The Acolyte has trapped me in a vicious loop.
Once I’m not serious about its Season 1 finale (a Star Wars masterclass, by the way in which), I am serious about how a lot I need Season 2. Once I’m not serious about how a lot I need Season 2, I am serious about the finale. On and on and on it goes.
‘The Acolyte’ sticks the touchdown with a banger of a finale — and I would like extra, stat
Negative effects of this cycle embody intense hypothesis on what a possible Season 2 of The Acolyte may appear like. Sure, the finale was deeply satisfying, answering a lot of our greatest questions from the season. Nevertheless it additionally arrange a number of fascinating threads that would repay massive time ought to the present proceed.
As we stay up for the way forward for The Acolyte, listed below are 9 burning questions we now have for Season 2, beginning off with crucial one:
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1. When is Season 2 of The Acolyte popping out?
Lee Jung-jae in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
In my dream world, inside six months! However as of now, Disney has but to announce a renewal of The Acolyte, not to mention a launch date. Primarily based on the various occasions between seasons of The Mandalorian or Andor, it is doable that turnaround for a second season of The Acolyte might take two to 3 years.
My one request for Season 2? (In addition to having it within the first place, after all.) Give us an order of no less than 10 or 12 episodes. As a lot as I cherished Season 1, The Acolyte did typically really feel prefer it was dashing. I might have cherished extra time to sit down with these characters and their relationships — particularly Jecki (Dafne Eager) and Yord (Charlie Barnett), gone too quickly.
2. How highly effective are the twins, actually?
Amandla Stenberg in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Over the course of The Acolyte, we be taught that twins Mae and Osha Aniseya (each performed by Amandla Stenberg) have been created utilizing the Power. Due to this, they’re mainly the identical particular person break up in two, and proof of a Power vergence on Brendok. However what sort of energy does that give them past any run-of-the-mill Sith or Jedi? We have seen they’re each succesful Power customers and fighters, however hopefully Season 2 will push them and their energy even additional, so we will see their true potential.
3. What’s subsequent for Osha and the Stranger?
Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
By the tip of the episode, Osha has absolutely embraced the Darkish Facet, killing Jedi Grasp Sol (Lee Jung-jae), and agreeing to hone her energy with assist from the Stranger (Manny Jacinto). That opens up the potential for a Darkish Facet-focused coaching arc, one thing we have not seen onscreen a lot in Star Wars. So with that in thoughts, I’ll want no less than one prolonged coaching montage, full with lightsabers, Power use — the works.
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Then, there’s the Oshamir of all of it. The Acolyte has made it clear that the Stranger (alias Qimir) takes the artwork of seducing somebody to the Darkish Facet very critically. Will that seduction proceed in Season 2, and possibly bloom right into a full-fledged romance? Primarily based on that wonderful shot of Osha and the Stranger holding arms on the very finish of the finale, all indicators level to sure. Oshamir shippers, our time is now.
4. How will Mae fare with the Jedi?
Amandla Stenberg in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
In one of the vital heartbreaking moments of The Acolyte‘s finale, Mae sacrifices all her reminiscences of her twin sister with a view to ensure that she will not by chance lead the Jedi to Osha sooner or later. As soon as the Jedi catch Mae, they create her to Coruscant, the place Grasp Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) says they will want her assist looking down the Stranger. (Extra on that later.)
However how will Mae match into the Jedi Order? Does she bear in mind how one can use the Power? Or did the Stranger’s reminiscence wipe — which additionally ridded her of any reminiscences of him — destroy any coaching she could have picked up from him?
Worst of all, what occurs when Mae crosses paths with Osha once more, with their roles utterly reversed from the place they began the present? Will they fall again into the identical dance, one sister embracing the Darkish, the opposite backing the Jedi whereas lacking an important piece of the puzzle? Or will the revelation that she has a sister deliver Mae again to the Darkish Facet?
5. What occurred between the Stranger and Vernestra?
Rebecca Henderson in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
The Acolyte finale confirms the speculation that Vernestra was the Stranger’s Jedi Grasp, but it surely leaves the small print of their fallout unknown — no less than, for now. All we all know is that Vernestra had a pupil who “turned evil,” and that the Stranger appeared frightened sufficient of Vernestra to throw his helmet again on as quickly as he sensed her arrival on Brendok. There’s clearly plenty of historical past right here that is ripe for exploring in Season 2. What might the Stranger have accomplished for Vernestra to provide him these gnarly again scars? How did he flip to the Darkish Facet within the first place? And did Vernestra mass-memory wipe the opposite Jedi to cowl up her personal Padawan’s fall? I sense one other flashback episode on the horizon!
6. What the heck is Yoda going to do about all The Acolyte‘s chaos?
Vernestra turns to a different highly effective inexperienced Jedi Grasp in The Acolyte finale — none apart from Grasp Yoda himself. Presumably she’s going to inform him in regards to the menace the Stranger poses, however we do not get to see extra of him past his lil inexperienced head. How does he react to the information of all these highly effective Darkish Siders rising from the shadows? Let’s be actual, if he is something like Vernestra — or Sol, or Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) — he’ll be leaping on the coverup practice immediately.
7. What position will Darth Plagueis play in The Acolyte Season 2? (And why is he on the Stranger’s island?)
Amandla Stenberg and Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte” (with Darth Plagueis presumably lurking out of body).
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Yoda is not the one main Star Wars cameo in The Acolyte finale. There’s additionally the quickest peek at a Sith Lord lurking within the shadows of a cave on the Stranger’s island. That is probably Darth Plagueis, the Sith who would go on to coach Emperor Palpatine. And whereas I am undoubtedly keen on seeing how his story (and Palpatine’s) connects to Osha’s, I’ve a extra urgent query: Why is he on the island on the primary place? Is he roommates with the Stranger? Just a few Peeping Tom? Please, Plagueis, cease creeping on my ship!
We have got some questions left over from Season 1, too…
8. Are there any Brendok witches left?
Margarita Levieva and Leah Brady in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
The Acolyte wrapped up most of my greatest questions heading into the finale, however not all! First up, the query of the Brendok witches. Most of them perished within the battle with the Jedi, however Mom Koril (Margarita Levieva) was not among the many useless. She turned to smoke and disappeared earlier than Indara worn out the coven, which means she might nonetheless be very a lot at giant. Might she resurface to reconnect along with her daughters in Season 2?
9. How does the Stranger hook up with Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren?
Manny Jacinto in “The Acolyte.”
Credit score: Lucasfilm Ltd.
In an intriguing little bit of musical foreshadowing, The Acolyte has used snippets of Kylo Ren’s theme to attain components of the present, together with a number of key moments involving the Stranger. Is there an opportunity that he — and now Osha — could possibly be the unique Knights of Ren from the sequel trilogy? In an interview with Nerdist, Headland took a very good lengthy pause earlier than saying that that is “a really good theory.” Which might imply nothing! Or every thing…
The Acolyte Season 1 is now streaming on Disney+.
