We’re less than one month away from the next Star Wars project releasing, the live-action series, The Acolyte. And with the series fast approaching, I thought it would be fun to lay out my personal speculation on what I think is the plot of the series. I really, really must stress that this post is just a collection of theories and speculation I have based on the footage we’ve seen so far, quotes, a rumour and one scene I was told about. Again, this is just a theory post. So with that being stressed, let’s get started.
The murder of Jedi Master Indara
The latest trailer begins with Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon revealing that a Jedi has been murdered, it’s later said by Charlie Barnett’s Yord Fandar that Jedi are being hunted. So who’s the murderer and who’s hunting the Jedi? The trailers have pulled no punches in showing us that the series lead, Mae played by Amandla Stenberg, is looking to take down at least one Jedi, Indara played by Carrie-Anne Moss, and I believe Mae will succeed in her endeavour and it’ll happen in the first episode of the series.
Most shots we’ve seen of Indara have all been from the cantina that Mae attacks her in. She’s been spotted in other scenes which appear to be flashbacks as Lee Jung-Jae’s Sol appears in those scenes with shorter hair and the trailer also tells us that he takes a young Mae (or is it?) under his tutelage when he sports this haircut, telling us that it’s a flashback and not a time jump forward in time. This is why I believe that Mae will succeed in killing Indara in the first episode.
From there we know the Jedi will embark on an investigation as to who murdered Indara and why they’re hunting Jedi. From officially released images we know that a lot of the second episode will take place in a town, a town in which we see Sol and other Jedi investigating and eventually leads to Sol facing off against Mae as he asks who trained her. But, if he took a young Mae to be his Padawan, wouldn’t he know who she is? Well, yes he would. So let’s tackle that.
Who is Mae?
In the trailer we hear a voice over from Sol where he says that ‘she’ was his student and that he wants to be the one to bring her in – we assume he’s talking about Mae. Mae must make an escape from coming up against Sol in the town as eventually Sol and a handful of Jedi end up at a forest location where we see Mae put a blade to Jecki’s throat and the Jedi come into contact with a mysterious masked Sith that’s wielding a red lightsaber. This implies to us that Mae likely isn’t the masked Sith our Jedi come face-to-face with, it’s probably somebody she’s working with. We’ve seen shots of Mae approaching an unknown character on some rocks next to an ocean, likely the masked Sith that was revealed to us in the latest trailer.
So who is Mae? I think that Mae is a twin and unfortunately, her twin might’ve passed away. I think the little girl we’re lead to believe is Mae in the trailer who is handed a lightsaber by a young Sol is actually her twin sister. The little girl is seen meeting Sol who hands her a lightsaber at a location where Jodie Turner-Smith’s Mother Aniseya is based. We see that things do not go well for Sol and the twin as they’re seen running through a burning forest and a building that’s on fire. Either way, things don’t turn out well for Sol’s padawan and Mae’s sister. I must add that this section was influenced by a rumour reported by DanielRPK last year, that Stenberg would play twin characters – one Jedi and one Sith.
I’d also like to add that some of the earliest quotes we got from the series creator, Leslye Headland, was that the series would take inspiration from Frozen and Kill Bill. Frozen is about two sisters, Anya and Elsa. Elsa almost kills her younger sister, Anya, with her magical powers and isolates herself from the world. Elsa suppresses her powers, but her mounting emotions of what happened to her sister accidentally triggers her powers that causes an eternal winter. Anya sets off on a journey to find her beloved sister. Kill Bill is a revenge tale that see’s a woman, The Bride, seeking out to kill the man (Bill) and a group of assassins that ruined her life after they killed her husband and stole her daughter.
Given the scenario I concocted for my theory of Mae having a sister and the events that follow, you can see how the films Headland mentioned could have inspired the plot of the series.
Another thing that could add to the theory is the latest poster for The Acolyte. The poster features a handful of characters from the series, but there are two large images of Mae on the poster next to one another and facing the opposite way. One donning a mask and the other one not. I can’t help but feel that the poster is a bit of a wink and a nod to the sisters/twins idea. One depicting the good, the sister that was to become a Jedi, and the other the dark – the sister sporting a dark mask and seeking revenge.
So does Sol know about the sister? Probably. When he asks Mae who trained her, maybe he’s asking this because he knows who she is and he knows that the Jedi didn’t train her – she’s wasn’t selected, but can use the force and is a formidable fighter. Maybe the line where he says, ‘She was my student. I trained her’, is actually in regard to Mae’s twin – he’s telling the story of his deceased student and how Mae is connected to her and why she is hunting Jedi…revenge.
Who is the Sith Lord?
So, back to the forest. Who is the Sith we see taking on Sol? As I mentioned, I don’t think it’s Mae, she’s taking on Jecki. I think this masked Sith is somebody that Mae works with or for as we see her stood behind a mysterious individual in other shots. I think that this character isn’t even the Sith Master, I think it’s the Sith apprentice, and here’s why. The series creator, Leslye Headland, once explained the title of the show, “there’s a concept of an Acolyte, which is underneath Apprentice. So that is where I got the title from.” So there’s a master, an apprentice – the masked Sith, and an acolyte – Mae. Think of it like Asajj Ventress from the Clone Wars – Palpatine was the master, Count Dooku was the apprentice and Ventress was the acolyte.
So who is under the mask? I don’t know. I know some think that it could be Manny Jacinto’s Qimir, a former smuggler and now trader, due to rumours of him playing two versions of the same character and the line from the trailer where he’s speaking with Mae, “The Jedi justify their galactic dominance in the name of peace. But that peace is a lie.” It could also be David Harewood, who was cast in an unknown role. Harewood is best known for starring in Supergirl as Martian Manhunter and also has a great voice, something that really benefits portraying a character that’s behind a mask.
I think Sol will likely survive this encounter at the forest location with the Sith, as will Jecki and Yord, but those other no-name Jedi that accompanied them are likely goners.
How will The Acolyte end?
I think that by the seasons end, Mae will become a Sith, either being ushered in officially the masked Sith, or by defeating and replacing the masked Sith. Why do I think this? Because in December I exclusively reported that reshoots went on in November and December last year and as part of those reshoots I shared that Amandla Stenberg was spotted filming a scene with what looked to be Lee Jung-Jae or his body double. Stenberg was sporting a different hairstyle to what we’ve seen of her so far, but she had on black clothing with what almost looked like a cape over a sleeveless shirt and she holding a red lightsaber. Stenberg’s red blade clashed with the blue one of what looked like to be Sol in a forest. The person Stenberg was fighting does not fit the description of anybody else in the cast besides Sol. So, by the end of the season, I believe Mae, now a Sith, will face-off against her sisters former Jedi master in a lightsaber duel. And given that Stenberg is the series lead, you’d assume Mae will be victorious.
That’s just my theory on how I think the first season of The Acolyte will play out and again, I must stress, this is just a theory. I’m merely just speculating. I hope that I am right with some of my guesses, but I hope that I didn’t get everything or much of anything right and that there’s a lot more to the story that I’m not seeing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this theory, it was something different to write about instead of the news.
The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ on June 4th with TWO episodes.
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