According to its creator, Leslye Headland, the canceled Disney+ series The Acolyte was planned to have a surprising link to Kylo Ren from the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
The series takes place a century before the events of The Phantom Menace, during the Jedi Order’s golden age and a period of galactic peace. The story centers on Osha (played by Amandla Stenberg), a former Jedi apprentice, who teams up with her old master to uncover the reason behind a series of Jedi assassinations.
The show faced a wave of negative reviews online, primarily from fans upset about the inclusion of diverse characters. Despite this, critics generally liked it, giving it a 79% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to only 19% from viewers.
A recently published book claims the show could have tied into the story of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) in the sequel trilogy if it had been renewed for another season.
The Stranger would have created the cult that Kylo Ren belongs to
I just read something amazing about The Acolyte! Apparently, the big bad, Qimir (also known as The Stranger), is actually the one who started the cult that Kylo Ren eventually joined after he left the Jedi. It’s wild to think this character’s influence stretches all the way to the sequel trilogy! Headland shared this in an excerpt from her book, The Art of The Acolyte, and it totally changes how I’m looking at the series.
The character was designed with the future introduction of Darth Plagueis in mind, as he was ultimately intended to become Palpatine’s master, or apprentice, according to the showrunner.
The Sith followed a rule called the Rule of Two, which restricted their numbers to only two members: a master and an apprentice. One possibility is that the Stranger was the very first Knight of Ren, a member of a group similar to the Sith that ultimately continued to exist.
This page from ‘The Art of Star Wars: The Acolyte’ focuses on the character The Stranger. It briefly mentions The Stranger, the Knights of Ren, Kylo Ren, and Darth Plagueis.
— SAWSUI (@Sawsui) August 30, 2025
According to Headland, the Knights of Ren aren’t Sith, but they’re clearly drawn to the dark side of the Force. We saw them briefly in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker alongside Kylo Ren, but the movies never revealed their identities or why Kylo worked with them.
It would have been fascinating to see a film focusing on Kylo Ren’s backstory and his connection to the Knights of Ren – a project Adam Driver had started planning with Steven Soderbergh before Disney cancelled it. Hopefully, that story might still be told someday.
While we wait for news about what’s next for Star Wars, you can explore everything we’ve gathered on The Mandalorian and Grogu, see a ranking of all of George Lucas’s films, and discover our list of the 50 greatest Star Wars characters.
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2025-10-27 19:49