Top 4 things to look forward to in an Acolyte Season 2

The dust kicked up by Mae's force push is beginning to settle after the finale of the Acolyte. Without question the show has stirred up huge engagement online. Everything from review bombing even before the show came out, displeasure over its perceived treatment of lore, questions about budgets, to a passionate #RenewTheAcolyte following on social media. I for one will come out and say up top that I loved the show.

Was it perfect? No of course not. Some of the two flash back episodes felt a little repetitive, and some character motivations seemed to flip on a sixpence. But did I roll with it, look forward to each episode, love the freshness, and walk away feeling happy and really excited? YES. Absolutely.

I really welcome the new era and aesthetic, the pronounced moral ambiguity between dark and light, the nods and easter eggs, and the incredible action literally whenever there was a saber on screen. I’d be pretty gutted if we don't get a Season 2, which despite positive noises before the launch of the show does look in question in light of viewer numbers and what feels at times like largely shallow but noisy internet backlash.

I feel like there is so much more story to tell and some obvious open and very intriguing doors to push on. I'm even looking for time to dive into the High Republic books in what little free time I have to get some sort of fix!

There is hope for a season 2 as Disney is obviously trying to build a following for its High Republic Era, and the most universally enjoyed parts of the show are the things a second series would undoubtedly delve into. So I’m definitely throwing up a #RenewTheAcolyte and keeping everything crossed that positivity prevails! After all…rebellions are built on hope. Here’s looking at you D23 for a Season 2 announcement.

So on that note, and to indulge my excitement while we wait, here are my top 4 things I’m hoping a Season 2 will let us see explored more on screen.

The Stranger

Without doubt ‘The Stranger’ / Qimir has been the biggest hit from the show. I think its hard to argue he isn’t one of the coolest looking new characters we’ve had, with an eerie, erratic and unpredictable demeanour to match. A super cool and unique helmet, simple black robes, and a new-style lightsaber that splits into two single red blades.

When we first got a good look at the helmet in episode 5, after his epic vampire-like floating descent, I noticed the lack of significant eyelets or a visor, and of course we learn later that this is to diminish the senses and allow a greater connection with the Force. Everything we got in the show with The Stranger, all the scenes with Mae and then Osha, I thought were easily the best bits and I wanted more of it, so I’d love to see the continuation of this story alongside Osha.

But there’s more to him than a cool aesthetic - I’m interested in his backstory which we get glimpses of. He was a Jedi…and really seems to emphasise that it was a ‘long time ago’ which left me wondering exactly how long ago, is there something going on with his age? Also how is this linked to his history with Vernestra who referred to having a Padawan that fell to evil. He seemed scarred of her when she sensed him on Brendok in the finale. Are those scars from her lightwhip?

Finally I do wonder whether The Stranger has history with the Brendok witch coven. In episode 5 Yord tells Osha that the Stranger can ‘get in your head and stay there’, to which Osha says her mother could do that. Is this leaving us a breadcrumb that The Stranger has been involved with the coven and perhaps there has been some mutual learning exhanged, afterall he seems to know alot about Mae and Osha’s origins and the witches refer to going to lengths to concieve them, using methods that the Jedi wouldnt like…

The Senate vs The Jedi

A part I loved about The Acolyte was the insight we got about the relationship between the Jedi and the Senate. By the time we get to the Prequels there are obviously doubters of the Jedi in the political system of the Republic, but here we get an understanding of exactly how long this criticism has been building.

Right from episode 1 Vernestra refrences the ‘political enemies’ of the Jed. and throughout the series is keen to hide any perception that a failure of the Jedi, or a fallen Jedi specifically, could be behind the murders. We see this come to full fruition in the finale when she pins the whole thing on Sol. The main antagonist in this respect is the brilliant Senator Rayencourt who refers to the Jedi as a ‘massive system of unchecked power posing as a religion’, and very sadly predicts that it wont be too long before a Jedi ‘snaps’ and nobody may be strong enough to 'stop him’.

In the final scene where we see Vernestra get the chance to hold court with Master Yoda, there has been some speculation that she’s about to spill the beans about Qimir, her fallen padawn, still being alive and behind the murders. Thus either making Yoda complicit in hiding the return of the Sith from the Council, or ‘breaking lore’ with respect to their obliviousness, with Ki-Adi Munid’s reference to the sith being extinct for millenia, in the Phantom Menaca.

I actually think she has no intention of this, and is trying to enlist Yoda’s help to take on Rayencourt and the other political enemies she’s referring to in episode 1. I’d love to see this play out and learn whether a review of the Jedi goes ahead and how the Jedi manage to keep their critics somewhat at bay until their true downfall in the Prequels.

Darth Plagueis & The Vergence

Have you ever heard the tragedy, of Darth Plagueis the wise? I didn’t think so! Apart from the non-canon but much loved James Luceno novel, we haven’t had it in detail yet. However, for the first time we’ve seen Plagueis in live action, now confirmed as that creepy cave dweller from the Acolyte finale.

Since the famous opera scene from Revenge of the Sith we've know about him, with Palpatine tempting Anakin with the abilities Plagueis was able to harness through the dark side; influencing the midichlorians to create life, and being able to save those he cared about from dying. Before teaching them all to his slightly smug apprentice who then rather ungratefully killed him in his sleep. Wink wink!

Seeing Plagueis in the Acolyte was a definite WOW moment for me. Sure, I’d have loved to have seen more of him in the story we got, but it wasn’t his story and I think this glimpse wasnt a bad thing as we got the chance to spend more time with brand new characters, and its ripe for exploration in a season 2.

It has been confirmed outside of the show that Qimir is Plagueis’ apprentice, but did he know he was watching on or is Qimir secretly trying to take Osha for his own apprentice to take on Plagueis? Surely the creation of the ‘twins’ through a vergence in the force on Brendok (the tree or the fortress?) is somehow related to Plagueis abilities to create life. Did he help the witches and how does this relate to him teaching Palpatine, and then Anakin who is also described by Qui-Gon as a ‘vergence’. These are all huge questions for Star Wars that feel absolutely like things we need to see in live action!

The Dark Side

Although we spent a lot of time with the Jedi during The Acolyte, and for much of the show The Stranger was very much a mystery, I do feel like we’ve had a much deeper exploration of the dark side. Certainly the show dwelled between the light and the dark, and introduced a new sense of moral ambiguity between the freedom of the Sith vs the righteousness of the Jedi.

Star Wars has, for a long time, shown us the flaws of the Jedi and made no secret of this. You could say the whole saga makes this obvious, the Prequels are really all about the fall of the Jedi, and more recently in The Last Jedi, Luke tries his hardest to explain to Rey that the Jedi must end because of their inherent failings. He does come back round. However, we’ve always seen the sith as purely evil, without this level of moral exploration around the dark side.

The singular moment that captured this was Osha’s fall to the dark and the spectacular bleeding of Sol’s kyber crystal, transitioning the blade from blue to red. However I also loved the evolving contrast between Sol and The Stranger, which I think best embodied this. We feel from early on that Sol is the hero of the story, but we soon realise he is not the picture perfect Jedi. Just as Rayencourt says, he’s unable to control his emotions, and with disastrous consequences. To the end he never believes he did wrong, and even compels Mae to listen to his side of the story by strapping her down, whereas The Stranger seemingly gives Osha the freedom to leave and just wants her to see the Jedi for what they are, and her own truth.

I’d love more of this exploration of the dark side and the sith, not just as the extreme evil opposite of the Jedi’s extreme good. But as potentially part of blurry middle-ground, meeting the flaws and ultimately self-destructive nature of the Jedi somewhere in the middle, as an alternate, free, albeit slippery slope, way to embrace the force, accepting of emotion.

All in all I think there’s loads to look forward to in an Acolyte season 2. I hope when the dust truly settles and people get a chance to spend more time with the show that Disney see through the extreme criticism of the show and manage to meet in the middle. Fingers crossed for an announcement that we’ll have more time in this part of the Star Wars universe.

MTFBWY