The Acolyte’s New Sith Characters Are What Star Wars Needs

As the Star Wars franchise has grown and expanded over the last decade since Disney purchased Lucasfilm, many of the stories told within the galaxy far, far away have also begun to feel more similar to one another. Whether it’s movies like Solo: A Star Wars Story and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker or series like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the franchise has primarily centered around many of its most iconic and fan-favorite characters.

While a few stories have deviated from this approach, such as Rogue One or the first season of The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm, and Disney, have consistently shown that they are chiefly interested in playing up the nostalgia and familiarity of the franchise. However, both of the new live-action shows premiering in 2024 tackle new stories with new characters and ideas. Skeleton Crew, created by Jon Watts and starring Jude Law, is expected to air sometime later in the year. First up is The Acolyte, which is set to debut on Disney+ in June. This show not only brings a fresh approach to the franchise but is also disconnected from essentially everything we’ve seen from the franchise so far. Here’s why The Acolyte is exactly what Star Wars needs right now.

Exploring a New Era of the Galaxy

Much of the conversation surrounding The Acolyte has been centered around where and when it takes place in the Star Wars timeline. The series will be the first foray into the “High Republic” era in live action. The High Republic has largely been explored through various canon Star Wars novels and comics. It covers several hundred years, ranging from about the year 500 BBY – which is “Before the Battle of Yavin,” or before Episode IV – A New Hope – to about 100 BBY. This immediately predates the era of the prequel films, known as the “Fall of the Jedi” era. For further context, Episode I – The Phantom Menace is set in about 32 BBY.

The Acolyte will not be set during the prime of the High Republic era, though. Instead, its story details the waning days of that time. Set about a hundred years before The Phantom Menace, approximately 132 BBY. The Acolyte will explore how the Sith managed to return to the galaxy far, far away after having been thought extinct for nearly 1000 years. It will follow a small group of Jedi investigating a series of mysterious crimes occurring throughout the galaxy, likely the result of the mysterious new Sith figures that will be introduced.

The Acolyte will also be the most direct exploration of the Sith we’ve gotten in a live-action Star Wars story. While we have clearly been exposed to the Sith before through key characters like Anakin Skywalker, the actual function of their order is still pretty vague. Given the name of the series and what we know of its story so far, it seems likely that The Acolyte will heavily feature the Sith, potentially even as the lead characters of the show.

Introducing New Characters to the Star Wars Universe

One of the greatest benefits of setting The Acolyte 100 years before anything we’ve seen in a live-action Star Wars story so far is that there are very few familiar faces that could appear in the show. Essentially, every character seen in the live-action Star Wars shows and films has yet to be born by the time of The Acolyte. This means that the show will have to rely on entirely new characters, making it much easier to jump into and enjoy no matter how much Star Wars material the viewer is familiar with.

By introducing new characters, The Acolyte has the potential to breathe new life into the Star Wars franchise, similarly to how The Mandalorian did upon its release in late 2019. So far, we know little about the main characters of the series. It stars Amandla Stenberg as a former padawan who must reteam with her old Jedi Master, played by Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae, to delve into the show’s core mystery. There will also be many other Jedi characters featured in the show, played by the likes of Dafne Keen, Carrie-Anne Moss, Manny Jacinto, Charlie Barnett, Joonas Suotamo, and Rebecca Henderson. Suotamo, specifically, is playing a Wookie Jedi Master named Kelnacca.

Only a couple of established characters could factor into the story. The most prominent is Jedi Master Yoda, who would most certainly be alive and an active part of the Jedi Order at this point in history. His involvement in the story is not confirmed, though it would be surprising if he didn’t at least make a cameo appearance in the series. Then, there is the character Vernestra Rwoh, featured extensively in the High Republic comics and novels. Henderson is confirmed to be playing an adult version of this character. However, she is likely to be reintroduced in a way that audiences will not need to be familiar with her previous adventures.

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Taking the Franchise Back to Its Roots

The Acolyte is coming at the perfect time, as the Star Wars franchise desperately needs new and refreshing ideas to regain the interest of general audiences. While shows like Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi have been successful, they haven’t managed to cross over much beyond the core fan base of the series. As such, they have not done much to keep Star Wars at the top of peoples’ minds, and they have done little to repair the franchise’s reputation after the divisiveness of the sequel film trilogy.

The Acolyte is a clean slate. It’s a new beginning point for people to jump back into the franchise. Not only that, but it’s also a beginning that promises to deliver much of what people have loved about Star Wars since the beginning. Unlike many of the new Star Wars series on Disney+, The Acolyte will be clearly centered on the feud between the Jedi and the Sith. There will be plenty of lightsaber-dueling action intermixed within the space opera intrigue that made Star Wars so successful to begin with.

Star Wars desperately needs a win right now, and the best way to do that is to cast the widest net possible. The Star Wars franchise has become incredibly inside-baseball, which is great for die-hard fans, but it has also shrunk its audience considerably. If The Acolyte can deliver upon the promise of its story and setting, it could win back much of the audience that the franchise has lost over the last several years. The Acolyte will reportedly be released on June 5, 2024, though the official release date is subject to change.