While witches might seem like a foreign idea in the Star Wars universe, their addition in The Acolyte has a deeper meaning that some fans might realize. The show occurs 100 years before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in the year 132 BBY (Before The Battle of Yavin), when Jedis are at the peak of their power.
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In episode three of the show’s debut season, audiences are taken back 16 years in the past to reveal mysterious events that took place on Brendok, a remote Outer Rim world visited by four Jedi. Through this, we get a deep dive into Osha (Amandla Stenberg) and Mae’s (Amandla Stenberg) backstory and their childhood, revealing they were raised among a coven of witches led by Mother Aniseya (played by Jodie Turner-Smith).
Who are the witches in The Acolyte?
The witches in The Acolyte are seemingly inspired by a few things in pre-existing Star Wars lore, including the Fallanassi, a religious order that was adept at using the Force. They also borrow from the Nightsisters—a coven of witches who live on the planet Dathomir and play a significant role in the Clone Wars series.
The group breaks with Star Wars tradition in the sense that, up until now, we’ve been led to believe that The Force is only reserved for Jedi and the Sith.
“I was very inspired by the Nightsisters storyline and the Ventress storyline on The Clone Wars when I was a budding writer,” showrunner Leslye Headland told Entertainment Weekly. “So when I got the chance to make a show set in the Star Wars universe, it felt like, ‘Well, of course, I’m going to do my version of witches. I just am going to shoot my shot.’”
“As the characters developed, it made a lot of sense that they would be at the center of a coven,” she continued, speaking about Osha and Mae. “That the girls would be almost revealed not as children, but as the legacy of what their mother started.”
With regards to the coven’s mantra, Headland explained that is deeply connected to the concept of family legacy. “The power of one, the power of two, the power of many. In our show, the Jedi have the power of many. I think their mother started as one, and the girls are two, and she wants her legacy to be the power of many,” she said.
“So it was thought of as paying homage to The Clone Wars, but it eventually became the story of a mom and her children and the way that our parents have particular expectations for us. And if Star Wars is anything, it’s got a lot of parents and children and living up to or rejecting the legacy of those parents.”‘
The Acolyte is available to stream on Disney+.
