Now that the first season of The Acolyte is over, we’ve got questions. The series may have taken place an even longer time ago than iterations of Star Wars before it, bringing the High Republic era to live-action for the first time, but it’s been making connections to the wider lore along the way, and the finale opens a direct line to the prequel films and beyond. From creator Leslye Headland, The Acolyte follows Osha and Mae (Amandla Stenberg), guided by separate masters as they stray to opposite sides of the Force. The biggest question is: are we getting a second season? Sol (Lee Jung-jae) is dead, Osha has left to train with Qimir (Manny Jacinto), and Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) is left to clean up this mess. Here are our biggest unanswered questions after The Acolyte’s finale.
How Closely Is Vernestra Rwoh Keeping the Secret of the Sith?
Season 1 of The Acolyte ties up loose ends quite nicely, especially with Sol becoming the scapegoat for all the wrong deeds committed. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but after seeing how heavily the guilt was weighing on Sol, it’s worth imagining he’d be happy taking the blame after his death. Vernestra Rwoh stood before a Senate tribunal, pinning the destruction of Brendok on Sol. Mae’s subsequent murders of Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman), and Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) were also falsely attributed to Sol as his attempt to cover up his actions, and Vernestra claimed Sol then took his own life, allowing both Mae and Osha to go unaccused.
The question is: are the other Jedi in on Vernestra’s secret? Keeping Ki-Adi-Mundi in the dark conveniently prevents his character from creating a plot hole when he says the Sith “have been extinct for a millennium” in Star Wars: Episode I —The Phantom Menace. If he’s left unaware of Qimir’s existence, he won’t be lying (or straight-up wrong) when he says this to the council. However, at the end of the finale, Vernestra meets with Master Yoda, so we have to ask: how much does Yoda know about the Sith at this point? Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) and the dark side of the Force can cloud their presence, masking them from the Jedi’s senses, but if Vernestra doesn’t keep her secrets incredibly close, it could alter a great deal of what we once thought Yoda’s perception of the Sith to be.
What’s to Come of Senator Rayencourt’s External Review of the Jedi?
So, Vernestra has successfully lied before the Galactic Republic’s Senate, but how steady will that lie hold? Senator Rayencourt (David Harewood), who’s already grown suspicious of the Jedi, calling them “a massive system of unchecked power, posing as a religion,” and now insists on skipping a Senate vote, moving straight for an external review of the Jedi. The Acolyte has insisted on having us question the righteousness of the Jedi, and we know their downfall approaches in the next century. While a standalone story may be preferable for many, Yoda’s cameo could suggest that The Acolyte is headed toward a deeper connection to the prequel films. At the time of the finale, a Tarsunt named Drellik serves as Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. Should the Senate’s investigation of the Jedi uncover the secrets of the Sith, the political rise of Palpatine may be fueled by more than just a desire to infiltrate the Jedi Order and seduce Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen).
What Led Qimir to the Dark Side?
Vernestra took a back seat position for much of the season, but the focus shifted more heavily to her by the final episodes. She’ll surely play a bigger part should The Acolyte’s story continue, especially with the revelation that Qimir w as once her pupil. Like Obi-Wan lost Anakin, Vernestra lost a Padawan to the dark side, and we need to know why. Let’s not forget that Qimir bears unique scars on his back. They aren’t clean or straight the way a traditional lightsaber would wound. Are they remnants of Vernestra’s lightsaber whip? If that’s the case, there’s a story there, but there’s another possibility. Darth Plagueis made an overwhelmingly creepy cameo in The Acolyte’s finale. At this point, we don’t know what part he played in Qimir’s narrative. Is Darth Plagueis Qimir’s Sith Master? Could the scars on Qimir’s back be from Force lightning, a trademark power of the Sith?
Is Darth Plagueis Interested in the Magic of Brendok’s Witches?
It’s a shame that Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith), Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva), and the witches of Brendok are (seemingly, at least) all dead. They showcased some of the coolest abilities of any Star Wars characters we’ve seen in a while. That said, the Force vergence on Brendok remains, and that likely makes Darth Plagueis’ brief appearance more than just a cameo. According to Palpatine, when he recounts the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise to Anakin, Plagueis “could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life.”
The vergence on Brendok allowed the witches to create life, forming Osha and Mae from a single consciousness. This sort of power is right up Darth Plagueis’ alley. Moreover, it would add credence to Qimir’s interest in Mae and Osha. Rather than simply desiring an apprentice and seeing Mae as a prime, vulnerable candidate, he could be following a more implicit directive from Plagueis, who has an interest in the powers exhibited by the witches.
Will Mae Ever Remember Osha?
Thanks to Vernestra’s lies and Sol’s sacrifice, Mae can walk free. However, to prevent the Jedi from using her to find Osha, Qimir wipes Mae’s memory. While snippets of her childhood and the destruction of her home remain, Mae doesn’t remember Osha or that she had a sister at all. So, perhaps the simplest question on our list is: will Mae ever remember Osha? The two are one, as we’ve come to learn, and not only in a metaphorical sense. Osha and Mae are literally one consciousness. They become estranged, and their paths diverge, polarized at opposite ends of the Force, but their connection must remain, right?
Is Osha Destined To Become a Sith?
Osha takes a surprising turn at the end of The Acolyte, switching to the dark side and agreeing to become Qimir’s apprentice. Does this mean she’s destined to become a Sith? The Rule of Two dictates that only two Sith Lords can exist at a time, so Osha’s path brings up a lot of questions. Darth Plagueis is here, and he’s presumably Qimir’s master. We know that Plagueis will become Palpatine’s master, too, turning him into Darth Sidious. If Osha’s on her way to becoming a Sith, the line of succession will get fairly complicated, to say the least.
Is that what Osha truly wants, though? Does she want to become a Sith? She carries a great deal of anger; that much is evident. She kills Sol with a Force choke, fulfilling Qimir’s test of slaying a Jedi without a weapon. She even bleeds Sol’s lightsaber, a signature ability of the Sith, pouring her hatred into the kyber crystal and turning it from blue to red. When she dons Qimir’s sinister helmet, she’s overwhelmed by a scope of power seemingly beyond her control. Her breath turns uncomfortably evocative of Darth Vader and Kylo Ren, and the light darkens. She temporarily paralyzes Qimir, turning his eyes black, similar to what the witches did to Torbin. All while doing this, she sees a vision of the future. Osha has an undeniably immense amount of untapped potential.