“The Acolyte” has so far refrained from filling every episode with cameos from beloved old characters. Of course, Ki-Adi Mundi was shoved in, somewhat gratuitously, in episode four, giving pedantic Star Wars fans a minor heart attack (according to old canon, he’s too young to be in “The Acolyte”, but that’s changed now ).
Apart from old Mundi, however, we only got to see new characters in “The Acolyte”, until the last episode, where you choose to include not one, but two major figures from the “Star Wars” mythos.
Darth Plagueis
The first one we see, and the one that will also be talked about the most, is ironically the one that few people will recognize: Darth Plagueis. As Qimir and Osha leave Qimir’s mysterious planet to go after Sol and Mae, we see a long-fingered and pale figure creeping out of a cave. He says nothing, and doesn’t appear again, but it’s definitely Darth Plagueis, The Sith Lord who will eventually train Palpatine. The character has not appeared in either film or TV series before (as opposed to in books that are now non-canon), but is mentioned by Palpatine in “Revenge of the Sith” in the oft-quoted and meme:ed line: “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?”
Darth Plagueis crawls out of his cave, possibly looking for a nail clipper.
How do we know for sure that this is the infamous Darth Plagueis and not some other ugly creature with a fascination for caves and dark hoods? Well, partly because he matches the look: the creature we see is a muun, the same kind of alien that Plagueis is, and walks dressed as a Sith. He’s also on a Sith planet, and it’s just right for him to appear in “The Acolyte” in terms of timing. Making up and throwing in another muun-sith would have been a slap in the face to fans, so it’s guaranteed to be Plagueis we got our first look at here. Does that mean we could also see a young Palpatine in future seasons of “The Acolyte”? Who knows.
Yoda
The episode’s second cameo is a figure everyone will recognize: we get to see Yoda again! He appears in the episode’s very last seconds, seen from behind as Vernestra goes to confer with him after pulling a big fat lie to the collective political power of Coruscant. We don’t get to see Yoda’s face, or hear him speak, but there’s no mistaking his pointy ears. And considering how old Yoda is (hundreds of years) it’s unlikely anyone is upset to see him here.
Always fun to see Yoda!
Will Yoda and Darth Plagueis play roles in a possible second season of “The Acolyte”? Not sure, but hopefully. To just show them off and then never mention them again would have been odd to say the least. Having said that, it is still not certain that “The Acolyte” will get a second season – Disney has not commented on the matter, but as soon as they do, we will report on it here at MovieZine.
