The finale of the intriguing and controversial Star Wars sequence The Acolyte is nearly upon us. Showrunner Leslye Headland is raring for a second season, but additionally admits she hasn’t received the inexperienced mild for one but. So, what can we anticipate from the present’s considerably tied-up ending?
Regardless of being set within the Excessive Republic period, a century earlier than the Star Wars films, The Acolyte makes many references to the Skywalker saga these films cowl. For instance, the penultimate episode reveals that twin heroines Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) have been born (or moderately, created) on a planet that constitutes a “vergence” within the Power — a time period we final heard in The Phantom Menace, utilized to Anakin Skywalker.
However there’s one Star Wars film that The Acolyte references excess of another: The Final Jedi. And Headland has dropped sufficient breadcrumbs concerning the finale in a number of interviews to counsel the story is heading in a really Final Jedi route. Or moderately, it would take a few of the guarantees inherent in that film and switch them as much as 11.
Let’s break down why, and what precisely meaning.
All of the Final Jedi references in The Acolyte
The prequel films confirmed us how the Jedi have been duped and destroyed by Sith Lord Darth Sidious, aka Emperor Palpatine. However The Final Jedi was the primary film within the Star Wars saga to state that this was as a result of very nature of the outdated Jedi Order itself.
“If you strip away their myth and look at their deeds,” Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) defined to Rey (Daisy Ridley), “the legacy of the Jedi is failure, hypocrisy, hubris.”
These hubristic deeds are on full show in early episodes of The Acolyte. Right here, on the peak of being the “guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic” (to cite Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope), we see a bunch of Jedi enter a coven of witches on the planet Brendok.
Brandishing their restricted view of the Power like non secular colonizers, the Jedi insist on testing Mae and Osha for entry into the Jedi order, and a horrific tragedy outcomes.
Not less than, that is what it appears to be like like from the witches’ viewpoint. In The Acolyte episode 7, we see a extra sympathetic model of the identical tragic story by way of the eyes of the Jedi. This Rashomon-like shift in perspective was first seen within the Star Wars universe in The Final Jedi. A fateful second between Luke and Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo (Adam Driver), is seen from each side.
No, that is not the planet Ahch-To.
Credit score: Disney+
The Final Jedi Easter eggs got here thick and quick in The Acolyte episode 6. The mysterious Sith-like determine, generally known as Qimir or extra merely The Stranger (Manny Jacinto), took Osha to an “unknown planet” that seemed loads like Ahch-To, an off-the-grid planet the place Rey finds Luke. We noticed comparable cliffs, caves, and even what seemed like child variations of the Final Jedi‘s large sea cow-like Thala-siren creatures.
Nevertheless, Headland has confirmed that this is not the identical place. “Cortosis [the lightsaber-deflecting metal worn by The Stranger] is mined on this planet,” the showrunner informed Collider, which is not the case on Ahch-To. The creatures are primarily based on mole rats moderately than sea cows. And this planet is totally uncharted, versus Ahch-To, the place Luke had retired and easily hidden a bit of a galactic map from his insurgent associates.
Mashable Prime Tales
Nevertheless, Headland additionally confirmed that the visible similarity between the planets was intentional. Identical goes for the costumes worn by Osha and The Stranger, each of whom costume like Rey and Kylo Ren. The Stranger strips for a swim, creating pressure just like when Rey noticed Kylo Ren topless in a Power imaginative and prescient.
That imaginative and prescient was doable as a result of Rey and Kylo Ren have been revealed to be a Power dyad — an unbreakable pairing of two people throughout time and area. The phrase dyad hasn’t been explicitly utilized in The Acolyte, however The Stranger did point out “the power of two.”
Headland has hinted that this does not seek advice from the Sith idea of grasp and apprentice a lot as a Power dyad between Osha and Mae. Their “power of two” would sooner or later unleash “the power of many,” in keeping with the witches. That sounds extra like a dyad than an apprentice at all times scheming to overthrow their grasp, as within the case of the Sith.
The ladies are “patient zero for this sort of power,” the showrunner informed Nerdist. “They must stay together” to ensure that the ability to work, which is why the Jedi splitting them up sowed the seeds of calamity.
The place will The Acolyte go subsequent?
Credit score: Disney+
The Final Jedi gave us a transparent instance of what it is prefer to be seduced by the Darkish Aspect of the Power — actually seduced, due to Rey and Kylo’s mutual attraction. (The opposite Darkish Aspect seductions seen within the films, these of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, lacked this sexual component.)
In the end, Rey resisted. However what would have occurred if she hadn’t? That is what The Acolyte could also be about to indicate us, foreshadowed by Osha carrying The Stranger’s cortosis helmet on the very finish of episode 6. In spite of everything, if she resists turning into his acolyte, there would not be a complete lot for a present with that title to discover in a second season.
As for the query on the thoughts of each Acolyte-watching Star Wars fan — who’s the Sith-like Stranger, anyway? —The Final Jedi could present clues to the 2 most probably solutions.
It is unlikely that The Stranger goes to be instantly linked to Darth Plagueis, who was later killed by his apprentice Darth Sidious, though the showrunner desires you to know she is aware of about your Plagueis theories. “If I continue to tell this story, I know how I would like that [connection to Plagueis] to play out,” Headland informed Nerdist. “It’s pretty complicated and messy.”
As for the equally widespread fan concept that The Stranger is linked to the Knights of Ren, the order that admitted and named Kylo Ren, the one seen all too briefly in Final Jedi? “It’s a really good theory,” Headland stated, an unusually reticent reply for her. “What an interesting theory.”
What if The Stranger is no person particular?
Credit score: Disney+
However there’s one final risk. In The Final Jedi, Rey was revealed to be the kid of junk merchants. Many followers warmed to the concept that she was “Rey Nobody,” suggesting that Power powers can come up in anybody, wherever within the galaxy far, far-off. When its sequel, The Rise of Skywalker, modified this by making Rey the granddaughter of Palpatine, these followers have been livid.
The thought of a reveal the place the thriller character is not anybody you are anticipating — is not anybody necessary in any respect — has solely turn out to be extra resonant in popular culture since then. Physician Who showrunner Russell T Davies has stated {that a} comparable reveal in his season finale “Empire of Dying” was impressed by The Final Jedi.
The Stranger turning out to be simply plain outdated Qimir, a wannabe Sith Lord we have by no means heard about — particularly if he meets his finish within the finale — would definitely clarify why the Jedi have been so complacent concerning the return of the Sith in The Phantom Menace. And it could clear the best way to discover the place Osha goes subsequent together with her Darkish Aspect flirtation in a possible season 2.
We’ll discover out quickly sufficient. But when Headland’s “complicated and messy” multi-season arc is any information… Nicely then, to cite Luke in The Final Jedi, this isn’t going to go the best way you suppose.
The way to watch: The Acolyte is now streaming on Disney+, with the finale episode premiering Tuesday July 16 at 9 p.m. ET.
