By George & Josh Bate
One month until The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ and a new trailer for the highly anticipated Star Wars series has debuted. Check out the trailer below.
Debuting with the trailer is a new poster for the show.
Let’s break down the hidden details from the new trailer for The Acolyte.
The trailer begins with a character named Tasi Lowa saying, “Last night, a Jedi was murdered.” This aligns with what we know about the show from creator Leslye Headland, who described The Acolyte as a mystery thriller. The Acolyte will seemingly follow the Jedi as they try to uncover the identity of a person murdering Jedi.
An exterior shot of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant features in the new trailer. This location featured prominently in the prequel trilogy.
Mae is seen talking to a character named Qimir in the trailer. Played by Top Gun: Maverick’s Manny Jacinto, Qimir is described as a trader of unique objects.
In the trailer, Qimir says, “Peace is a lie.” This is the first line of The Sith Code, which, in Legends, was written by Sorzus Syn and taught by Darth Bane. Could Qimir be a Sith supporter?
The trailer seemingly reveals that Master Sol took young Mae from her home with the witch Mother Aniseya.
A Zabrak, the same species as Maul, features in the trailer as one of Mother Aniseya’s followers.
Master Sol says, “I trained her. Let me be the one to bring her in.” We’re guessing that Mae becomes a prime suspect in the murder of Jedi that is happening, and that her former master Sol volunteers to lead the pursuit for her.
We can hear Vernestra Rwoh speak for the first time in this trailer. The Jedi nicknamed Vern, who is played by Rebecca Henderson, says, “I sense this is only a small part of a larger plan.” In one way or another, we predict that The Acolyte will show more of the Sith operating covertly in the background. This ‘larger plan’ that Vernestra senses may be the plan of Darth Plagueis (or even his master Darth Tenebrous) plotting to overthrow the Jedi.
The best look yet at Dean-Charles Chapman can be seen in this new trailer. Chapman, who played notable roles in Game of Thrones and 1917, plays a Jedi named Torbin in The Acolyte. The trailer seems to suggest that Torbin becomes taken over or possessed by Mother Aniseya.
We hypothesized in our last trailer breakdown that this planet is Ahch-To. And, after this trailer, we’re even more convinced. Ahch-To was the site of the very first Jedi Temple and appeared in The Last Jedi as the location Luke Skywalker exiled himself on.
Two ships trek through a dangerous debris field in the trailer. While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen ships navigate such tumultuous surroundings, the visuals of the ships essentially being sandwiched between two layers of debris is definitely unique.
The trailer shows Dafne Keen’s Jecki Lon duel with Amandla Stenberg’s Mae. This looks to be in the same forest setting that features a lightsaber duel with multiple Jedi involved.
The highlight of the trailer is a mysterious, red lightsaber-wielding villain. It’s unclear who this character is and, while recent attempts at theorizing the identities of masked characters like Marrok and C-X2 were unfruitful, we can’t help ourselves here. In Legends, the Sith lords operating at this time would be the aforementioned Darth Tenebrous and Darth Plagueis. While it’s possible this mysterious figure is one of those two, we don’t expect that to be the case. Primarily, this is because the Sith are thought to have been extinct for centuries at this point in canon. If a group of Jedi came face-to-face with an actual Sith lord, the appearance of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace wouldn’t have come as such a novelty. It’s likely that this red lightsaber-wielding villain is of the dark side of the Force, but not classified as a Sith.
The recent theatrical re-release of The Phantom Menace featured a special look at The Acolyte. Read a detailed description of the footage shown here.
The Acolyte premieres June 4 on Disney+.