‘The Acolyte’ episode 4 slips in a shocking cameo from a prequel trilogy icon, and breaks ‘Star Wars’ canon in the process

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Acolyte episode 4.

At this point, it seems that The Acolyte is going deliberately out of its way to anger the kinds of Star Wars fans that wig out like a wampa over the smallest, most inconsequential change to the lore. Or maybe the showrunners genuinely overestimated how much folks wanted to see a random prequel trilogy character return to the galaxy far, far away.

OK, here goes, spoiler incoming… The Acolyte episode 4 goes and brings back none other than Ki-Adi Mundi! You know, the banana-headed member of the Jedi High Council from the prequels who really cares about the clone attack on the Wookiees. Ki-Adi Mundi makes an unexpected cameo in this episode, discussing the Mae/Osha situation with his fellow Jedi and voicing his opinion that they need to tell the High Council about this rogue Dark Jedi apprentice.

During the ep, many simply assumed this was another member of Mundi’s species — the Cereans — or maybe even his father. But, nope, the credits confirm it. This is definitely the one and only Ki-Adi Mundi (now portrayed by actor Derek Arnold).

Wow, what a fun prequel crossover, right? Actually, no. If you ask the dozens of deliriously angry fans out there, it’s actually yet another stain upon the Star Wars mythos brought about by the Disney era. Remember, The Acolyte is set 100 years before the prequels era, and according to what has previously been established about Ki-Adi Mundi and Cereans, they don’t have particularly long lifespans and he won’t be born for another 100+ years.

For those who want to see the receipts…

Apart from this personal details paradox, fans are irritated over Ki-Adi Mundi learning about Mae, a Sith in all but name, before the prequels… In which he memorably ascertains that Sith haven’t been seen in the galaxy for a millennia.

The really incensed ones are now claiming that Disney has turned Mundi into a “traitor” or a “liar,” as he apparently knew Sith had existed in recent centuries but chose not to declare it to the High Council.

To be fair, however, it should be stressed that all prior info about Ki-Adi Mundi’s age come from non-canon Legends sources, so his Acolyte cameo doesn’t actually break modern canon at all. And as for his claim about the Sith, we can always “from a certain point of view” it as, again, Mae isn’t officially a Sith.

We were so busy expecting Yoda to show up, we were not expecting Ki-Adi Mundi instead. The Acolyte producers probably thought sticking him in the show would be an easy win, but actually it’s turned out to be another rod lightsaber used to beat it with.

The Acolyte continues weekly on Disney Plus.