New trailer for upcoming Star Wars TV show The Acolyte may have revealed the big bad – and a new poster all but confirms it

A new trailer for The Acolyte has arrived – and it might've revealed the show's main villain.

Towards the end of the clip, which can be viewed above, a mysterious Sith lord, bearing a helmet similar to Kylo Ren's but with zippers, appears in a dark forest. He draws his red lightsaber, prompting Sol (Lee Jung-jae) to ask, "What are you?" The Sith lunges at Sol in response. Earlier in the trailer, we learn that Jedi are being hunted – and it's likely that this may be the hunter in question. He or she is also featured on the official poster for the upcoming series ((which features the main core characters) so, uh, we'd venture to say that they're probably pretty important. 

Some fans have theorized that the man behind the mask is none other than Darth Tenebrous, as he's the only Sith lord that seems to fit The Acolyte's timeline. The series is set at the end of the High Republic, approximately 100 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Since Darth Tenebrous bears that creepy, alien-skull helmet, it's likely that the mysterious Sith is a brand new villain – and that we're in for quite the ride.

The Acolyte

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

The newest show in the Star Wars universe sees a former Padawan reunite with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes...but the forces they confront are more sinister than they could ever imagine. Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Annie Moss, Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg, and Jodi Turner-Smith also star.

Star Wars: The Acolyte is set to hit Disney Plus on June 4 in the US, arriving on June 5 in the UK. For more from a galaxy far, far away, check out our guide to all the new Star Wars movies on the way and our breakdown of the Star Wars timeline.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

Read more
Jod Na Nawood holding a lightsaber
A Jedi was cut from the Star Wars Skeleton Crew finale – was she Jod’s former master?
Jude Law in Skeleton Crew
Skeleton Crew episode 7 ends with a sinister Star Wars callback to Revenge of the Sith
Amandla Stenberg (Mae) in The Acolyte
Despite being canceled for low viewership, Star Wars series The Acolyte was the second most-viewed Disney Plus show last year
Andor season 2
First Andor season 2 trailer reveals major Star Wars Rogue One returns and announces a strange release schedule
ahsoka
What is Thrawn cooking? Star Wars fans are debating the Ahsoka villain's plans
Ahsoka in episode 5
Ahsoka season 2 release date speculation, cast, story, and everything else you need to know about the Star Wars show
Latest in Star Wars TV Shows
Diego Luna in Andor
It looks like a key Star Wars event mentioned in Rebels will be shown in Andor season 2
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
Star Wars fans are convinced a Rebels planet shows up in the Andor season 2 trailer
Andor season 2
Andor season 2's trailer has reminded Star Wars fans exactly where the show is heading: "We're going to be losing a lot of people this season"
Andor season 2
First Andor season 2 trailer reveals major Star Wars Rogue One returns and announces a strange release schedule
The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Win The Mandalorian on 4K
Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano.
Win Star Wars: Ahsoka on 4K
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip