While a lot of Lucasfilm’s upcoming Star Wars content revolves around familiar characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Lando Calrissian, the studio also has some fascinating original ideas on the horizon. For example, The Acolyte, created by Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland, will be set hundreds of years prior to the story of the Skywalkers in the time of the High Republic.
As the High Republic’s reign over the galaxy comes to an end, Sith practisers start to come out of the woodwork, threatening the balance of the Force. This Disney+ show has the potential to be like no other Star Wars series.
Sith Perspective
Although the prequel trilogy charts Anakin’s turn to the dark side and the sequel trilogy had a lot of misplaced sympathy for Ben Solo, Star Wars stories are generally told from the perspective of the light side of the Force. The dark side Force users are, naturally, always painted as the villains.
With The Acolyte chronicling the emergence of the Sith in the final days of the High Republic, it can differentiate itself by telling a Star Wars story from the perspective of the dark side.
The High Republic
Previous Star Wars series have relied upon familiar segments of the timeline from the movies: the Clone Wars, the rise of the Empire, the immediate aftermath of Return of the Jedi, etc.
The High Republic is a newer section of the Star Wars timeline. Lucasfilm only recently launched the multimedia franchise surrounding it. None of the other movies or TV series have tackled this era yet, so Headland is in mostly uncharted territory.
Martial Arts
Since George Lucas was heavily influenced by Akira Kurosawa, Star Wars stories have drawn heavily from Kurosawa’s samurai masterpieces and the classic westerns that inspired them. But The Acolyte has been described as more of a martial arts series.
The idea of a story like Enter the Dragon or Kill Bill being told with Sith characters is incredibly tantalizing. Martial artist Ray Park’s portrayal of Darth Maul’s sleek, animalistic physicality in The Phantom Menace resulted in one of the most intense lightsaber duels in Star Wars history.
Serialized Storytelling
While there are ongoing story arcs throughout The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and Rebels, these shows have an adventure-of-the-week format harking back to the old serials that inspired Star Wars in the first place.
With The Acolyte’s grand narrative involving dark side powers bringing an end to the High Republic’s rule, Headland can shake things up with the kind of serialized storytelling that feels like a big movie cut up into bitesize pieces, in the vein Game of Thrones.
Female Antiheroes
While plot details are scarce, it’s been announced that The Acolyte is a female-led series. The Star Wars universe has had plenty of great female heroes, like Leia Organa, and great female villains, like Asajj Ventress. But, while male antiheroes are a dime a dozen in this universe (Anakin Skywalker, Din Djarin, Ben Solo, Boba Fett, the list goes on), the franchise doesn’t have many female antiheroes.
It was hinted throughout the sequel trilogy that Rey had dark side tendencies, but this turned out to be a lore-breaking result of having Palpatine’s genes. The leads of The Acolyte can join Fennec Shand and Cara Dune in Star Wars’ growing roster of great female antiheroes.
Darth Plagueis
The vague description of The Acolyte as the story of the Sith’s re-emergence hundreds of years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker has sparked rumors that the series will chart the rise of Darth Plagueis, Emperor Palpatine’s old master.
Palpatine’s master was originally set to appear in Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX under the name Tor Valum, but Trevorrow was fired and replaced by J.J. Abrams, who instead made Rey a Palpatine.
Old Sith Teachings
The Sith as it’s defined in the existing Star Wars media is mostly based around Darth Sidious’ teachings, since the Skywalker saga chronicles his singlehanded efforts to bring the Sith back and turn the galaxy from a democracy into a dictatorship.
In The Acolyte, fans will be able to see the Sith as they were before Palpatine came along and influenced the religion with his own interpretations.
No Links To The Skywalkers
After the disappointment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars needs to distance itself from the story of the Skywalkers and tell new stories about new characters, focusing on uncharted territories in a galaxy far, far away.
While The Mandalorian was originally conceived to do this, its second season just introduced Luke Skywalker at the height of his Jedi powers, so The Acolyte is their best shot now.
The Bad Guys Win
If The Acolyte is setting the stage for Palpatine’s rise and the eventual return of the Sith in the age of the Old Republic, then it can end with the bad guys winning (at least temporarily).
Since the Star Wars saga is inspired by space serials about good triumphing over evil, these stories have never ended with the bad guys winning. If the bad guys do enjoy a victory, it’s just a minor bump in the road on the way to the heroes’ own victory.
Mature Themes
While The Mandalorian’s popularity can rival that of Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, its themes and storytelling are far more simplistic. It’s perfect at being what it is — an adventure-of-the-week space western series and a love letter to the Star Wars saga — but it’s not exactly a shining beacon of the “Peak TV” era.
With the head writer of Russian Doll at the helm and a dark premise with juicy thematic potential, The Acolyte is Star Wars’ chance to break into the realm of prestige genre TV.