This isn’t about good or bad.  This is about power, and who is allowed to use it.”  This morning, after nearly four years of rumor and speculation, from Lucasfilm and Executive Producers Kathleen Kennedy and Leslye Headland, fans have finally been treated to our first glimpse of The Acolyte.  Headland, most well-known as co-creator of Russian Doll, wrote and directed the series premiere, and serves as showrunner.

In the official synopsis at StarWars.com, The Acolyte “is set during the High Republic era and the prime of the Jedi Order…  An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-Jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past.  As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems.”

As Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke Skywalker, “For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic.  Before the dark times.  Before the Empire.”  Nothing embodies the power and darkness of the Empire more than the Sith, and Darth Sidious himself.  But how did this ancient and seemingly extinct power return?

“If Star Wars is about the underdog versus the institution, [in The Acolyte] the Jedi are the institution,”  Headland says.  “I was so interested in a storyline where the Jedi were at the height of their power – and I don’t mean The Phantom Menace, because at that point, there’s a Sith Lord in the Senate that they’re not picking up on.”

Billed as a mystery-thriller, which will debut on June 4 on Disney+, Headland seeks to upend the typical Jedi hero tale for a story focused on the dark side disrupting a Jedi Order in its prime.  The writer/producer of this latest Star Wars adventure first journeyed to the galaxy far, far away as a teenager watching the Special Editions on the big screen and immersing herself in the expanded universe of books, like Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire. “I think it just meant so much to me because it was a place to live, a place to escape to,” Headland says.  Having a real fan at the helm who knows and appreciates all of Star Wars history can only inspire confidence and rabid anticipation in this fan.

Let’s not forget that all of these narrative threads serve as the beginning of a long line of events whose ultimate result will be the downfall of the Jedi Order, along with Anakin Skywalker.  This morning’s trailer is meant simply to tease us, and we must be mindful of our Jedi training and remember that not everything is as it seems. As Jung-Jae’s character Jedi Master Sol notes in the trailer, our eyes may very well be deceiving us.  “This is very incendiary,”  Headland warns.  “But whatever you think The Acolyte is, it’s not that.  It’s a drop in the bucket, baby.  Just hang in there and check it out.”

The Acolyte makes it’s 2-episode premiere on June 4^th.  Whatever other Summertime shenanigans unfold, I know exactly where I’ll be at 12:01 AM on Wednesday mornings.  Fitting, since I’ll already be spending the Summer preoccupied with dark forces on the rise.  Time to dust off the blue lightsaber and get ready.