What's next for Osha, Mae, and the Stranger on "The Acolyte"? What roles will Darth Plagueis and Yoda play? Most importantly, when is Season 2 coming?
The Acolyte has trapped me in a vicious loop.
When I'm not thinking about its Season 1 finale (a Star Wars masterclass, by the way), I'm thinking about how much I want Season 2. When I'm not thinking about how much I want Season 2, I'm thinking about the finale. On and on and on it goes.
Side effects of this cycle include intense speculation on what a potential Season 2 of The Acolyte might look like. Yes, the finale was deeply satisfying, answering many of our biggest questions from the season. But it also set up several fascinating threads that could pay off big time should the show continue.
As we look ahead to the future of The Acolyte, here are nine burning questions we have for Season 2, starting off with the most important one:
In my dream world, within six months! But as of now, Disney has yet to announce a renewal of The Acolyte, let alone a release date. Based on the varying times between seasons of The Mandalorian or Andor, it's possible that turnaround for a second season of The Acolyte could take two to three years.
My one request for Season 2? (Besides having it in the first place, of course.) Give us an order of at least 10 or 12 episodes. As much as I loved Season 1, The Acolyte did sometimes feel like it was rushing. I would have loved more time to sit with these characters and their relationships — especially Jecki (Dafne Keen) and Yord (Charlie Barnett), gone too soon.
Over the course of The Acolyte, we learn that twins Mae and Osha Aniseya (both played by Amandla Stenberg) were created using the Force. Because of this, they're basically the same person split in two, and proof of a Force vergence on Brendok. But what kind of power does that give them beyond any run-of-the-mill Sith or Jedi? We've seen they're both capable Force users and fighters, but hopefully Season 2 will push them and their power even further, so we can see their true potential.
By the end of the episode, Osha has fully embraced the Dark Side, killing Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), and agreeing to hone her power with help from the Stranger (Manny Jacinto). That opens up the potential for a Dark Side-focused training arc, something we haven't seen onscreen much in Star Wars. So with that in mind, I'm going to need at least one extended training montage, complete with lightsabers, Force use — the works.
Then, there's the Oshamir of it all. The Acolyte has made it clear that the Stranger (alias Qimir) takes the art of seducing someone to the Dark Side very seriously. Will that seduction continue in Season 2, and maybe bloom into a full-fledged romance? Based on that glorious shot of Osha and the Stranger holding hands at the very end of the finale, all signs point to yes. Oshamir shippers, our time is now.
In one of the most heartbreaking moments of The Acolyte's finale, Mae sacrifices all her memories of her twin sister in order to make sure she won't accidentally lead the Jedi to Osha in the future. Once the Jedi catch Mae, they bring her to Coruscant, where Master Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) says they'll need her help hunting down the Stranger. (More on that later.)
But how will Mae fit into the Jedi Order? Does she remember how to use the Force? Or did the Stranger's memory wipe — which also ridded her of any memories of him — destroy any training she may have picked up from him?
Worst of all, what happens when Mae crosses paths with Osha again, with their roles completely reversed from where they started the show? Will they fall back into the same dance, one sister embracing the Dark, the other backing the Jedi while missing a crucial piece of the puzzle? Or will the revelation that she has a sister bring Mae back to the Dark Side?
The Acolyte finale confirms the theory that Vernestra was the Stranger's Jedi Master, but it leaves the details of their fallout unknown — at least, for now. All we know is that Vernestra had a pupil who "turned evil," and that the Stranger seemed frightened enough of Vernestra to throw his helmet back on as soon as he sensed her arrival on Brendok. There's clearly lots of history here that's ripe for exploring in Season 2. What could the Stranger have done for Vernestra to give him those gnarly back scars? How did he turn to the Dark Side in the first place? And did Vernestra mass-memory wipe the other Jedi to cover up her own Padawan's fall? I sense another flashback episode on the horizon!
Vernestra turns to another powerful green Jedi Master in The Acolyte finale — none other than Master Yoda himself. Presumably she's going to tell him about the threat the Stranger poses, but we don't get to see more of him beyond his lil green head. How does he react to the news of all these powerful Dark Siders rising from the shadows? Let's be real, if he's anything like Vernestra — or Sol, or Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) — he'll be jumping on the coverup train right away.
Yoda isn't the only major Star Wars cameo in The Acolyte finale. There's also the quickest peek at a Sith Lord lurking in the shadows of a cave on the Stranger's island. This is likely Darth Plagueis, the Sith who would go on to train Emperor Palpatine. And while I'm definitely interested in seeing how his story (and Palpatine's) connects to Osha's, I have a more pressing question: Why is he on the island on the first place? Is he roommates with the Stranger? Just some Peeping Tom? Please, Plagueis, stop creeping on my ship!
The Acolyte wrapped up most of my biggest questions heading into the finale, but not all! First up, the question of the Brendok witches. Most of them perished in the battle with the Jedi, but Mother Koril (Margarita Levieva) was not among the dead. She turned to smoke and disappeared before Indara wiped out the coven, meaning she could still be very much at large. Could she resurface to reconnect with her daughters in Season 2?
In an intriguing bit of musical foreshadowing, The Acolyte has used snippets of Kylo Ren's theme to score parts of the show, including several key moments involving the Stranger. Is there a chance that he — and now Osha — could be the original Knights of Ren from the sequel trilogy? In an interview with Nerdist, Headland took a good long pause before saying that this is "a really good theory." Which could mean nothing! Or everything...
