Last August, we got word that Lucasfilm/Disney had decided not to move forward with a second season of The Acolyte despite several major storylines and character arcs being left unresolved by the end of the season 1 finale.
The announcement was met with a mixture of indifference and disappointment, but it soon became clear that a lot of Star Wars fans - and some of the actors involved with the show - were surprised by this development.
The season concluded with Osha (Amandla Stenberg) murdering Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) and embracing the Dark Side by joining with Qimir/The Stranger (Manny Jacinto), as Darth Plagueis is revealed as the mysterious Sith master behind Qimir's mission to bring down the Jedi order.
Now, a new book, The Art of The Acolyte, reveals what fate would have lay ahead for Qimir and his master had the story continued beyond a single season.
According to showrunner Leslye Headland, Qimir would have become the first Knight of Ren, the Sith cult that Kylo Ren led (and ultimately destroyed) in the sequel trilogy.
“It was in the design of the character, as well as knowing that we were going to introduce Darth Plagueis, who has to end up with Palpatine as his apprentice. Following the Rule of Two - a precept that limited the Sith to just two at any given time, a master and an apprentice - one way to keep it going it is if the Stranger is the first Knight of Ren, part of a Sith-adjacent cult that we know eventually survives."
This was actually one of the many fan-theories that did the rounds during the series, and would certainly have been an interesting way to connect the High Republic Era to the sequel trilogy while also giving fans some more backstory on the Knights of Ren, who we learned so little about in The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
In The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.
The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss.
Leslye Headland created the series, based on Star Wars by George Lucas, and serves as an executive producer along with Kathleen Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King and Jason Micallef. Charmaine DeGraté and Kor Adana are the co-executive producers. Rayne Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim and Rob Bredow are the producers.
Headland also directed the premiere episodes (Eps. 101 & 102). Directors Kogonada (Eps. 103 & 107), Alex Garcia Lopez (Eps. 104 & 105) and Hanelle Culpepper (Eps. 106 & 108) round out the directing duties on the series.
"I really wanted to tell a story about the Sith," Headland told EW in a recent interview. "That was kind of my dream Star Wars idea. But it felt like the time period to do that in would be something pre-Phantom Menace. That seemed to be the most interesting trajectory for the Sith: How did the Sith go from the Rule of Two and being quote-unquote 'extinct' to Palpatine coming into power without the Jedi knowing about it?"
Award-winning composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Get Out and Us, scored The Acolyte.