New 'Star Wars' Thriller 'The Acolyte' Announced for Disney Plus!

On December 10th, the public was welcomed with Disney's investors to watch a litany of new announcements for Disney's streaming portfolio. Among major features like a new animated series called The Bad Batch, and a live-action Ahsoka series, it was a surprise to see a new show taking place in a brand new "mystery-thriller" called The Acolyte. Even though details are still locked up tight, there are some juicy bits of information and fan speculation that have already started pouring out onto the web, including rumors that a familiar face might be our main character.

For fans who've followed Star Wars comics and games, the term "Acolyte" might be a giveaway. For the rest of us, there's the red title and the saber slashing through the word: this new Disney+ show takes us on a journey into the dark side of the Force. "Acolyte" is a Sith rank that has been used to describe a student of the Dark Side either below or at the level of a Jedi Padawan or Apprentice. Past holders of the title Acolyte have included Asajj Ventress, Quinlan Voss, and the Sith player characters of the Star Wars MMO The Old Republic. The training of the dark side has been explored much more thoroughly in the Legacy of old, making people wonder how much this will change within the new canon era that The Acolyte is a part of.

The Acolyte takes place during the last days of the High Republic, which is not the name of a different government, but a time period spanning from about 300 to 100 years before Luke destroyed the first Death Star. In the same way that Legends had The Old Republic as an era that started more than 3,000 years ago, The High Republic is meant to give writers a place to work with each other that isn't restricted by the bounds of the prequels, original trilogy, or sequels. There are only a few things tying the High Republic timeline to the Star Wars we already know. One of those exceptions is Master Yoda, who has been alive for about six hundred years already when the High Republic era begins.

While we don't have so much as a single novel out from the High Republic era yet (those start coming out in January), there have been a number of press releases and videos that preview what we can expect. Like the name suggests, these are the good times for the Republic and by extension, the Jedi. In a galaxy that seems to be getting bigger with hyperspace routes still being charted, the Jedi act more like wild west sheriffs than the formal knights we're familiar with. The mysterious Great Disaster is a backdrop event that'd cause the destruction of starships and planetary bodies throughout the galaxy. And a new faction of barbaric enemies called the Nihil attack and pillage their way through the galaxy. All while an unknown dark side user (at least two, if the title is correct; you can't have an Acolyte without a Master) operates under the Jedi's nose.

Some fans have suggested that the Acolyte is actually the Emperor himself, Darth Sidious. Or Sheev Palpatine, or whatever different alias he may have had a hundred years ago. It's a rumor that would've seemed outlandish if it came out prior to The Rise of Skywalker, but after seeing Palpatine come back from the dead, nothing can be ruled out anymore. It's possible that Palpatine learned the techniques of holding life for himself from his supposed master Darth Plagueis a hundred years ago, remaking his identity over and over to blend in.

Leslye Headland of the Netflix series Russian Doll will direct the series. Currently, no cast or expected release date has been announced.

Written By Trey Atwood

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