Does the new series break with Star Wars canon?

The first trailer for The Acolyte breaks a record: Within 24 hours, the preview for the Star Wars series was viewed a whopping 51.3 million times. This means that no other video about new Star Wars content for Disney Plus has been viewed so many times so quickly.

However, there is already a lot of discussion about The Acolyte. Specifically, many fans are bothered by the fact that the new TV series may break the established canon.

Is The Acolyte entangled with the Sith?

What exactly is it about? This is where a quote from Star Wars: Episode 1 becomes relevant.

Because after Qui-Gon Jinn crossed lightsabers with Darth Maul on Tatooine, the Jedi Master Ki-Adi Mundi announced that the Sith had been extinct for a thousand years. The Acolyte takes place only a hundred years before Episode 1 and yet in the first trailer you can see a mysterious figure with a red lightsaber who appears to be fighting against Jedi.

You can find the scene in question in the trailer for The Acolyte from minute 01:26:

1:46

The Acolyte: An assassin hunts Jedi Knights – first trailer for the new Star Wars series

Quite a few viewers are now asking themselves: How does this fit together? In fact, The Acolyte is already being accused of breaking the established canon – as here, for example X (formerly Twitter).

But there are also strong headwinds: Because there are a number of good reasons why The Acolyte doesn't ignore canon despite having a mysterious figure with a red lightsaber. For example, here Among other things, the following arguments are listed:

• The Sith were never extinct, but merely operated in the shadows. The best proof of this is Darth Sidious, who had already infiltrated the Senate in Episode 1.
• The Jedi Order could only be destroyed because it had become arrogant and ignorant. The Jedi failed to recognize the threat under their own noses and continued to question the return of the Sith themselves after Qui-Gon personally reported it to them.
• The exact circumstances of the scene from the trailer for The Acolyte are unknown. Maybe it's a flashback that takes place long before the events of the TV series. Perhaps none of the Jedi shown survived to tell the Order about a possible Sith attacker.
• Not every person who wields a red lightsaber is automatically a Sith. The prime example of this is Kylo Ren from the sequel trilogy. We also know numerous groups of followers of the Dark Side who are also not Sith – such as the Knights of Ren or Nightsisters of Korriban.

Finally it can be stated: We won't be able to judge whether The Acolyte really breaks the established Star Wars canon or not until June 4, 2024 at the earliest. The new Star Wars series starts on Disney Plus on this date, which gives us the complete context for the controversial scene.

You can find out more about The Acolyte or new Star Wars films and TV series in general at the links above.