Warning! This post contains spoilers for The Acolyte.

Rey’s upcoming Star Wars movie, rumored to be titled Star Wars: New Jedi Order, now faces a massive problem, and it’s all to do with the recent successes of Star Wars: The Acolyte. The Acolyte is the newest addition to Star Wars movies and TV shows, and although it initially received significant backlash (much of it before the show even premiered), The Acolyte episode 5 has changed the game. Not only did the Jedi deaths in episode 5 shock viewers, but also, this episode finally unmasked the unnamed villain presumed to be a Sith.

While this is great news for The Acolyte, it may bode poorly for New Jedi Order. Like The Acolyte, New Jedi Order is already receiving scrutiny, long before its release date. In fact, Rey Skywalker actress Daisy Ridley has revealed in multiple interviews that she has yet to see a script, and the movie does not yet have a confirmed release date. Despite how early on in the process New Jedi Order clearly is, one major update in The Acolyte just made the movie’s job much more difficult.

Every Star Wars Movie Tries To Do Something New With Lightsabers

Although lightsabers may have begun with only red, blue, and green options in the original Star Wars trilogy, lightsaber colors and their meanings have expanded exponentially over the franchise’s nearly five decades, as have their designs. The prequel trilogy was the first to truly shake things up, with Darth Maul’s incredible double-bladed red lightsaber. However, General Grievous’ use of four lightsabers at once wasn’t far behind.

Since then, Star Wars movies and TV shows have continued to get more and more creative with lightsaber colors and designs. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ahsoka was shown wielding two lightsabers at once, one of which was a smaller shoto saber. In Star Wars Rebels, Ezra Bridger had a fascinating combination blaster and lightsaber, which was similar to Jocasta Nu’s lightsaber rifle in the Star Wars comics. The movies, too, have added to lightsaber types, with Kylo Ren’s iconic crossguard lightsaber and the reveal of Rey’s yellow saber in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

While this has been fascinating to see, it has created a bit of a challenge for new Star Wars shows and movies. Because this pattern has already been set, audiences will undoubtedly be waiting to see New Jedi Order bring additional new concepts to the table. However, The Acolyte may have just made that much more difficult with the reveal of the Stranger’s brilliant lightsaber dagger. The dagger is concealed inside the Stranger’s lightsaber and can be pulled out by separating the hilt, giving him the element of surprise. Sadly, this is precisely how he killed Jedi Padawan Jecki Lon.

The Acolyte Episode 5 Just Raised The Bar For Lightsaber Combat

In addition to The Acolyte introducing an incredible new lightsaber design (with Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh’s lightwhip still on the way), episode 5 revealed one of the best lightsaber battles in Star Wars. The Stranger proved himself to be a formidable opponent, taking down multiple unnamed Jedi before fighting Jecki Lon and Jedi Master Sol. Tragically, the Stranger did end up killing Jecki in their battle; however, prior to her death, Jecki put up a tremendous fight.

Truly, the choreography of this battle was highly reminiscent of the fights in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Both the Duel of the Fates battle in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and the battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith rank highly among Star Wars lightsaber fights. Impressively, The Acolyte episode 5 fight between the Stranger and Jecki was comparable.

The Stranger then went on to battle Master Sol, with Sol reinvigorated and giving the fight his all after witnessing his Padawan brutally cut down in front of him. In fact, the Stranger added to the cruelty of the moment by referring to Jecki as “it” after killing her. Because of this, Master Sol was briefly driven by anger and revenge, nearly killing the Stranger, although he ultimately let him go because Osha said not to kill him. Before that, though, the lightsaber duel between Master Sol and the Stranger was downright epic.

How Can Rey’s New Jedi Order Movie Be Better Than The Acolyte?

Again, while this is excellent news for The Acolyte, which has seemingly combated some of the harsh criticism with its brilliant episode 5, it spells trouble for Rey’s new Star Wars movie. So far, little is known about New Jedi Order, including whether that is truly the movie’s title. However, Daisy Ridley will be returning as Rey Skywalker, and the movie is confirmed to take place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. Already, this puts New Jedi Order on the back foot.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy faced significant criticism from the very beginning, with many viewing them as Star Wars’ worst movies. The Rise of Skywalker in particular was disparaged, especially because many found the shocking resurrection of Emperor Palpatine to be a flimsy plot line at best. Now, New Jedi Order will need to draw audiences in within that context, and the movie has already become controversial because of it.

The Acolyte’s brilliant lightsaber designs and battles will only make this even more complicated. While it remains to be seen exactly what New Jedi Order will include, the rumored title and comments from those working on the movie suggest Rey will be establishing her own Jedi Order, which will inevitably mean brand-new lightsaber duels. With The Acolyte (and previous Star Wars movies and shows) as a point of comparison, New Jedi Order has a steep hill to climb.

The sequels also faced criticism specifically regarding their lightsaber battles, making this an even trickier act to pull off. Of course, it’s certainly not impossible for New Jedi Order to put forth something impressive and new; after all, Star Wars has proven time and again that there is always something more to bring to the table. However, for now, Star Wars: The Acolyte has made Star Wars: New Jedi Order’s job much more difficult by producing some of the best lightsaber battles in all of Star Wars.

New episodes of The Acolyte release on Tuesdays at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on Disney+.

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  The Acolyte

  The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes – all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.

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  Star Wars: New Jedi Order

  The tenth mainline installment in the Star Wars franchise is the first movie to follow the sequel trilogy, where Mark Hamill’s Luke, Carrie Fisher’s Leia, and Harrison Ford’s Han Solo gave their final farewell. After the release of The Rise of Skywalker, development on a direct sequel had become dormant as Disney shifted focus on other parts of the galaxy, namely, Disney+ shows such as The Mandalorian, Andor, and Ahsoka. However, a movie starring Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker was officially announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023.