The Acolyte is a Star Wars television series developed by Leslye Headland for Disney+. Headland wrote, executive produced, and served as the series' showrunner. The show focuses on the emergence of dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic Era. It premiered on June 4, 2024 and concluded on July 16.

A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes, but the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated.

Charlie Barnett as Yord Fandar

Dean-Charles Chapman as Torbin

Carrie-Anne Moss as Indara

Margarita Levieva as Koril

Joonas Suotamo as Kelnacca

At the premiere of the film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, television writer Leslye Headland was asked about her interest in the Star Wars franchise and revealed she was a big fan with many ideas for Star Wars films that she wanted to make if she was asked to by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Headland contacted Lucasfilm to discuss her ideas after completing work on her series Russian Doll (2019–2022), and pitched a new Star Wars series with a first-season outline and full series bible. Kennedy agreed to begin work on the series during that initial pitch meeting, and Headland was revealed in April 2020 to be writing and showrunning a new female-centric Star Wars series for the streaming service Disney+.

Lucasfilm confirmed Headland's series was in development on May 4, 2020. At Disney's Investor Day event on December 10, Kennedy announced the title, The Acolyte, and said it was set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the main Star Wars films. Lucasfilm executive Rayne Roberts was developing the series with Headland, who was influenced by the games and novels of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Alex Garcia Lopez and Kogonada were hired to direct episodes by February 2023, and Hanelle Culpepper was revealed to have directed episodes in March 2024. Executive producers include Headland, Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef, with Roberts, Damian Anderson, Eileen Shim, and Rob Bredow producing.

In March 2024, Headland said she had pitched multiple seasons of the series to Lucasfilm and had a plan for a second season if it was ordered. She did note that she wanted to take a break after the first season was released due to the long production timeline for the first season, and so she could respond to any feedback from fans on the first season when developing the second.^[1]

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	"Lost / Found"	Leslye Headland	Leslye Headland	June 4, 2024
100 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order preside during a time of centuries-long peace. In a bar on the planet Ueda, Jedi Master Indara is attacked and killed by a woman wielding daggers. The bartender identifies Osha Aniseya, a former Jedi Padawan learner, as the killer. Osha, who works as a meknek doing dangerous repairs on the outside of starships, denies committing the crime when arrested by Jedi Knight Yord Fandar and his Padawan Tasi Lowa. En route to Coruscant, the galactic capital, Osha's fellow prisoners escape and leave her to crash-land on the planet Carlac. She sees a vision of her twin sister Mae, who was presumed dead in a fire that killed their family when they were young. Osha deduces that Mae is alive and the one who killed Indara. Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh sends Master Sol, Osha's former teacher, to Carlac with his current Padawan, Jecki Lon, and Yord. They find Osha, and Sol accepts her theory about Mae. Elsewhere, Mae meets with her mysterious master, who has challenged her to kill a Jedi without using a weapon.
2	"Revenge / Justice"	Leslye Headland	Jason Milcallef Charmaine De Grate	June 4, 2024
Mae attempts to kill Jedi Master Torbin in a temple on the planet Olega, but is prevented by his Force meditation; Torbin has been floating in silent meditation for over a decade. Vernestra sends Sol, Jeckie, Yord, and Osha to investigate this attack. Mae regroups with her supplier, Qimir, who is helping her hunt the four Jedi that were stationed on her and Osha's home planet, Brendok, at the time of the fire: Indara, Torbin, Sol, and the Wookiee Kelnacca. Qimir provides Mae with a poison and warns her that she still needs to kill one of the four without a weapon. Mae offers the poison to Torbin as absolution for his past. He stops meditating and willingly takes it, dying just as the others arrive. Mae escapes, and Osha poses as her to get information from Qimir. He reveals the existence of Mae's master and her overall plan. That night, Sol confronts Mae and reveals to her that Osha is alive. Osha attempts to stun Mae but misses, and Mae escapes again. She later threatens Qimir over talking to the Jedi, but he convinces her to spare him because he has learned that Kelnacca is living on the planet Khofar.
3	"Destiny"	Kogonada	Jasmyne Flournoy Eileen Shim	June 11, 2024
16 years earlier, Osha and Mae live with an all-female coven of witches on Brendok. The coven's leader, Mother Aniseya, created the twins without a father and they were carried by another witch, Mother Koril. Aniseya teaches the children that the Force, which she calls the Thread, is misused by the Jedi. They undergo a ceremony to be inducted into the coven, which Mae is excited for but Osha is not. Before Osha is inducted, the ceremony is interrupted by a group of Jedi: Indara, Kelnacca, Torbin, and Sol. They express concern that the witches are training children and claim the right to test the twins for their suitability to become Jedi. Aniseya asks the children to purposefully fail the test. Mae does, but Osha chooses to pass the test and tells Aniseya that she wishes to become a Jedi. Angry that her sister wants to leave her, Mae starts a fire. Sol helps Osha get to safety, but they see Mae seemingly die and find the rest of the coven dead as well. The Jedi take Osha to Coruscant and Sol promises to train her as his Padawan. On Brendok, Mae is shown to have survived and is looking for her sister.
4	"Day"	Alex Garcia Lopez	Claire Kiechef	June 18, 2024
Mae and Qimir begin searching for Kelnacca on Khofar, where he has isolated himself in a forest. Sol discusses Mae with several Jedi Masters who believe her master must be a fallen Jedi. They send him and Osha to apprehend Mae with a group of Jedi, including Yord and Jecki. On Khofar, they use the Tynnan tracker Bazil to begin searching for Kelnacca by following his scent. Osha's connection to the Force begins to grow again and she connects with a large bug in the forest, which attacks them and is killed by Sol. Mae begins to feel that her mission to kill a Jedi without a weapon is impossible and no longer relevant to her now that she knows Osha is alive. She captures Qimir in a trap and rushes to turn herself in to Kelnacca, planning to reconnect with Osha and tell the Jedi what she knows about her master. However, she finds Kelnacca has been killed by someone using a lightsaber. The others soon arrive and surround Mae, ordering her to surrender. Before she can do anything, her master appears behind them. The figure activates a red lightsaber and uses the Force to attack Osha and the Jedi.
5	"Night"	Alex Garcia Lopez	Kor Adana Cameron Squires	June 25, 2024
Osha witnesses the mysterious warrior kill all the Jedi except Yord, Jecki, and Sol. Sol saves Osha from the warrior and demands his identity, but the warrior claims Sol should already know before vanishing into the woods. Jecki captures Mae, but the mysterious warrior arrives intending to kill Mae for trying to betray him. Jecki cuts away the warrior's mask before she is killed - revealing him to be Qimir, who claims to be a Sith when questioned by Sol. Yord ambushes Qimir but is quickly killed. Sol fights Qimir again and finally overpowers him, but is stopped from killing him by Osha, who plants a light on Qimir that causes the forrest bugs to attack and carry Qimir away. Mae uses Osha's stun gun on Sol so that she can speak with Osha, but they end up arguing about each other's choices and Mae uses the Force to knock Osha unconscious. Mae steals Osha's lightsaber and swaps their clothes before returning to Sol, pretending to be Osha so she can return with him to the Jedi's ship. Meanwhile, Qimir manages to save himself from the bugs and comes across Osha, who he decides to take care of.
6	"Teach / Corrupt"	Hanelle Culpepper	Jason Milcallef Jocelyn Bioh	July 2, 2024
Osha is rescued and cured by Qimir on an unknown planet. Qimir reveals that he was once a Jedi, betrayed by his master, and attempts to bring Osha closer to him without success. She slowly begins to open up to him. On the Jedi ship at Khofar, interference disrupts Sol's attempts to contact the Jedi Council; a partial message about losing his whole team makes it to Coruscant. When power on the ship suddenly fails, Sol orders Mae to try to fix it, thinking she is Osha. As she uses a restored PIP, Mae tries to get Sol to tell her the truth about what happened on Brendok, but they're interrupted when the ship's power is restored. Mae tries to contact anyone to rescue her, but Sol neutralizes her after realizing her identity. When Mae wakes, Sol says he will tell her the whole truth. Vernestra and a small band of Jedi travel to Khofar to investigate Sol's message. They find the massacre with evidence of lightsaber battle, leading Vernestra to suspect a fallen Jedi is responsible. Following his offer, Osha tries on Qimir's repaired helmet.
7	"Choice"	Kogonada	Charmaine De Grate Jasmyn Flournoy Jen Richards	July 9, 2024
Sixteen years earlier on Brendok, the assigned Jedi search for a vergence on the planet. Sol discovers Osha, Mae, and a group of Force-sensitive witches - returning to camp, Sol convinces his group to go save the girls. Mae speaks to Indara and Sol about the Ascension during the tests; Indara is reluctant to accept the sisters to the Jedi Order, although Sol helps Osha pass it. After a midichlorian test is conducted, the Jedi realize that the girls are not only the vergence, but also not twins - they are the exact same person, artificially created with their shared consciousness split between two bodies. Torbin, eager to return to Coruscant, goes to collect the girls without the approval of his companions. Mae and Mother Koril team up to prevent Osha from leaving. At the fortress, Sol murders Mother Aniseya, beginning a conflict between the Jedi and witches. The witches possess Kelnacca; Sol and Torbin fight him. Indara frees Kelnacca and knocks the witches unconscious. Sol goes after the girls and, forced to choose whom to save, rescues Osha. On the ship, Indara makes up a false story blaming Mae for what happened in order to save Sol, so that he can train Osha.
8	"The Acolyte"	Hanelle Culpepper	Jason Milcallef	July 16, 2024
Osha has a vision of apparently Mae killing Sol without using weapons and they head out to find them while being watched by Darth Plagueis. On the ship, Mae breaks free and escapes to Brendok in a capsule while she is followed by Sol; Mae crashes on the planet. Vernestra gathers a group of Jedi to head to Brendok. On Brendok, Sol, Qimir and Osha begin searching for Mae. Inside the fortress, Sol and Qimir begin to fight as do Osha and Mae. Mae arrives and disarms Sol, but chooses to let him live so he can confess before the Council; Sol reveals that she and Osha are the same person. Learning that Sol killed her mother, Osha chokes Sol to death with the Force and corrupts the Kyber crystal in Sol's lightsaber; Osha and Mae escape together. Upon arriving, Vernestra discovers Sol's corpse. Osha and Mae reconcile when they are found by Qimir; Osha agrees to train with him if he lets Mae go by erasing her memory. On Coruscant, Vernestra blames Sol for all the events that occurred on Brendok; Vernestra reveals that Qimir was her apprentice. Vernestra visits Yoda to tell him everything.

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