The Upcoming STAR WARS Series THE ACOLYTE Will Explore the Rise of the Dark Side

We really don’t know that much about the upcoming live-action Star Wars series The Acolyte. The initial description explained it as “a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.”

Thanks to a new report from The Illuminerdi, we have some new details to share with you that offer some interesting additional insight. The High Republic is set 200 years before the Skywalker Saga begins. This era has only been explored in a series of books and comics so far. It is the golden age of the Jedi.

The series, however, will cover the period of this era where the prosperity of the Jedi comes to an end. The new report says the story for the series will “specifically explore the rise of the Dark Side in those final days of the High Republic era. The Acolyte has the opportunity to explore the Dark Side in a way the franchise never has on screen before.”

The show is being developed by showrunner Leslye Headland, and she previously revealed that the series was heavily inspired by Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, saying:

"What I can say is the reason it did appeal to me personally is that I was 18 when Phantom Menace came out and I was a very, very big Star Wars fan. I remain a big Star Wars fan, but at that particular time, right after the re-releases and the fact that I was in high school, it just kind of all coincided at a time where I was discovering who I was sexually, I was discovering who I was artistically, I was kind of realizing what I wanted to do with my life, and then this big, huge movie event, cultural event happened that was The Phantom Menace. And I know there were varying reactions to it. And certainly, there were a lot of people that had grown up with the original trilogy who were disappointed by it.

"But I actually was very intrigued by why George Lucas had started us at that particular point. I kind of wondered, but what happened to lead up to this? That’s kind of where my Star Wars fan brain went was like, ‘How did we get here? And why are the Jedi like this?‘ When they are in power, why are they acting this way and how is it that they’re not having the reaction that you would think they would to Anakin’s presence and what Qui-Gon Jinn is saying about how passionately he feels about training him and bringing him into the fold. It’s like, even the discovery of Darth Maul is kind of met with this like, 'Hm, interesting' kind of feeling. So I just think for me, my brain has always buzzed around that area and wondered what’s going on here – or what has been going on here."

Knowing what we know, what I’m looking forward to seeing most is how the series explores the Dark Side and the complexities of The Force.