‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ Creator Comments on New Take on the Sith: “Are They Good Guys or Bad Guys?”

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ is the next chapter in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise. The show arrives on Disney+ on June 4th and it promises to be a completely different adventure.

The show will be set during the High Republic Era, also known as the Golden Age of Jedi Order due to their overwhelming numbers, and it seems that Headland is trying to use that setting to prove that Jedi don’t have the monopoly on Force and that they do too can be bad guys when context is given.

Not much is known about the show except that somebody will hunt down Jedi in the Galaxy and start killing them, there was one pretty major accidental spoiler revealed recently, but it ultimately doesn’t matter we’re here for the journey.

Headland recently sat down with Den of Geek to discuss how she plans on reversing the perception of Sith and Jedi in the show and how she aims to prove that the lines between two factions blur depending on who has the upper hand.

The character of Mae was rooted in a very early idea I had, even before we had her character, which was: do the Jedi have a monopoly on the Force? Or are there Force users that exist in the galaxy, who are either dealt with and disposed of, or do they have to keep themselves hidden? Are they good guys or bad guys?

Headland recently commented how she loves immoral characters, and we can only assume that the main character in the show, Mae, will be exactly like that. Mae used to be padawan to Jedi Master Sol, but decided to leave the order due to unknown reasons. It’s likely that Mae’s journey will be one of personal choice and redemption as she defines herself outside of the boundaries of the Jedi and the Sith. Headland also called the show an expansion of Sith mythos.

There are certain things that happened in the prequels about the Sith and about Darth Maul, and the Jedi’s understanding of them, that I found intriguing. Qui-Gon on Tatooine immediately knows that Darth Maul is a Sith from fighting him and then reports that to the [Jedi] Council. Yoda knows about the Rule of Two; he says there’s always a master and an apprentice. So, while they’re considered extinct, there was a little bit of knowledge about the Sith that I felt would not have come from ancient history. To me, it felt like to know that information that quickly; it would have had to have been in the last 100 years.

She also decided to include a few nods to the lore of the franchise.

I really toyed with utilizing Darth Bane or mentioning Bane. We do not do it in the first season, but it is obviously the legacy of these practitioners of the dark side. While we don’t get into that particular lore, there were some things in Legends that I wanted to drag out because I felt they were really interesting, not only to the storyline but to myself as a fan. I thought, ‘Well, I’d love to do that.’

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