Star Wars loves to bring back obscure characters, but as exciting as seeing Cobb Vanth or Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian is, this can cause problems if the characters don’t get the time to stand out and make an impact. That’s why those two Mandalorian cameos weren’t just there for name recognition: Cobb Vanth returns Boba Fett’s armor, while Kelleran Beq saved Grogu from Order 66.
But a recent Star Wars series broke this rule with a single shot that promised more to come later, only for the show to get canceled. Unfortunately, that means the franchise is wasting one of its most fascinating characters.
The Acolyte was the first Star Wars live-action project to be set before the prequel trilogy, bridging the High Republic era of novels and comics with the Skywalker Saga we’ve seen on film. There are only a few characters from the main Star Wars movies who could feasibly appear in that timeline, and sure enough, The Acolyte finale contained cameos from two of them: Yoda and Darth Plagueis.
We’ve seen Yoda throughout the franchise, but The Acolyte was the first time the Sith had ever appeared in canon. Plagueis was Palpatine’s master but was murdered by the future Emperor before the events of the prequel movie. Previously, he’d only been mentioned in Revenge of the Sith’s Mon Calamari Ballet scene.
The cancelation of The Acolyte doesn’t just mean Star Wars fans won’t find out what happened to Qimir and Osha — it also means that Darth Plagueis’ introduction was wasted. The character has a lot of potential — James Luceno’s non-canon novel, Darth Plagueis, proves as much — but the creepy Sith master can’t be explored in canon if there’s no follow-up to The Acolyte.
Hopefully, a future Star Wars project, whether it’s a series, movie, or even just a novel or comic book, can tie up this loose end and reveal how Plagueis moved on from hiding in the shadows to mentoring the man who would rule over the entire galaxy. It’s an enticing story, and we’d hate to see Star Wars abandon it now that The Acolyte has set the stage.
