‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Could Finally Introduce One Dreaded Sith Lord to Live-Action

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ recently dropped the first two episodes. The show takes place during the High Republic era or 100 years before the chronologically first movie in the franchise, ‘The Phantom Menace.’

Although High Republic Era was already touched upon in ‘Young Jedi Adventures,’ this is the first time this time period is adapted to live-action which means there is a lot of potential to explore some of the Expanded Universe stories, particularly non-canon stories related to Darth Plagueis.

Darth Plagueis was a Sith Lord who lived before the events of the Skywalker Saga, he is already dead during the events of Phantom Menace, killed by his own apprentice Palpatine, and while we can’t possibly see the two of them interact in this setting due to Palpatine only being in his 50s during the events of ‘Phantom Menace,’ we might as well see young Plagueis.

Plagueis was known for his mastery of the Dark Side of the Force and his ability to manipulate midi-chlorians, the microscopic organisms that give Jedi and Sith their Force sensitivity. He was also known for his quest for immortality, which means that he quite possibly learned how to extend his mortal life. According to Palpatine’s account, Plagueis had the power to prevent people from dying, but ironically, he himself was killed by his own apprentice.

The novel ‘Star Wars: Darth Plagueis,’ written by James Luceno goes deeper into Plagueis’s story. The book explores Plagueis’s life, taking place 50 years before the events of ‘The Phantom Menace.’ While many of the licensed Star Wars novels were rebranded as Legends and made non-canon, characters like Admiral Thrawn have been reintroduced into the canon. This means elements from Plagueis’s backstory could potentially be incorporated into the Star Wars universe, especially considering the time period in which the novel is set, potentially tying into ‘The Acolyte.’

Plagueis, revealed to be a Muun, a species associated with the banking clan, rises to power as a Sith Lord by overthrowing his master, Darth Tenebrous, and taking on Palpatine as his apprentice. He begins plotting to overthrow the Republic but dies before seeing his plans come to fruition, leaving Palpatine to carry on his legacy.

Now there are a few ways in which ‘The Acolyte’ can approach this now, considering how Leslye Headland said that the Rule of Two and Sith will be explored to a much deeper degree, we can at least hope to catch a glimpse of the young Plagueis.

The show will already introduce a new Sith Lord judging by promotional materials and trailers. That Sith Lord is, we can only assume, Mae’s or Osha’s master.

If Mae or Osha seeks to become a new Sith Lord by eliminating her master, two possibilities emerge: Mae/Osha succeeds, potentially leading to her apprentice becoming a young Darth Tenebrous who later recruits Plagueis, or the figure is Tenebrous himself and Mae/Osha fails. In the latter scenario, the series could explore Tenebrous taking on a young Plagueis, known in Legends as Hego Damask II, thus laying the groundwork for the Sith lineage that eventually produces Palpatine and culminates in the fall of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire.

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