[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for season 1 of Star Wars: The Acolyte.]
Darth Plagueis has made his live action debut thanks to the season 1 finale of The Acolyte. The show didn’t make much mention of the Sith Lord, deciding instead to simply show him peering out from behind a rock in observation of the Stranger (Manny Jacinto) and his soon-to-be-padawan, Osha (Amandla Stenberg). Even still, it’s a pretty monumental moment for longtime dorks who know the tale of Darth Plagueis the Wise by heart.
Plagueis was first introduced via a then-Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, who told the Sith Lord’s legendary story to Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. According to Sheev’s story, Plagueis was a powerful master of the Force, who eventually became so strong that he gained the ability to use the Force to manipulate life itself and grant himself immortality. This immortality came with a bit of an asterisk, however. It only came by transferring Plagueis’ consciousness into a new vessel, rather than helping his own mortal body live forever.
Of course, what Sheev (also known as “Future Emperor Palpatine”) doesn’t tell Anakin is that Plagueis was also Sheev’s master, and Sheev learned all the Wise master’s tricks and even improved on them — for instance, Plagueis transference is how Palpatine keeps himself alive for the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Even more importantly, Anakin himself was a pure creation of the Force, and it’s never officially been revealed who was behind that. Maybe it was the Force itself. Maybe it was Sheev looking to craft Anakin into the perfect apprentice. Or maybe it was Plagueis himself, which could explain why he shows up in The Acolyte.
The Acolyte’s entire plot revolves around the twins Mae and Osha, who are two parts of one soul, a lifeforce created seemingly more or less created using the Force by a coven of witches — with a little help from a vergence. But with the 11th hour reveal that Darth Plagueis was hanging around, it seems awfully possible that the Sith master was secretly working behind the scenes to create a perfect vessel for himself.
After all, what could be better to transfer your consciousness into than a blank slate that’s strong in the Force? Or maybe Mae and Osha were his dry run at creating full life before he crafted Anakin to be his true successor?
Either way, at least a few of these questions are sure to be answered in The Acolyte season 2, should that ever happen. But for now, Star Wars super fans will just have to be content (or extremely discontent) about finally seeing Plagueis in the flesh.