Star Wars The Acolyte season 2 release, cast plans, and what we know so far

Star Wars lore is big and complicated and multifaceted, and so much of it is being written on TV. Sure, there’s some forthcoming movies in the works, but even those will pick up where things like The Mandalorian season 3 left off (and the set up for season 4). Suffice it to say, if you want to see where Star Wars is headed — and understand the full scope of this world a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away — your best bet is to find it on television.

And to fully understand it you’ll have to look to a world even further back, a long, long time ago (some 100 years pre-Phantom Menace) in The Acolyte. The High Republic-set mystery thriller adventure explored a time when the Sith were rare, Jedi were plentiful, and the gray side of the Force was in full swing. Now that it’s over, the question remains: Is there more to tell in The Acolyte? Will they even get time to tell it? Here’s everything you should know about Star Wars: The Acolyte season 2 after watching the first season’s finale.

Is The Acolyte season 2 happening?

There’s been no official renewal notice yet, but showrunner Leslye Headland is certainly interested. In a conversation with Nerdist midway through season 1, Headland said that there’s been nothing concrete yet: “I have no idea. Well, not that I have no idea. I would say there are conversations. And I don’t know when that will happen. I don’t know when that decision will be made.”

It makes sense that she’s keen to get a second season, considering how much she didn’t feel she could cover in the first season. “There were many things in the sequel trilogy, as well as the prequels, that we just kept kind of pining and saying, OK, we’d like to do this,” Headland told a roundtable in mid-July, citing specifically the power of creating life and how a Force dyad relates to that. “We’re not going to cover all of it in season one.”

When will The Acolyte season 2 release?

Unfortunately, shows like The Acolyte take a while to pull together — the timeline is often closer to every two years than it is every year (or, longer, if you’re Andor season 2). If The Acolyte gets greenlit, it will definitely take a time to write the story before it even goes into production.

What will season 2 of The Acolyte be about?

The Acolyte season 1 seemed to enjoy twisting our two twins, Mae and Osha (both played by Amandla Stenberg), back and forth across the line between the Light and Dark sides of the Force. While the finale leaves their story in a specific place on that front, season 2 has plenty of areas to branch out into — by design, per Headland.

“We had a bunch of bullet points that we thought these are a bunch of things you could cover if this were an ongoing story,” Headland said. “The development of that [Force dyad and life creation power] — how does it work? How is it connected to two people? Do you need two people?”

Even the Sith left Headland wanting more from the Star Wars universe. “Is it possible for two Dark side users to be equal? How does one recruit their acolyte?” Headland asked. “In a time period where it’s a little bit of the Wild West for the Sith, they have to dogmatically do the Rule of Two in order to stay alive […] but then you also have other Sith adjacent factions that I think would be really interesting to explore.”

All that and there’s still character beats that could continue — like, for instance, Mother Koril, who Headland says is not necessarily dead.

What can I read or watch or play while I wait for The Acolyte season 2?

While The High Republic hasn’t gotten its due on-screen in the Star Wars universe beyond The Acolyte, there’s plenty of things you can check out to explore the time period a little more. There are books, comics, and games, most notably including Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Star Wars: Jedi Order.