The Acolyte just made this one controversial Star Wars concept introduced in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace even more complicated—and that probably isn’t a good thing. The Acolyte received criticism and backlash before it even premiered, as have many Star Wars movies and TV shows, sadly. However, The Acolyte was particularly on the hot seat because it is set 100 years before The Phantom Menace, in the High Republic Era.

Because it was inevitably going to introduce brand-new concepts due to its place in the Star Wars timeline, audiences were at best on the defensive and at worst already up-in-arms about the direction the show would take. While much of the backlash to The Acolyte has disappointingly stemmed from a place of many not liking diversity, the show did just make one move that may have legitimately confirmed some viewers’ fears. Specifically, The Acolyte just made updates to midi-chlorians and vergences in the Force that increase how controversial these concepts are.

Midi-Chlorians Were Controversial From The Very Beginning

Midi-chlorians were introduced in The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon Jinn took a blood sample from young Anakin Skywalker and asked Obi-Wan to test the sample to obtain Anakin’s midi-chlorians. Although Qui-Gon was already clearly keen on bringing Anakin to the Jedi Order to be trained, the revelation that Anakin’s midi-chlorian count was so high (Obi-Wan specifically highlighted that it was even higher than Master Yoda’s) made him even more certain that Anakin was meant to be a Jedi. Although The Phantom Menace didn’t come right out and say it, the implications were clear: midi-chlorians measured one’s strength in the Force.

However, as many had warned George Lucas, midi-chlorians became extremely controversial. In fact, echoing the complaints of today, Lucas was warned that introducing this concept would ‘ruin’ Star Wars, which had already caused him to table the idea before—initially, he’d toyed with the idea when working on the original trilogy. While midi-chlorians clearly didn’t ruin the franchise, they remained something generally disliked by audiences, and therefore, Star Wars altered the definition somewhat, softening it to be not someone’s strength with the Force but rather their potential.

The franchise then allowed the term to slip into disuse over time. That changed, however, not only in The Acolyte but also in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, both of which have referenced midi-chlorians or ‘m-counts,’ as they are also called. Yet, while The Bad Batch maintained the newer definition of midi-chlorians as the potential one has with the Force, given Omega’s increased m-count but unconfirmed Force abilities, The Acolyte seems to have walked that definition all the way back, even taking it one step further than George Lucas did.

The Acolyte Changed The Definition Of Midi-Chlorians…Again

Whereas Star Wars had worked to make the definition of midi-chlorians less rigid and therefore more accepted, The Acolyte doubled down on George Lucas’ original definition of midi-chlorians as a measurement of Force-sensitivity. In The Acolyte episode 7, echoing Qui-Gon Jinn’s interaction with Anakin, Torbin tests Osha and Mae’s blood samples and, in addition to some other shocking revelations about Osha and Mae’s origins, he discovers that the twins have high midi-chlorian counts. Following this information, Torbin says, “Very Force-sensitive.”

In that small statement, The Acolyte reinforced the idea that midi-chlorians are a direct measurement of one’s power in the Force, returning to the definition suggested in The Phantom Menace. However, in the full context of episode 7, The Acolyte really added to this original definition, making it even more technical. When midi-chlorians were introduced, a major part of the backlash was that it attempted to take a scientific approach to Star Wars. While, yes, Star Wars may be science fiction technically, concepts like the Force make it seem much more like fantasy than science.

However, this change in The Acolyte not only returns to the notion of infusing Star Wars with science but also redoubles the idea that the Force is something measurable—there is a literal ‘science’ to the Force, in this case. Midi-chlorians also aren’t the only Star Wars concept to get this treatment in episode 7, either. The Jedi stationed on Brendok are also seeking a vergence in the Force, essentially a hot spot of Force concentration. To do that, though, they aren’t tapping into the Force to guide their search; rather, they have literal technology to attempt to detect it.

What Do Midi-Chlorians Mean Now?

In truth, it’s unclear what the future of midi-chlorians or m-counts will be in Star Wars. The current implication is that they will be sticking around, as they’ve now surfaced in multiple recent Star Wars TV shows. However, these changes to the rules could suggest major updates are coming. Of course, it’s worth noting that while the Jedi in The Acolyte may have tried to use a scientific approach to identify a Force vergence, they weren’t successful; perhaps this is why the Jedi end up moving away from a more scientific understanding of midi-chlorians, too.

There is just one episode left of The Acolyte, and it isn’t clear to what extent m-counts will be further touched upon. It seems unlikely that this will be a focus of the finale, given everything else the show must wrap up. In that case, the future of m-counts in Star Wars may not be revealed until the franchise’s next TV show or movie following The Acolyte.

The final episode of The Acolyte releases on Tuesday, July 16th, at 9 PM EST/6 PM PST on Disney+.