see elements of that in the show. However, if the show will take place during this time, that means the Sith will be low in numbers. They can’t take on the Jedi with force, but the show will be a chance to show them at their most cunning.
We’ve seen how Palpatine was able to destroy the Jedi Order. He hid in plain sight while manipulating all events in the shadows. The Acolyte can show the beginning stages of that. During this time, Palpatine wasn’t even born, but his former master was.
Speaking of which, I have to wonder who exactly the acolyte will be. My first thought was Darth Plagueis. This is a character that has been hyped up ever since Palpatine told Anakin about him in Revenge of the Sith. I remember a time when many fans thought that he was actually going to be Snoke. Heck, I really wish he was. The obnoxiously tall, hideously deformed, and incredibly powerful Snoke had all of these traits for a reason, right? He could’ve been one of the greatest Sith Lords ever in a new form, but no. He turned out to be one of many clones. Talk about wasted potential.
The Acolyte will be the best chance to fully introduce Darth Plagueis as a up-and-coming Sith Lord. He’ll be a prominent politician on the planet of Naboo and can operate in the shadows, just like Palpatine. We can see how and why he gave himself over to the Sith and why Palpatine spoke so highly of him. This villain was the best kind of manipulator, but is he really the acolyte? My guess is no.
We can make all kinds of theories on who the real acolyte is. There were several Sith hiding in the shadows and they were able to hide from the Jedi. I think there are two paths the show can go with the identity of the acolyte.
The first option is pulling a Sith from the books or comics. There’s a list, and granted it’s a short one, but there can always be a retcon. They can show the coolest Sith Lords like Darth Bane if they wanted to, but that wouldn’t be the best option. I have a feeling they’re going to go a bolder route.
I have a theory that the acolyte is going to be an original character made just for the show. That’s a good idea, because it would expand the franchise. Think about some of the issues that the current Star Wars media is having today. It’s always the same characters we’ve been seeing for years. There is an Obi-Wan show, a Cassian Andor show, and a Lando show coming. Not that that’s a bad thing, but I only noticed a lack of originality.
I like seeing familiar faces, but Star Wars is a literal universe, probably the biggest in all of fiction. Showing us the same characters over and over again only makes the universe feel smaller. This acolyte needs to be a character that we haven’t seen before and he or she can really add layers to the Sith. How many Sith have you seen in the Star Wars movies? Not very many and this show can really change that.
It sounds like an interesting route. How exactly will this acolyte act? Will the acolyte be more of an anti-hero or will the acolyte help build the strength of the Sith? I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
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