A hundred years before the rise of the Empire, it was a time of peace. The Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic have prospered for centuries without war. But in the dark corners of the galaxy, a powerful few learn to use the Force in secret. One of them, a lone assassin, risks discovery to seek revenge….

Star Wars has explored quite a bit of its modern time during the days of the Skywalker Saga, but it has rarely been explored years before, such as around The High Republic Era. With new books, animated series, and comics, these years have started to get explored more. Now, a new live-action series on Disney Plus is coming out soon called The Acolyte. It deals with a new threat to the galaxy. One that could bring a dark age to the galaxy.

On the planet Ueda in a cold opening to episode one, a mysterious figure cloaked in shadow referred to as Mae (Amandla Stenberg) confronts a Jedi Master Indara (Carrie Ann Moss) in a bar. She says she  wants to fight, and even though Moss’s character doesn’t want to, she does anyway. The fight leads to her death as a part of a plot of revenge by this new young apprentice is. She’s not working alone, though, and that’s the true mystery of The Acolyte.

The series focuses on a group of Jedi, some young apprentices, and other skilled and experienced Jedi Masters. They are tasked with uncovering the mystery of the dead Jedi Master and what this means in the galaxy. Led by Sol (Lee Jung Jae) a group of young untrained padowans, Jeski Lon (Dafne Keen), Yord Fandar (Charlie Bartlett) and Osha (Amandla Stenberg), go on a mission to uncover whats going on. The more experienced Jedi Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) is the head Jedi at the time. She is skeptical of the mission, but she still understands that they have to figure out what’s truly happening.

Stenberg plays two characters: identical twin sisters Mae and Osha. They were young girls when they were separated from the coven of witches they belonged to as children. One sister, Mae, wanted to learn to be a dark witch, but the other sister Osha didn’t want to learn the dark ways of her witch’s guild. When the coven is discovered by the Jedi, the sisters’ whole world is turned upside down. Once thought dead and lost forever, Mae returns to seek revenge on those Jedi that destroyed her world. This destruction helped give Osha a new life, and she has thrived during these years. The return of Mae turns Osha’s new world of happiness and enlightenment on its head. They were as close as siblings could be at the young age depicted in the third episode. As a twin myself, I know, oh so well, how close twins can be. If I lost my brother, I would have been devastated at a young age. The dichotomy of this story is very fascinating in that way. Especially to me as a twin.

The series was directed by Hanelle M Culpepper, Alex Garcia Lopez, Leslye Headland, and Kogonada, and the showrunner and head writer is Leslye Headland. Together, they created a Star Wars story hitherto unseen before. The two separate sides of this story represent the two sides of this Galaxy Far, Far Away that George Lucas created all those years ago. Headland and company want to show audiences the yin and yang of this galaxy going very far back. The writing is a strength of the series. The direction which shows some not-so-good aesthetic is one of the reasons why this series isn’t as good as The Mandalorian or Andor per se.

The supporting cast is made up of some actors known to sci-fi audiences. As mentioned, Carrie Anne Moss, Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg, and Lee Jung Jae are all solid in the series. A surprising supporting cast is just as good, including the cameos by Dean Charles Chapman, Jodie Turner-Smith, Joonas Souoamo, and Manny Jacinto. These are all talented actors. I wish these had been given more to do in this series. Nonetheless, they help support a solid cast of experienced actors. The cast is wasted by some of the directorial choices.

The look of the series is where I have the most problems. Whereas The Mandalorian and Andor have a gritty and dirty look to them at times. This show doesn’t have the look I was hoping for. It has a more pristine and clean look to it. I felt that the dark story Headland is trying to tell should have lent itself to a darker cinematography and filmmaking style. The look of the series was a bit of a letdown for me.  

The Acolyte has a lot of things it’s trying to achieve.  A revenge plot, the dichotomy of twin sisters, and the juxtaposition of the Jedi vs the burgeoning Sith. Which is spreading in the galaxy like a disease. The acting is mostly good, with some of the performances a bit cartoonish. The writing by Headland is solid with a few funny dialogue moments I was shaking my head at. My biggest problem with the show is that it didn’t look the way I had hoped it would. For such a dark story, it has to clean of a look to it. I would have rather seen a grittier look to the series similar to The Mandalorian or Andor. The series as a whole lacks an engaging quality to it. I hoped I’d like it more. This is one of the lesser Star Wars shows from Disney Plus, unfortunately.  Hopefully, in later episodes, it gets better for me. I have only seen four episodes thus far. As a big Star Wars fan, I wanted it to be a bit better than it ended up being.

4 episodes review’d the Series Streams on Disney Plus June 5th 2024

2 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen