The Acolyte Drew From The Best Star Wars Video Game For One Appearance
For a show that fans claim was created by people who don’t know Star Wars, The Acolyte features lore-specific Easter eggs. Showrunner Leslye Headland took inspiration from all corners of the fandom when filming the series, including a beloved Star Wars video game. You may have missed it, but in one scene of The Acolyte‘s debut episode, a Selkath from Knights of the Old Republic is visible in the background.
The First Live-Action Selkath
Knights of the Old Republic, or KOTOR, was a 2003 Star Wars RPG set 4,000 before the original trilogy. The game and its sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, are widely considered the best Star Wars games ever made. It might not seem like much, but for fans of KOTOR, watching The Acolyte and seeing a Selkath is a big deal.
In the original game, the player travels between several planets doing the standard RPG fetch quests but with a twist. Each choice the player makes, from dialogue to combat, determines whether they move toward the Light or Dark side of the Force. One of the planets the player must visit is Manaan, an aquatic planet home to the Selkath species.
Canonizing Knights Of The Old Republic
The Selkath are amphibious and similar to another Star Wars species, the Mon Calamari. While the Selkath made a few appearances outside of Knights of the Old Republic in Legends, The Acolyte is the first piece of media to show the fish folk in canon. Interestingly, the species technically made the jump from Legends to canon prior to their appearance on The Acolyte, but just barely.
A Brief Mention In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
The first mention of Selkath in the new Star Wars canon was an entry in the now-defunct Encylopedia section of StarWars.com. The species was next mentioned—but not shown—in the 2023 video game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Not exactly a strong showing. Hopefully, now that The Acolyte has shown a Selkath in live-action, the water-dwelling aliens will get a little more love in the Disney era.
The Acolyte Is Going Deep Into The Lore
There’s a weird divide in the Star Wars fandom right now over The Acolyte. A vocal group of fans keep ridiculing the series for knowing nothing about Star Wars. Meanwhile, The Acolyte features lots of deep cuts from Star Wars lore, like the Selkath.
The disconnect between fans complaining that the show ruined Anakin Skywalker’s origin and the ones pointing at their TV excitedly when one of the characters quoted from the Sith Code is truly surreal.
The Acolyte Is Dividing The Fan Base
Some fans point to one of The Acolyte’s promotional interviews where one of the actors mistakenly said Anakin blew up the Death Star as proof that the show’s creators know nothing about Star Wars. It’s a laughably weak criticism, especially when you consider what Harrison Ford’s answer would be if you asked him who blew up the Death Star. We can only assume his answer would be profanity-laden and basically boil down to, “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
More Deep Cuts Still To Come
Ironically, many of those same fans would probably look at you blankly if you asked them what they thought about The Acolyte making the Selkath’s canon. They also haven’t had much to say about Headland, including a Tynnan on the show—an otter-like mammalian species from the 1979 novel Han Solo’s Revenge. For some reason, the fandom menace is quick to point out when something doesn’t jive with their headcannon but is completely silent when a show like The Acolyte canonized a bunch of obscure stuff from the EU.
Stuff you would have to be a huge Star Wars nerd to even notice. You know, like an episode of The Acolyte showing a live-action Selkath in the background…
