The Acolyte Finale’s Wildest Cameo Is Who You Think It Is

Early connected in The Acolyte‘s last episode, a mates of seconds wholly comes retired of obscurity to deed you similar a ton of bricks. It’s not a infinitesimal of precocious drama, oregon a peculiarly shocking uncover astir the communicative we’re watching unfold. If anything, it’s seemingly astir wholly disconnected from everything other successful the finale. And yet, it’s a infinitesimal that perchance has immense ramifications for current Star Wars continuity.

In the opening enactment of “The Acolyte,” The Acolyte‘s eighth and last occurrence of the season, Osha decides to marque a tenuous alliance with the mysterious acheronian sider known lone arsenic the Stranger. Having been fixed a imaginativeness successful the Force of her twin, Mae, seemingly astir to termination Osha’s erstwhile Jedi Master Sol, she and the Stranger hole to instrumentality disconnected from their secluded land environment. Flying distant successful the Stranger’s vessel, we don’t travel the duo. Instead, The Acolyte draws backmost to the shadows of a adjacent cave, watching the vessel alert off… arsenic a wrinkled, spindly manus emerges from the shadows, and past a face.

The look of an alien being who certainly looks similar it could beryllium 1 of the astir infamous villains successful Star Wars history, ne'er earlier seen successful live-action: Darth Plagueis the Wise.

Is It Actually Darth Plagueis?

Turns out, if it looks similar a Darth Plagueis, it astir apt is. Although the occurrence itself ne'er explicitly identifies the fig arsenic Plagueis—beyond the being’s red, Sith-like eyes, and the elongated look associated with the Muun, Plagueis’ species—it’s not similar Acolyte showrunner Leslye Headland has been cagey astir having ideas astir the character, should the bid continue. But the showrunner has present explicitly confirmed that the fig is so meant to beryllium Plagueis. “Plagueis was ever successful the finale, successful each version,” the showrunner told IndieWire successful a caller interview. “I was OK with having the cameo travel truthful aboriginal if it meant I could wrapper up these characters successful a mode that [Osha and the Stranger’s] last changeable was not a, ‘And he’s been pulling the strings the full time.’”

©Lucasfilm

What We Actually Know About Darth Plagueis successful Star Wars Canon

First infamously mentioned in Revenge of the Sith when Chancellor Palpatine regales Anakin Skywalker with the “Tragedy” of the past Sith Lord—and his purported powerfulness to cheat decease itself, until his ain apprentice killed him—little is really explicitly known astir Plagueis’ history  successful the rebooted Star Wars continuity. He was the maestro of Palpatine, having recruited the young Naboo astatine immoderate undisclosed constituent anterior to the events of The Phantom Menace, and the 2 worked to further Plagueis’ plans to unlock the secrets to immortality itself. Plagueis and Palpatine focused connected aggregate avenues: technological research, attempting to straight power the midi-chlorians inherent successful each surviving beings to manipulate the surviving Force, the signifier of the Force quality of transference, letting idiosyncratic supplant different surviving vas with their ain consciousness, and an effort to utilize his apprentice successful creating a dyad successful the Force itself, the Force-bond that preceded adjacent the past Sith content successful the Rule of Two.

Plagueis besides supported Palpatine successful his emergence to powerfulness arsenic the legislator for his homeworld and the Chommell sector, joining the Republic Senate successful the twelvemonth 52BBY (around 80 years aft his quality in The Acolyte), grooming his pupil successful the ways of authorities arsenic overmuch arsenic helium did the acheronian broadside of the Force. However, their confederation was not to last. As Palpatine yet tells Anakin successful the Tragedy of Plagueis the Wise, helium was betrayed and killed by his apprentice successful his sleep, incapable to respond speedy capable to utilize the acheronian arts helium had dedicated his beingness to to cheat death.

Much much of Plagueis’ apprenticeship of Palpatine was covered successful erstwhile Expanded Universe continuity, astir notably successful the 2012 James Luceno novel Darth Plagueis. That publication besides concisely explores Plagueis’ his ain apprenticeship to his maestro Darth Tenebrous—a Bith who remains mostly unexplored successful existent continuity, extracurricular of little allusions to the quality successful notation material—and his eventual assassination of Tenebrous connected the satellite Bal’demnic, the tract of affluent deposits of cortosis, the almighty but uncommon worldly that is susceptible of potent, lightsaber-shorting vigor dissipation. An absorbing constituent to note, fixed The Acolyte‘s ain on-screen debut of the ore!

What Darth Plagueis Could Mean for The Acolyte‘s Future

Although aboriginal seasons of The Acolyte person yet to beryllium confirmed by Lucasfilm, again it’s wide that showrunner Leslye Headland has ever had plans to research the quality of Plagueis further, precocious telling Nerdist, “If I proceed to get to archer this story, I cognize however I would similar [Plagueis’ rise] to play out. And I would accidental I deliberation it’s beauteous analyzable and messy.” Given his eventual adjacent ties to Palpatine—a fig that still continues to dominate generations of Star Wars storytelling crossed aggregate eras of its timeline aft his instrumentality in The Rise of Skywalker—any exploration of the Sith Lord who yet gives emergence to Palpatine’s powerfulness is going to person wide-reaching contextual ramifications for overmuch of the Skywalker Saga arsenic we cognize it.

There is, however, circumstantial involvement successful tying Plagueis straight into The Acolyte‘s cardinal communicative astir Osha and her duplicate sister Mae. Given his aforementioned exploration of attempting to signifier his ain almighty dyad successful the Force with Palpatine, the information that Plagueis is present successful the orbit of Osha arsenic she begins grooming with the Stranger—and her duplicate commencement being aided by a similar vergence successful the Force, a nexus of vigor that divided Osha and Mae arsenic 2 parts of the same, almighty whole—there’s small uncertainty that idiosyncratic similar Plagueis wouldn’t beryllium funny successful seeing her research her powers and usage of the acheronian side. And past there’s the full “Rule of Two” deal. We cognize already that Plagueis goes connected to inherit the mantle of a Sith Lord, and instrumentality Palpatine arsenic his apprentice, portion neither Osha nor the Stranger person explicitly taken connected specified a mantle themselves yet. Four, of course, is simply a larger fig than two.

“Even though [Osha and the Stranger] are lasting there, benignant of looking retired astatine the sunset, acceptable to conquer the world, the calamity is we cognize they don’t. We cognize determination tin lone beryllium two,” Headland added successful her interrogation with Indiewire. “We cognize Plagueis is there. We cognize that these 2 are doomed successful immoderate way. So to maine it’s a bittersweet tragedy, this foreboding ending.” Suffice to say, should The Acolyte continue, Plagueis volition stay a captious portion of its acheronian broadside mysteries, until their inevitable, bittersweet end.

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