Though The Acolyte’s title would suggest a Sith acolyte is the main antagonist, the show’s trailer could hint at an even bigger threat: a Sith Lord.

The next Star Wars show, The Acolyte, will likely follow a fledgling member of the Sith, but the trailer might have shown that there could be an even bigger threat to the Jedi: a Sith Lord. The trailer for The Acolyte had many hidden details, but many of them raised more questions than they answered. One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the upcoming Star Wars show is who will be the villain of The Acolyte. Based on the trailer, the answer to that question could be even more sinister than previously thought.

The Acolyte has already promised to be one of the most intriguing and nuanced Star Wars shows ever made. The story details of The Acolyte have shown that the series will focus on a mystery involving Amandla Stenberg’s character Mae and a rash of killings she seems to be implicated in. Based on that, The Acolyte could be one of the darkest and most complicated stories Star Wars has seen yet. If it is, there would be more than enough room for a Sith Lord to insert themselves into the narrative.

Sith Acolytes Never Wielded Red Lightsabers

It was an important moment that happened later in the journey to becoming a Sith

In the trailer for The Acolyte, someone threw a red lightsaber through a forest before catching it. Red lightsabers are an iconic weapon of the Sith, but they have a fairly complicated origin, as red lightsabers don’t occur naturally like the lightsaber colors Jedi use. Instead, a kyber crystal is turned red through a process known as bleeding, which transforms a regularly colored lightsaber into a red one. In order to bleed a kyber crystal, the power source of lightsabers, a dark side follower would first have to kill a Jedi and claim their kyber crystal as their own.

Bleeding was an advanced practice that involved a dark side user transferring their negative emotions into a kyber crystal, corrupting it, and bending it to their will. It was a very important process to the Sith, and it marked a major change in followers of the dark side. As such, a mere acolyte wouldn’t have bled a kyber crystal, and therefore wouldn’t have had access to a red lightsaber. Acolytes weren’t officially members of the Sith due to the Sith Rule of Two, so bleeding was usually reserved for formal Sith apprentices.

Mae could be the Sith acolyte the show’s title referenced, and her fighting style reinforces the idea that the red lightsaber didn’t belong to her. Mae was never seen utilizing a lightsaber in any of her fight scenes featured in the trailer. Instead, she used a dagger and her own acrobatic abilities, though she might not have chosen those means by preference. If Mae was a Sith acolyte, she would have had to use alternative weaponry, as she wouldn’t have had a red lightsaber. Whoever grabbed the red lightsaber in the trailer was hidden from the camera, and that was likely an intentional choice.

The Sith Is Powerful Enough To Toss Jedi Aside In The Force

No acolyte would have enough power or knowledge of the Force to do that

Towards the end of the trailer, a group of Jedi ignited their lightsabers and rushed forward into battle, presumably against whoever ignited the red lightsaber. The Jedi were then thrown back by an extremely powerful Force push that sent them all flying. Whoever created the blast would have been extremely powerful in the Force, as it was strong enough to create a shockwave. Further, that level of power would probably have been honed through a significant amount of training, which hints that it was likely the work of an advanced Sith Lord.

The sheer amount of raw power in the dark side such a Force push would require also hints at who definitely didn’t perform it. Such a Force feat would have required both a huge well of power and negative emotion to draw from, as well as the knowledge of how to tap into the dark side enough to use it all. A Sith acolyte wouldn’t have had access to that level of power, and even if they did, they wouldn’t have had the training necessary to properly utilize it. Only a true Sith would have been able to so thoroughly dominate the Jedi.

The Acolyte Could Well Reveal The Sith Lord Of The High Republic Era

A different Sith Lord could be working against the Jedi years before Palpatine

The Sith Lord hinted at in the trailer will likely be the same one who was pulling the strings of the mystery The Acolyte will follow. Prior to the fall of the Jedi, the Sith had been in hiding for millennia after Darth Bane implemented the Rule of Two. Though they were operating in secret, the Sith weren’t completely inactive, and many of the Sith Lords of that time carried out hidden agendas meant to weaken the Jedi Order. Whatever Sith Lord The Acolyte may feature could have their own agenda to fulfill, and it could tie into the rash of murders the Jedi will be investigating.

There are a few Sith Lords who could appear in The Acolyte, and any one of them would have huge effects on the plot. The most likely to appear is Darth Plagueis, Palpatine’s master who discovered the secret to eternal life. While he would provide the most direct link to the rest of the Star Wars timeline, The Acolyte‘s setting in the High Republic era makes it uncertain whether Plagueis will appear. If it isn’t Plagueis pulling the strings, it will likely be Darth Tenebrous, Darth Plagueis’ predecessor. Based on the trailer, though, whatever Sith Lord is active during The Acolyte will be incredibly strong and pose a huge threat to the show’s Jedi.

Throughout the High Republic era, the greatest threat to the Jedi and the galaxy as a whole have been the Nihil, a band of marauders. If there was a Sith Lord operating at the same time, though, it would change absolutely everything about the problems the galaxy faced during that time. Because of that, The Acolyte could completely redefine everything about the High Republic. It has long been known that The Acolyte would be a momentous story in the history of Star Wars, but a potential appearance from a Sith Lord would cement the show as the beginning of the end of the Jedi Order.