The Acolyte's Darth Plagueis Concept Art Reveals Full Design Of Star Wars Villain

These days, the "Star Wars" franchise is full of anguish: Anguish at how the Skywalker Saga ended after eight movies and never finished the sequel trilogy (I kid), at how Genndy Tartakovsky's miniseries has been mostly ignored by Lucasfilm and Disney, at the cancelation of projects like "Star Wars 1313" and "Detours," and anguish at the fact that not every TV show is as good as "Andor." Most recently, however, there's been anguish over the cancelation of "The Acolyte."

"The Acolyte" was one of the most exciting "Star Wars" projects in years — maybe ever. Regardless of how you think the show turned out, the very idea of a "Star Wars" project set before "The Phantom Menace," focusing on the Sith, and featuring a Jedi Wookiee felt like a dream come true, especially if you're a fan of "The Old Republic" games and comics. It helped that the show was also very good, with some of the best stunt work in the entire franchise, cool new additions to the lore, one of the best villains since "Rebels" brought Thrawn back into canon, and a fantastic performance from Lee Jung-jae.

Plus, thanks to "The Acolyte," we finally have a canonical look at the Muun, the myth, the legend, the tragedy himself, Darth Plagueis the Wise. The much-discussed, much-theorized-about mysterious master of Darth Sidious, and the person who kickstarted the grand plan to destroy the Jedi and replace the Republic with a new Sith Empire, appeared very briefly in "The Acolyte" finale. It was enough of a glimpse at the Sith Lord to get excited about the future of "The Acolyte" (cue "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables"). But while the version we saw resembled Gollum lurking in his cave, there were other designs that would have given us an even bigger look at what Palpatine's future master looked like.

Artist Saby Menyhei took to Instagram to share some concept art for Plagueis, including a clearer look at the Muun's head and even a full body glimpse where he's dressed in more luxurious attire than his cave outfit.

Official #TheAcolyte concept art of Darth Plagueis

🎨 @menyhei pic.twitter.com/SQuallqG3y

— Culture Crave 🎃 (@CultureCrave) October 24, 2024

The fancier, full-body look is particularly interesting, because it hints at Plagueis' uber-rich background from the books. Plagueis was not just a Sith Lord and a scientific genius who could create life, but also one of the richest and baddest guys in the galaxy. Operating under his alter ego, Hego Damask, Plagueis was the biggest banker in the galaxy, and even bankrolled the creation of the clone army. The concept art shows some gold trim on Plagueis' robes, teasing his extreme wealth and differentiating him from Palpatine or even the more gentlemanly look of Count Dooku.

It's a shame we won't get to see how "The Acolyte" built up the Plagueis of legend, the one that planted Palpatine in the Senate and kickstarted the grand plan to manipulate the Republic and make it crumble from within. Showrunner Leslye Headland talked to Collider about having bigger plans for the Sith Lord in a potential second season, exploring Plagueis' pursuit of the power the twins have — but that was before the powers that be decided that expending ludicrous amounts of money on a show not that many people watch was not financially responsible.