One highly-anticipated Acolyte plot was for nothing and fans are furious

The cancellation of The Acolyte has drawn mixed reactions from Star Wars fans across the internet, but the most vocal are frustrated with the show’s Darth Plagueis tease.

The Acolyte infamously featured the live-action debut of Darth Plagueis, a character who had only appeared in novels and been referenced in Revenge of the Sith. Plagueis is the master of Darth Sidious, who would become the franchise’s chief threat, Emperor Palpatine.

The Plagueis tease is incredibly brief, and it’s not even entirely clear if he’s really there or just a Force-fueled hallucination. It was clearly a tease of something more, but the sudden cancelation of The Acolyte means we’ll likely never find out what.

Now, frustrated Star Wars fans are mad that the tease was seemingly meaningless, feeling that The Acolyte’s cancelation has ended the plot before it could truly start.

“So I guess this is going nowhere now,” one fan said in a post on the Star Wars subreddit, sharing his frustration with the tease.

Darth Plagueis’ brief live-action debut has only proven to be more disappointing for Star Wars fans.

Most aren’t frustrated so much with the Plagueis tease as they are with the promise of what it meant for a Season 2, with one fan saying, “The sith stuff was very interesting, Qimir was cool, and they chose to focus on the twins and the witches and now we probably won’t see the sith stuff for a long time.”

Others are thrilled he didn’t show up more, with one fan saying, “Considering the meandering and dry writing and acting, thank goodness. I’d love to see Plagueis. The book was fantastic. I just don’t want the people behind Acolyte to be responsible for it.”

There is still some hope. While most have taken a defeatist approach given how swiftly The Acolyte was canceled, a few pointed out there’s still a chance Plagueis returns.

“There’s literally nothing stopping them from telling this story. All we got was a quick 25 second glimpse of a dude in a cave,” one fan pointed out. “Manny Jacinto’s acting as Qimir/The Stranger absolutely carried the show anyways, so they’d be foolish to not try and repurpose some of this show to tell that story.”

“It’s amazing how people cling to 10-seconds of fan service and act like it’s not possible to tell that story, and better story, through different means,” another fan added.

While it may feel a little hopeless, it wouldn’t be the first time Star Wars revisited something controversial. Despite the sequel trilogy being so poorly received that it killed big-screen Star Wars for years, they’re revisiting the arc with an upcoming Rey Skywalker film.

Ultimately, despite fans’ frustration, there is still a chance that Disney will explore the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.

All eight episodes of The Acolyte are available to stream now. Or, if you’re looking for the next wave of Star Wars adventures, check out everything we know about Skeleton Crew and Tales of the Jedi Season 2.

For big-screen adventures in the galaxy, look ahead to Star Wars movies like The Mandalorian & Grogu, Dawn of the Jedi, or the Lando movie.