The Acolyte got a first look during the Star Wars Celebration event in London. In that regard, we finally got to see a good look at one of the upcoming series that pushes the timeline of the Star Wars universe as far back as possible. As such, fans will be excited about one of the Star Wars projects that won’t take place between the Skywalker Saga’s timelines. So, what is the show about?
The Acolyte follows the story of a Jedi Knight that reunites with her former master to investigate a series of crimes happening in the galaxy. However, they end up discovering something sinister happening, as it is possible that the Sith Order had been hiding the entire time.
One of the things that we know about the current Star Wars canon is that the events that took place before the Skywalker Saga tend to be quite mysterious to many people. Nevertheless, The Acolyte should be one of the stories that will allow us to understand more about the history of the Republic and the things that happened before the eventual fall of the Jedi Order.
The Acolyte Time Period and Setting
We know that The Acolyte was already in production as early as 2020, but we only recently learned more about this upcoming Star Wars series that will be released on Disney+ in 2024. That’s because the series got a first look during the Star Wars Celebration event in London. Although we couldn’t attend the event, we learned a few things about the series and what we could expect from it.
Unlike some of the canon shows and movies that Disney and Lucasfilm have worked on, The Acolyte doesn’t take place during the events of the entire Skywalker Saga, composed of the nine mainline Star Wars movies. It doesn’t even occur after Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. So, when does The Acolyte take place?
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According to the official description of The Acolyte, the series takes place around a hundred years before the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which is currently the earliest storyline as far as Star Wars movies and series are concerned. That means that the storyline of The Acolyte takes place a long time before the Skywalker Saga even began. As such, as soon as it gets released, The Acolyte will be the farthest that Star Wars has gone in the past in terms of the movies and shows released by Disney.
Of course, this also means that the storyline of The Acolyte takes place during the High Republic era or during the end of that era. As we all know, both the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic were at their most powerful and prosperous during the High Republic era. But the storyline of The Acolyte probably takes place right around the end of the High Republic when the Galactic Republic started to encounter problems that eventually led to the bigger problems that we saw during the events of the Clone Wars era.
As to the place where the events of The Acolyte take place, let’s not forget that this is still a Star Wars storyline. That means that the series is going to take us to different planets all over the galaxy. But because both the Jedi Order and the Republic were still quite powerful at this time, the series mostly takes place in Coruscant but also takes us to different planets in the Outer Rim, as we all know that the systems in the Outer Rim tend to be the most problematic.
The Acolyte Plot
Now that we know The Acolyte’s setting let’s go to the plot. We know a bit about the plot by looking at the official description. According to the description of the series, The Acolyte follows the story of a Jedi Knight and her former master reuniting to investigate a mystery. Amandla Stenberg is the former Padawan, while Lee Jung-Jae plays the role of her former master.
It was through their investigation that they ended up discovering that there were sinister elements at play in different areas of the galaxy. As such, they may find evidence related to the continued existence of the Sith Order.
Meanwhile, in the first look of The Acolyte, Lee’s character could be seen training younglings in the Jedi Temple before the scene is taken to a fight between Amandla Stenberg and Carrie Anne Moss. Lee’s voice can be heard saying, “Close your eyes. Your eyes can deceive you.”
Dafne Keen can also be seen in the first look. However, what caught most people’s attention was a figure that wore a dark costume and resembled a Sith assassin. The same figure hunted Jedi and even stalked them from the shadows.
Of course, when we talk about the “acolyte” word in Star Wars, it is hardly ever used to describe the Jedi. Instead, it is often used to describe apprentices of the Sith or those who follow the path of the dark side. At one point, Asajj Ventress was called a dark acolyte because she was meant to be Count Dooku’s Sith-in-training had he been successful at overthrowing Darth Sidious.
Asajj Ventress The Clone Wars
As such, because the series is entitled “The Acolyte,” we can only assume that the focus is on the Sith and not the Jedi. After all, according to Variety, the series is described as a combination of Frozen and Kill Bill from the perspective of the bad guys. That means that the series might focus more on the rise of the Sith Order and how it became influential enough in secret.
The first look also shows a Neimoidian. From what we saw in the events of the Clone Wars era, the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation were under the influence of the Sith Order, and The Acolyte might allow us to see how the Sith Order was able to obtain its influence over the Trade Federation.
However, the footage ended with a group of Jedi all lighting up their lightsabers as the first look ended with a quote that goes: “This is about power and who is allowed to use it.” As such, we aren’t sure whether or not the quote was referring to the Jedi or the Sith. But we are pretty sure that the series is going to explain how the Sith Order was able to find its footing and become influential enough to eventually give rise to the scheming Darth Sidious.
