The Acolyte made one “May the Force be with you” joke that makes absolutely no sense in light of Star Wars’ Skywalker Saga. The Acolyte was set 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in the Star Wars timeline. This meant that the show would be the first look into the High Republic Era in Star Wars movies and TV shows.
With this brand-new territory, The Acolyte had a massive amount of responsibility not only to do this golden age of the Jedi and the Republic justice on-screen but also to connect effectively to other shows, movies, and eras in the franchise. For the most part, The Acolyte delivered and came across as consistently mindful of established canon while still introducing new Star Wars planets and brand-new characters, including the entire coven of the witches of Brendok. However, there was one moment in The Acolyte that really did make very little sense given the Skywalker Saga.
The Acolyte Implies “May The Force Be With You” Isn’t Well-Known
In The Acolyte, Senator Rayencourt is introduced as an anti-Jedi senator who is pushing to have an external review of the Jedi, presumably to prove that they should be shut down. In the finale, he and Vernestra Rwoh discuss his position, and he shares that, from his perspective, the Jedi are a cult with unchecked power and will eventually crumble because what they claim cannot be true (that they can control their emotions). He even accurately predicts that one day someone within their ranks will come along and destroy them, no doubt an allusion to Anakin Skywalker.
Despite this impressive wealth of knowledge about the Jedi and even their inner workings, Rayencourt mockingly tells Vernestra, “May the Force be with you” after struggling to remember what the phrase is. On the one hand, this could be a snide dig at the Jedi, as though their centuries-old motto means nothing. However, this moment implies that “May the Force be with you” was not so well-known during this era.
How Is THIS Better Known In The Original Trilogy Era?
Senator Rayencourt seeming less familiar with the phrase “May the Force be with you” makes little sense in light of the use of the phrase in the original trilogy. The Acolyte is set in the High Republic Era, when the Jedi were most active across the galaxy, but in the original Star Wars trilogy, the Jedi were all but eradicated and had been for nearly two decades. Despite that, everyone seemed to know this phrase in the original trilogy. In fact, while many think Obi-Wan Kenobi first uttered the line in A New Hope, it was actually General Jan Dodonna.
Senator Rayencourt seeming less familiar with the phrase “May the Force be with you” makes little sense.
Clearly, “May the Force be with you” was known enough at the time that non-Jedi Rebels readily used it. While it may have become prominent within the Rebellion as a way to carry on the hope of the Jedi, that still can’t account for why it would be so much more common during the Dark Times. Hopefully, this was simply Rayencourt taking a jab at the Jedi, as, otherwise, The Acolyte introduced a moment that made the Skywalker Saga much more confusing.