Summary
- The Acolyte may expand on the reasons why the Jedi Council was concerned about Anakin's age and attachments, as Amandla Stenberg's Mae will likely serve as a key parallel 100 years before The Phantom Menace.
- Flashbacks suggest Mae was recruited as an older child, potentially explaining the Jedi's hesitation toward students like Anakin being too old for training.
- Mae's story may shed light on why the Jedi avoided older recruits, setting up exciting Jedi Order revelations in The Acolyte's premiere.
Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn sensed the boy's great power in the Force as the potential prophesied Chosen One. Regardless, the Jedi Council was hesitant to have the boy trained as he was much older than the typical children they recruited into their ranks.
Now, promos for the Acolyte series are teasing that the new series will expand on the reasons why the Jedi were so concerned, 25 years after The Phantom Menace's release. As seen in a new flashback sequence, Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) appears to be recruiting Mae (Amandla Stenberg) as a child to become his new Jedi apprentice.
As a result, it seems as though The Acolyte will feature some key parallels to Anakin with this new High Republic Era series set 100 years before the beginning of the Skywalker saga.
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The Acolyte Teaser Hints Mae Was An Older Jedi Recruit
She Looks To Be About Anakin's Age
Canonically, children identified by the Jedi Order as Force-sensitive were taken to the Jedi Temple as infants or within the first few years of birth at the latest. As such, it's notable that this flashback seems to depict Mae meeting Master Sol around the same age as Anakin Skywalker when he was found by Qui-Gon. To that end, there's an implication that she too was initiated into the Jedi Order at a much older age than standard.
Likewise, young Mae is also featured being recruited while she's with her coven, the very same group of witches featured in more present-day sequences in The Acolyte's trailers. As such, it can be inferred that Mae is the top suspect behind a recent Jedi killing spree, having recently left the Jedi Order to re the coven she left as a child. To that end, perhaps whatever happened to Mae that caused her to leave Sol and the Jedi Order became a cautionary tale for future Jedi recruitment.
Were The Jedi Right About Age - Or Are There Other Problems?
It's Really About Attachments
Anakin being too old wasn't just some sort of arbitrary rule maintained by the Jedi Order. It was because he'd already had nine years of life experience filled with emotional attachments, primarily to the mother he left behind on Tatooine. This was proven when the Jedi Council tested Anakin on Coruscant, sensing both his great power but also his great fear, the beginnings of a path that could lead to the dark side of the Force. As such, this resulted in the Jedi Council initially rejecting Qui-Gon's wish to have Anakin trained, due to their concerns that his existing attachments would interfere with his Jedi training.
Had Anakin been taken to the Jedi Temple as a baby, he wouldn't have had those connections to his mother, hence the Council's concern about Anakin's age. That being said, High Republic comics and books have established that the Jedi Order of the past had expressed more leniency regarding attachments. However, perhaps the events of The Acolyte will reveal when and why the Jedi seemingly became more strict, specifically when it came to the recruitment of Jedi initiates.
Will Mae's Attachments Explain Why The Jedi Stopped Recruiting Older Students?
Perhaps Mae Is A Big Reason Why The Jedi Believed Anakin Was Too Old
While based only on what's been seen in the trailers and promos, it does look as though Mae's lingering attachments could be what motivated her to leave the Jedi Order. This would be fascinating considering Anakin's age and attachment to his mother were the primary obstacles preventing the Jedi Council from approving his training. Mae could become the cautionary tale for the Jedi regarding older initiates. At any rate, The Acolyte should prove to be a very exciting examination of the Jedi Order a century before The Phantom Menace, seeing as how this parallel is likely just one of many that will be featured when the full series releases on Disney+.
The Acolyte's two-episode premiere begins streaming June 4th on Disney+.
The Acolyte is a television series set in the Star Wars universe at the end of the High Republic Era, where both the Jedi and the Galactic Empire were at the height of their influence. This sci-fi thriller sees a former Padawan reunite with her former Jedi Master as they investigate several crimes - all leading to darkness erupting from beneath the surface and preparing to bring about the end of the High Republic.
- Cast
- Carrie-Anne Moss, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dean-Charles Chapman, Lauren Brady, Anthony J. Abraham, Thara Shöön, Danielle Xin Yao Waterman, Sienna Khiroya, Jeramiah Evans, Dan Milne, Thomas Coombes, Archie Singh Swali, Nick Court, Ed Kear, Jumayn Hunter, Scroobius Pip, Abigail Thorn, Margarita Levieva, Amy Tsang, Saskia Allen, Deborah Rosan, Tabitha Alege, Paul Bullion, Indra Ové, Derek Arnold, Lewis Young
- Showrunner
- Leslye Headland
- Directors
- Leslye Headland, Alex Garcia Lopez
- Writers
- Leslye Headland, Charmaine De Grate, Kor Adana
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Seasons
- 1
- Streaming Service(s)
- Dis
