There’s only three episodes left in The Acolyte’s first season, and the series still has plenty of questions to answer. Its latest episode, “Night,” solved one mystery with the identity of the mysterious Sith warrior known as The Stranger. Otherwise, though, The Acolyte is shifting into a new gear, and taking the rest of its unanswered questions with it.
After the events of Episode 5, it’s clear that The Acolyte is barreling towards a massive conclusion. But will it tie up all of its loose ends before the season ends, or is showrunner Leslye Headland saving some mysteries for a second season?
The Acolyte has yet to be renewed for a Season 2, but Headland does have “four or five major mysteries” she’d like to explore in the future. She originally pitched The Acolyte as a multi-season affair, so Season 1 will likely leave the door open for this story to continue. That said, the final episodes of The Acolyte won’t be holding back any conclusions. “I threw everything into Season 1,” Headland told Entertainment Weekly, “because who knows what’s going to happen?”
Many modern series suffer from an issue of pacing. The typical lifespan for a show in the streaming era isn’t what it used to be, and often showrunners will try to prompt a series renewal in their own way. First seasons are often now padded out with filler, or they end on a cliffhanger to generate interest in a follow-up. Either way, many shows seem to be saving their best for later — and stories suffer as a result. It’s a trend that Headland herself has noticed and is hoping to avoid with The Acolyte.
“First seasons will end on what should have been the break into act two,” Headland said. “It feels like everyone’s really expecting [their shows] to get a second season, and I don’t feel that’s a good idea.”
As a result, there won’t be any huge cliffhangers at the end of The Acolyte. Though Episode 5 really resets the stakes in its conflict between Jedi and Sith, most of its mysteries should be answered by the Season 1 finale. But these next three episodes will certainly be interesting: After a deadly encounter with the Stranger, only Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), his former padawan Osha (Amandla Stenberg), and her twin sister Mae (also Stenberg) are left standing. The Acolyte is zeroing in on their complicated dynamic, so hopefully we’ll learn the truth about Mae and Osha’s past, and Sol’s true role in it, before the end of Season 1.
