The Star Wars universe is still expanding after all these years. Recently we’ve learned about the new The Mandalorian & Grogu movie, got official confirmation of Ahsoka season 2, and there are rumors of a new What If…? style series. But we can’t forget about the upcoming series that’ll be more important to the Star Wars universe than some may think. One of those series is my most anticipated project this year, The Acolyte. I believe that it will be one of the most significant Star Wars series because it may show us something important about the history of this universe.
[Warning: Spoilers from Star Wars projects are below!]
The Acolyte may be the most important project about Star Wars history
The Acolyte takes place in the final days of the High Republic. We’ll see multiple Jedi Knights, with different lightsaber colors, many charismatic characters, and most importantly, a big addition to the lore of Star Wars. In this series, a former Padawan will reunite with her Jedi Master to investigate the series of mysterious crimes and signals suggesting something dark is coming. Something, that will strike fear in many Jedi.
What’s worth noting is the whole story behind the events of this project. It may not be obvious from the beginning, but with the Jedi Order still alive, data hasn’t been removed from the library, and viewers can see elements of training, as well as many other exciting aspects of Jedi life. Among them, finding out important facts about this universe. Not only about the Jedi Order or Sith, but about other galaxies, events considered “canon” from the Old Republic era, and more.
Going in the direction that recent projects like season 3 of The Mandalorian or Ahsoka series were, I think that we can expect mentions of some historic moments. In The Mandalorian, we learned about the history of the Mandalorians, their past, myths/legends, and their importance to the Star Wars universe. A similar thing happened in Ahsoka where we had to learn about the old galaxy where Ezra (Eman Esfandi) and Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) were trapped in order to understand its meaning in the story.
Although it was only a little information, it meant a lot to the overall story and background of the characters. If The Acolyte decides to go beyond the standard boundaries of Star Wars storytelling, it may become the best among other modern Star Wars projects. If it balances perfectly the main story and its plot while giving us some Easter eggs, and allows us to learn more about the past, then we could be in for a treat.
I think that The Acolyte may also show us some footage or statues that represent important historical events. Perhaps even showing us the first Mandalorian Jedi, the Mandalorian Wars, the fall of the Sith Empire, or the famous Revan. We know some events will have a similar outcome to those from the “old canon”, but we still don’t know what others looked like. If they wanted to show us Revan and let us explore his story, then it may be a great starting point for it. If they even tease something in a small way, then I hope we’ll see it explored more.
If The Acolyte series shows us some important historical moments from the Star Wars universe, I’d be very happy. I’d love to see how different eras looked when it comes to the Republic/Jedi Order engaging in different wars, conflicts, or simple missions that turned out to be essential to the various groups of people. A great addition would be the history of how different events shaped modern politics and rules that people can’t break.
I’m hoping that The Acolyte doesn’t contain any foreshadowing of the events of the Skywalker Saga, or even mention of The Chosen One prophecy. Sure, it can mention or even show the mural of The Mortis Gods, but I think it may be in the form of a fun fact rather than a big Easter egg or maybe even their cameo in the show.
The Acolyte could explore the history of the Sith and the Rule of Two
In recent years, ever since the Rebels show touched on the possibility of exploring the lore of the Sith, I wanted to see even one project that would do so. There were opportunities with the Ahsoka series, Tales of The Jedi, or Obi-Wan Kenobi series. But in the long run, it was unnecessary to the overall story of those projects. In this case, The Acolyte seems like the perfect choice to expand Sith lore and let viewers learn more about the ancient Dark Side force-wielders.
In the old canon, a.k.a. Legends, the Rule of Two started after Darth Bane noticed the self-destructive infighting within the Sith Order. From that moment, the Rule of Two stated “Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice.”, This would guarantee that when the apprentice is strong enough, he can kill his master, take their place, and take upon an apprentice.
In Legends, before this rule, there were thousands of Sith Warriors and Sith Acolytes. They were an army/empire that wanted to rule the entire galaxy. They very often fought Jedi and even attacked the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. But in the new canon, all we know is that at least one of the Sith governments managed to take control over the entire known galaxy at one point. Despite this triumph, the Order fell into infighting and eventually collapsed around 1000 years before the Battle of Yavin, leaving only one survivor.
With The Acolyte, where we’ll be able to see more history about the Dark Side users, there is an opportunity to show us the wider history of the Sith and learn about the Sith Empire and how they operated. Maybe we’ll be able to see what the teachings of younglings look like, to further understand what future Jedi Knights learn about the past of their Order and their enemies.
We need more projects that explore Star Wars history and expand the lore
At this point, we’ve had eleven Star Wars movies (with four more on the way), around ten “canon” shows, and three games. When it came to movies and shows, they slightly mentioned some historical events (from the Pre-Skywalker Saga era) that weren’t a big part of their stories, but rather Easter eggs. Some of them were just a nod to long-time fans of this universe, while others were an opportunity to explore more side stories.
For example, we had a mention of Darth Plagueis in Revenge of the Sith, Ancient Sith warriors statues like Bane, Sion and Revan in The Rise of Skywalker, mention of Mandalorian Wars in The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars. Ancient Sith history was mentioned in Rebels seasons 2 and 3, The Mortis Gods and their history in Clone Wars, Rebels and Ahsoka and the whole other old galaxy history in Ahsoka series.
Games on the other hand (two Star Wars: Jedi games and Battlefront II 2017 game) showed us a different approach. In Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor, we had a chance to learn about older civilizations like Zeffonians. They were a peaceful tribe where many could wield the Force. But in time, they got corrupted and fell to the Dark Side. We learned some pieces of their past and the meaning of Cal’s (Cameron Monaghan) journey.
Jedi: Survivor on the other hand gave us a plot that focused on the events from the High Republic era, which, in my opinion, was astonishing and fantastic. Throughout the gameplay, we learned about planet Tanalorr where Dagan Gera wanted to create a safe place for Jedi. It was meant to be the bastion/fortress of the Jedi’s light in the Outer Rims. While Gera never succeeded in his goal, Cal now has an opportunity to finish what he started.
I believe that it’s one of the projects that will be important in terms of creating the story for the future non-gaming projects, because of the potential of Tanalorr. Cal wants to create there a safe place for people to hide from the Empire. He also wants to restore the Jedi Order in honor of his master Cere Junda and her master Eno Cordova. Now he can do both, restore the Jedi Order and help people. It reminds me of the story from the Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy game, where Luke’s temple/school worked very similarly to this. And for now, at least, it’s the one project that had a direct connection to the High Republic events and is continuing the expansion of our knowledge about this era.
I hope that all future projects will explore the ancient history of the Star Wars universe. They may continue to do so either in the form of prequel stories or mentioning the events and then continuing them in projects post-Skywalker Saga.
Would you be interested in exploring the ancient past of the Star Wars universe in The Acolyte or other projects? Let us know what you think on social media @mycosmiccircus or on The Cosmic Circus Discord.
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