The Acolyte is only days away from premiering on Disney+, the all-new Star Wars show set during the High Republic Era. Essentially the prequel to the prequel trilogy of Star Wars films, The Acolyte is Lucasfilm’s first live-action show in 2024. To that end, The Acolyte’s cast and crew have been teasing all sorts of exciting reveals and hints about the upcoming Star Wars series.

Set 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, The Acolyte will be exploring a brand-new era of the Star Wars timeline that’s thus far only been explored in novels and comics. As such, the upcoming show is set to feature a wide cast of all-new heroes and villains who’ve never been seen before in Star Wars as a major mystery unfolds connected to both the light and dark sides of the Force. To that end, here’s everything we just learned about The Acolyte from various cast and crew interviews.

The Acolyte Has Been Shaped By The Expanded Universe

Inspired By Legends

As a point of key excitement, The Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has made it very clear just how passionate and knowledgeable she is regarding the lore of Star Wars, both its canonical history and what came before with the non-canon Legends and the Expanded Universe. Likewise, Headland recently spoke with Screen Rant about all the little Easter eggs that fans should be on the lookout for when The Acolyte starts streaming:

“What I would say is there were so many things that I read about or thought about over the years that – if I were ever allowed to make a Star Wars show or movie, or write a book, or whatever they would let me do – I thought, ‘Gosh, it would be so cool to take this from Legends or take this from canon into live-action.’ I can’t answer it directly, but it’s just been little Easter eggs that I’ve been crossing my fingers to get the chance to use.”

Headland’s comments about Legends and the Expanded Universe are certainly promising for the upcoming show, especially with The Acolyte exploring an earlier chapter of the overall timeline. It certainly implies that narratives that will be seen in The Acolyte have been carefully thought out and researched with a healthy respect for what has come before. As such, it should prove very exciting to see what elements Headland might reincorporate back into the official canon from Legends.

The Acolyte Will Have Thrilling Fight Scenes

Be Prepared For Episode 5

Headland and leading actress Amandla Stenberg have also teased an upcoming fight sequence that will prove to be quite “gnarly”. Having told ScreenRant to look out for The Acolyte episode 5, it seems as though there will be an intense confrontation between two of the show’s female characters, presumably involving Stenberg’s Mae, the mysterious apparent assassin who was once a member of the Jedi Order:

Leslye Headland: “I will say that when you get to episode 5, we mix it up. There’s one fight that I was thinking specifically that you have that’s hand combat, and it’s very down and dirty and scrappy, if you will.”

Amandla Stenberg: “I don’t want to say too much, but the stunt or sequence that I’m the proudest of is a girl fight that gets gnarly. ”

Based on what can be seen in the trailers for The Acolyte, it does look as though Mae will likely be facing Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon, a Padawan who became Jedi Master Sol’s new apprentice after Mae supposedly was before leaving the Order. Overall, it does seem as though The Acolyte will be full of impressive action sequences. After all, it’s been made very clear that the show is seeking to meet or exceed the same levels of high-energy lightsaber combat and martial arts that were seen in the prequel trilogy.

Sol Will Be A Very Unique Jedi Master

Played by Lee Jung-jae

It’s been confirmed that Jedi Master Sol (Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae) will be leading the investigation into a string of Jedi murders. This is largely because the deaths are seemingly connected to his old apprentice. Likewise, Jung-jae exclusively revealed to Screen Rant how he tried to give Sol a more unique personality compared to Jedi Masters who’d been seen before in the prequels:

“I had so many thoughts going into preparing for my role as Master Sol. I initially thought, ‘Should I mimic the preexisting Jedi Masters in this huge canon of Star Wars films and shows?’ But also you have to realize that The Acolyte occurs in a timeline that’s a hundred years previous to anything out right now, so Master Sol represents a past generation. If anything, the Jedi Masters that come after him are his younglings and Padawans. So, I wanted to express something different with Master Sol, and I think it’s that he actually feels fear while he is in battle and while he’s fighting. I wanted to add this humanistic element to him by expressing fear.

The idea that Sol will express more fear compared to previously featured Jedi Masters is fascinating. As such, it should prove to be just as compelling to see how Sol overcomes said fear as a respected member of the Jedi Order. Representing an older generation of Jedi, it’s not out of the question that Sol might set a critical foundation for the members of the Jedi Order who are still to come, those who are featured in the prequels.

Dafne Keen Teases The Acolyte’s Jeckin Lon Will Be An Older Jedi Recruit

Mirroring Anakin Skywalker?

Played by Logan’s Dafne Keen, Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon will be a part of the team tasked with investigating this recent string of murders. To that end, it’s been teased by Keen that Jecki was perhaps recruited by the Jedi at a much older age than was established in the future prequels. Playing a rare human-Theelin hybrid in the Star Wars galaxy known, Keen shared with Screen Rant some exciting teases about Lon’s background and history with the Jedi Order:

“I think a lot of Jecki was her Theelin side, and it was a huge honor to get to play her because this was something that Leslye picked out specifically because she loves Theelin species and she loved the Theelin performer in the cantina.

“It was so fun to kind of play with that alienness that she has. But also, she’s such a human! I had a lot of conversations with Pablo [Hidalgo], the Star Wars expert, who we had on set. I went to Pablo all the time with questions, and we figured out that she was probably mostly human She was probably 90% human and 10% Theelin, which is interesting. But a lot of how I broke her down was trying to figure out how young she was taken into the Order, to see how much of that she might’ve inherited. And then what that does to a child, ripping them away from their planet and away from their family and [educating them] in a place where you are just at school all the time. That’s kind of what it is. It’s like a boarding school for two decades of your life, but it’s almost a religion.

“There’s something so fascinating to me about the Jedi that I really had such a fun time sinking my teeth into it, and finding how much of her essence would’ve remained after having spent such a long time surrounded by just Jedi.”

Based on these teases about how and when Lon was recruited into the Jedi Order before the events of The Acolyte, it’s possible that her upbringing may mirror Anakin Skywalker’s who was found and brought to the Jedi at the older, unorthodox age of 9. This is especially interesting when combined with teases from The Acolyte’s trailers that Mae was also recruited at an older age. As such, perhaps it will be established that the High Republic’s Jedi Order had more lax rules regarding the recruitment ages, rules they perhaps amended following the events of this new Star Wars series.

The Acolyte Will Showcase The Flaws Of The Jedi Order

Not Even The High Republic’s Jedi Were Perfect

While speaking with Screen Rant, Charlie Barnett teased that his Acolyte character Yord Fandar will experience some delusion about the Jedi Order. It seems as though the events of the upcoming Star Wars show will feature the younger Jedi Knight grappling with the idea that the Jedi Order wasn’t perfect. Having only recently been knighted, it seems Yord’s eagerness to be a perfect Jedi may contrast with the Order’s inherent flaws:

It’s like that moment when you realize that your parents aren’t gods, do you know what I’m saying? That kind of mysticism plays out, and I think Yord is stuck in and committed to being in the ‘Jedi are gods’ statement. He is a Jedi Knight, and he’s fairly new to the position too, so he is very excited to do it right….

Every time I watched Jedi growing up, they were perfect. It was like, ‘These are gods!’ But seeing the raw edges of their humanity, even going back to some of the movies and seeing Anakin struggle with these things, and Obi-wan talking to him and expressing the same kind of feelings? I love those blended, human dynamics. Those are the parts of Yord that I really had fun exploring.

Despite being set in an age of peace and prosperity, even the Jedi Order of the High Republic Era had its flaws. It’s also worth noting that The Acolyte is specifically set as the High Republic Era is coming to a close, effectively teeing up the state of the galaxy and the Jedi in various ways. To that end, it’s very exciting to hear Barnett’s comment about how The Acolyte will address the actual truths of the Jedi Order and its flaws through his character.

The Acolyte Will Reveal The Secrets Of Star Wars’ New Force Cult

Feared By The Jedi

Jodie Turner-Smith is set to play Mother Aniseya in The Acolyte, the leader of a new Force coven of witches that will be introduced to the Star Wars canon. As revealed to Screen Rant, Turner-Smith confirmed that this new cult will exist as a threat to the Jedi Order, seeing as how they are actively resistant to the Order’s power and use of the Force. However, they’re also not of the dark side such as the Nightsisters or even the Dark Lords of the Sith:

“I wouldn’t compare them to the Nightsisters. I think it’s best not to, and to just walk in with an open mind about who they are. But basically, Mother Aniseya has created a community on the planet of Brendock for this coven of witches. We are existing in a time where, according to the Jedi, the power that we have to manipulate the Force is to be feared and wrong. We are, by annexing ourselves on Brendock, in resistance to that idea.

I want to say it in that way because it’s not like we’re sitting here being like, ‘We want to fight Jedi.’ We don’t. We want to live in peace, and we want to find a place where we are not persecuted for possessing powers that we feel are natural to us and that we should have, and that we don’t need to be Jedi in order to have. But perhaps the establishment can find our existence, just like anything that exists outside of the binary, threatening. And that is what makes it so dangerous for us for a Jedi to come across our paths.”

Despite not wanting to actively go after Jedi Knights, it seems as though the Jedi Order will still be wary of this coven’s power and their ability to wield the Force outside their purview. That said, it does seem as though Sol’s former apprentice Mae was originally from this coven before she was recruited to the ranks of the Jedi Order. As such, it should be very exciting to see what kind of role Aniseya and her coven will play once The Acolyte begins streaming.

The Acolyte Showrunner Confirms A Major Star Wars Twist

Mae and Osha

Headland also confirmed one of The Acolyte’s biggest twists on Good Morning America, a reveal that had only been subtly hinted at in the show’s various promos and trailers. While Sol’s former apprentice played by Amandla Stenberg may be the Jedi Order’s top suspect in the string of Jedi murders, Headland has confirmed that Sol’s apprentice is actually named Osha. Meanwhile, Mae is her twin sister who was thought to have died and has returned with the sisters having been “separated by tragedy when they were very young.”

Following this key reveal, it does seem as though the pieces are starting to fall into place regarding the show’s primary mystery. As such, it will be interesting to see how Osha and Mae’s stories intersect and collide when the series begins streaming with its upcoming two-episode premiere. After all, the concept of twins and/or dyads is a classic convention for the Star Wars franchise.