Lucasfilm's most exciting new project, The Acolyte, a Star Wars TV series set during the High Republic Era, could redefine the Jedi and the Force. In January, Lucasfilm Publishing will introduce Star Wars fans to a whole new period of galactic history. The High Republic Era was a time when the Jedi were at their greatest, when the Republic was in a state of relative peace and was expanding across the galaxy. It came to an end roughly 200 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and an exciting new transmedia initiative is about to tell the tale of that end.
This story will kick on January 5, with the release of Charles Soule's novel Light of the Jedi and Justina Ireland's young-adult book A Test of Courage. But, while this initiative is the brainchild of Lucasfilm Publishing, there have been rumors the rest of the company want to get in on the act. Those were confirmed on Disney's investor day on December 10, 2020, with Lucasfilm announcing a High Republic TV show called The Acolyte that will stream exclusively on Disney+. Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland signed up for this in April 2020, and according to Lucasfilm the "mystery-thriller... will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era." In truth, though, the blurb doesn't even hint at the show's true potential.
The High Republic is already set to redefine fans' understanding of Jedi and the Force. Speaking at the High Republic panel at New York Comic Con 2020, Charles Soule revealed the traditional view of the Force has actually come through the filter of Yoda. Because of Yoda's prominence among the Jedi and his significance as a teacher, Yoda's relationship with the Force - his view that it is an energy field created by all living things, surrounding and penetrating people, binding the galaxy together - had become dominant by the time of the Skywalker saga. But the High Republic Era was a time when every Jedi was encouraged to pursue their own unique relationship with, and knowledge of, the Force. One of the central characters in Light of the Jedi is Jedi Master Avar Kriss, who experiences the Force as music. "She calls it the Song of the Force," Soule explained. "And so, for her, all the different Jedi have their own tones and instruments, and it all comes together into this great symphony of dissonance and assonance, and all these beautiful things that she is able to perceive." All the other characters in the book have their own unique understanding of the Force as well.
This means the Star Wars franchise to date has only just begun to explore the Force, because all the Jedi to date - from Yoda to Obi-Wan Kenobi, from Anakin Skywalker to Ahsoka, from Luke Skywalker to Rey - have principally been influenced by the one interpretation of the Force. The High Republic books and comics are set to give readers whole new windows into the Force, entirely new ways to interpret it that stand alongside (or possibly contradict) everything audiences thought they knew. As exciting as that possibility may be, though, an actual Disney+ TV series set during that era has the opportunity to bring those new perspectives on the Force to the attention of far more people.
In truth, Leslye Headland's Acolyte series has the potential to take Star Wars further than even George Lucas could ever have envisioned. It is set during a time-period he alluded to when Obi-Wan described a lightsaber as "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age," but one he never explored. And it has the potential to reveal whole new ways of understanding and interpreting Jedi and the Force as well. Star Wars is taking its first, faltering steps beyond the Skywalker saga - and that makes Acolyte the most exciting of all the shows recently confirmed to be in the works.