Over the past few months, I have made several posts about The Acolyte. For those of you not in the know, The Acolyte is an upcoming Disney + series set during the High Republic Era which focuses on the rising Sith. Naturally, it is also going to feature the Jedi Order in a major role. In general, I have always found the Sith to be far more interesting than the Jedi. Because of this, most of my previous posts on this topic have focused on the Sith aspect of The Acolyte. However, I have recently been wondering about how the Jedi will be portrayed in the series. Presumably, the show will not want its Sith protagonists to be completely unsympathetic. An easy way of doing this would be to show some of the less glamorous aspects of the Jedi Order. The Jedi Order has never been portrayed as flawless, but I expect The Acolyte to especially deconstruct these flaws.

Throughout its many appearances in Star Wars media, the Jedi Order has displayed many issues. It takes in initiates at an age before they are able to truly make a cognizant choice in the matter, it failed to predict and stop the return of the Sith, and it lost sight of its original goals in many ways. But the biggest problem with the Jedi Order has consistently been shown as its unhealthy connection to the politics of the Galactic Republic, despite being a religious order. It is well known that unless separation is maintained between Church and State, both will suffer for it. This truth is hardly new to Star Wars, and its portrayal of the Jedi Order’s interactions with the Galactic Republic display it frequently. However, most of the problems we have seen arising from this lack of separation have been for the Jedi Order. The problems caused by Jedi involvement for the Galactic Republic have mostly just been hinted at, but are hardly nonexistent. One particular source that implies about this is the novel Darth Plagueis. In it, Plagueis (in his non-Sith persona of Hego Damask II) has a debate with Dooku, Sifo-Dias and Qui-Gon Jinn about the disproportionate political power wielded by the Jedi Order. At one point, Plagueis even says that “The Jedi Order has cornered the market on ethics.” While Plagueis definitely has ulterior motives in bringing this up, he makes an excellent point.

So, what kinds of problems could The Acolyte show happening in the Republic stemming from Jedi involvement in politics? Before discussing that, I should mention that the show runners would need to tread carefully if this is indeed the route they choose to go down. Portraying the Jedi Order as an outright corrupt organization at every level would confuse causal viewers, and alienate longtime fans. There would be two potential ways around this, and the show could honestly make either one work.
Show the High Council as well-intentioned, but unaware of corrupt lower-ranking members of the order.
Show the High Council as essentially a gang of politicians in robes, and attribute the Jedi Order’s better qualities to the efforts of local Jedi Knights.
Both of these options have their advantages. For Option 1, it would allow the Jedi Order to still maintain its place as an undisputed “good guy faction”, while still portraying it as having flawed components. It could also allow the show to have a powerful moment where a Sith Lord exposes a corrupt Jedi for what he/she really is in order to turn a potential apprentice to the Dark Side. For Option 2, it would allow the show to have a closer allegory to real-world societies where church and state are not separated, and the problems that arise from it. In the real world, corruption in organized religion usually flows from the top of the hierarchy rather than the bottom. While it could end up being cringy if handled poorly, it could allow for some Andor-level storytelling if handled well.
What do you think about these ideas? Do you think I overestimate the amount of focus that will be placed on politics in The Acolyte? Whatever your thoughts on this topic are, I am very curious to hear them!