2023 was a big year for Star Wars shows, with The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and The Bad Batch pushing the modern canon in some very exciting directions—and in just one month, The Acolyte will push live-action Star Wars to a new era by becoming the first on-screen depiction of an era before the Prequel trilogy—approximately 100 years before The Phantom Menace, to be precise.
However, the years long, long before the Skywalker Saga are no stranger to Star Wars‘ expanded media empire. Many novels, comics, and video games have explored various points in the Jedi’s long, long history, including the more recent High Republic publishing initiative and the greatest Star Wars game of all time. These extrapolations can yield some of the most interesting and original visions ever to grace the franchise, and it’s exciting to think that the silver screen will soon dip a toe into these same waters.
As the majority of Star Wars viewers may never have been exposed to the wealth of comics and novels that explore what the years before Anakin Skywalker might have looked like, this is a great opportunity to dive into this ancient history, be it Canon or Legends.
So, here are our reading reccomendations for this May The Fourth, to get in the right mindspace of The Acolyte—streaming on Disney+ on June 4th:
5) Tales of the Jedi (Dark Horse Comics)
In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda tells Luke Skywalker, “you must unlearn what you have learned.” That sage line holds true with the old Expanded Universe lore of Star Wars, as anything published before Disney acquired Lucasfilm has been shuffled off into its own, non-canon timeline. However, that doesn’t mean that a classic Dark Horse Comics series can’t have something to offer The Acolyte.
During its publication from 1993 to1998, Tales of the Jedi represented the earliest-known period on the Star Wars chronology—spanning the years 5000-3986 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin, as seen in Episode IV: A New Hope). Its various storylines, like The Golden Age of the Sith and The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, portray the Jedi like we’ve never seen them before. In fact, aside from familiar races like Hutts and Twi’leks, and archaic versions of lightsabers, Jedi, and Sith, it’s some of the least aesthetically “Star Wars” content ever released as Star Wars.
Nonetheless, these decanonized epics are still an intriguing read, especially in preparation for The Acolyte. These once formed the backbone for a good chunk of the Expanded Universe, and they still largely hold up, presenting the long-lost roots of the Jedi and Sith.
4) Knights of the Old Republic (Dark Horse Comics)
A decade later, Dark Horse followed up with Knights of the Old Republic, bridging the gap between Tales of the Jedi and the classic video game of the same name. Esteemed Star Wars author John Jackson Miller brought the Jedi a little closer to the recognizable versions from the silver screen, remembering the human beings behind the lightsabers.
Like The Acolyte, Knights of the Old Republic sees Jedi team up with smugglers and other everyday folk of the galaxy to confront a new threat. Along the way, the tale of padawan Zayne Carrick even explores the origins of Darth Revan and their iconic mask, in a way that doesn’t trample over your choices in the video game (unlike a certain novel named after the character).
And while you’re at it, might as well replay the video game itself too for good measure.
3) Master & Apprentice by Claudia Grey
Even Obi-Wan Kenobi himself was a padawan once. Master & Apprentice by Claudia Grey explored his apprentice years for the first time in the modern Canon, and offers a look at how the Jedi Order functioned before Darth Sidious’ plans started coming to fruition in the Prequels.
Not quite as far removed from the familiar Skywalker Saga as The Acolyte, Master & Apprentice shows us the conditions that made Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan into the warriors we know them as, defining the unique relationship between them seen in The Phantom Menace.
2) The High Republic Vol.1 – There Is No Fear (Marvel Comics)
Perhaps there’s nothing better to recommend as preparation for The Acolyte than the High Republic publishing initiative, a multimedia endeavor that explores the years 500-100 BBY. Technically, The Acolyte falls under its umbrella, but the bulk of the initiative consists of comics and books (both novels, and those for kids and young adults as well). You might even recognize elements of it from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
At the forefront of this is the Marvel Comics The High Republic series. In comic form, The High Republic serves as standalone tales from the conflict between the Jedi and the enigmatic Nihil, and as connective fiber between the various books. Characters you meet in one novel might turn up in the comic series, and vice versa. One such character, Vernestra Rwoh, will appear in The Acolyte, portrayed in live-action by Rebecca Henderson.
The series begins after the next entry on our list, focused on Jedi Masters Avar Kriss and Sskeer, as well as Sskeer’s apprentice Keeve Trennis. Our heroes find themselves caught up in a horrifying struggle with an alien menace, and find their connections to the Order and the Force itself questioned. It’s a series worth reading even if you’re the kind of Star Wars fan that normally sticks to the traditional novels—or even if you don’t partake in the expanded universe at all.
1) Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule
It would be easy to recommend the entire High Republic era, but one of the best examples of the state of the Jedi prior to The Acolyte is the novel that kicked it all off: Light of the Jedi, by Charles Soule. Here we see the “Golden Age” of the Galactic Republic—a period of enlightenment and expansion, with the Jedi maintaining peace across the galaxy.
Naturally, that peace can’t persist, or else this wouldn’t be a very compelling multimedia epic, and just as the Republic is christening a state-of-the-art space station to help expand its frontier and diplomatic boundaries, a disaster in Hyperspace leads to the emergence of new threats.
Soule not only sets the stage for the entire High Republic saga by introducing the compelling state of this Golden Age. He stages a thematic counterpoint to the fall of the Jedi in the Prequels—and, presumably, the darker stakes of The Acolyte will be a key part of the arc between these cornerstones of the expanded universe.
