How The Acolyte Finale Set Up One of the Most Controversial Star Wars Storylines

WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Acolyte! Continue reading at your own risk... The first season of Star Wars: The Acolyte came to an end on Tuesday night , but not before connecting to one of the most controversial elements of the Skywalker Saga . The series had already revealed that Mae and Osha weren't twins, but beings created out of nothing but a vergence in the Force and split into two identical entities. The idea of a vergence already put their origin on common ground with the journey of Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, but the events of The Acolyte 's finale tied those to stories together even closer.

There's a moment early in The Acolyte 's season finale where Osha and Qimir are heading to a ship to track down Mae, and an ancient-looking alien in a dark hood briefly appears in a cave, watching the two of them leave. That creature is the Sith Lord known as Darth Plagueis , who eventually becomes the master of one Sheeve Palpatine.

Throughout his life, Plagueis was obsessed with his quest for immortality. He did eventually die, and that quest passed on to Palpatine, who put the lessons to good use. In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker , it's revealed that Palpatine didn't die at the hands of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but instead continued on in various attempts at cloned bodies.

Mae and Osha were created from a vergence, which is essentially a massive and unexplained concentration of the Force. The fact that they were made from its energy gave Plagueis enough information to start studying vergences, eventually alongside Palpatine.

When Palpatine returns (and THE DEAD SPEAK!) in The Rise of Skywalker , he's holed up on Exegol. That planet was believed to have hidden ties to at least one vergence. So, hundreds of years after Plagueis first learned about the creation of life through a vergence, his apprentice was potentially using the same method to prolong his own life, completing his master's work.

Set during The High Republic, Star Wars: The Acolyte delivers an investigation into a mysterious string of crimes, which pits a Jedi master against his former apprentice in a race to uncover the truth. The more that the pair learn about the situation, the darker their journey becomes, as they confront things that darker than either of them could have imagined.

The series stars Amandla Stenberg , Lee Jung-jae , Manny Jacinto , Dafne Keen , Charlie Barnett , Jodie Turner-Smith , Rebecca Henderson , Dean-Charles Chapman , Joonas Suotamo , and Carrie-Anne Moss . Star Wars: The Acolyte premiered on Disney+ on June 4th.