The Acolyte fans are praising new ‘powerful’ Star Wars detail

The Acolyte has just blown Star Wars lore wide open, and viewers were quite taken with the way it raised questions about what they know about the world first created by George Lucas.

Episode 3, titled Destiny, is centred on the backstory of Mae and Osha (Amandla Stenberg), and shares with audience members how the twins came to be separated as well as what happened to their family to prompt Mae's quest to destroy the Jedi. But what it also did was raise questions over the Force and what it means.

In the episode it was revealed that the twins were created using the force by their mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith), who leads a coven of Force Witches. The concept of twins might not be new to the Star Wars franchise, but this notion is.

But that wasn't all, because the episode also raised questions around the Jedi Order and their methods as Masters Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss), Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo) visit the coven to test Mae and Osha's connection with the force. Osha does want to join them but Mae doesn't, and the conflict between them results in a fire breaking out in the coven and supposedly killing them all.

Given the shocks it had in store for viewers, it's no surprise that many of them shared their thoughts of the episode on X, with many praising how it brought something new and exciting to the lore.

One person shared a scene of the four Jedi who came to test Mae and Osha to try and convince them to join the Order, writing: "This scene really showed the dogmatic and frankly invasive side of the Jedi. They just showed up and stole one of their people. It was really fresh to see Jedi from this POV. They didn't feel like 'heroes' here. They forced their agenda on another culture."

Read more: The Acolyte cast hail Amandla Stenberg as an ‘amazing leading woman’

Another felt similarly, saying of the same scene: "This scene was f**king amazing. To see the jedi from a POV that isn't their own, that doesn't hide the weird morality of their actions. Spying and invading a home to 'invite' a highly impressionable child to be tested. 'The jedi don't take children'"

One viewer added: "I love love love that the witches were yet another angle on the 'Jedis are not the wholly good guys they are made out to be' front. It was so wonderfully layered."

Read more: The Acolyte review: Star Wars leaves Skywalker saga behind, and is better for it

One viewer shared a scene where Turner-Smith's Aniseya saying "the galaxy is not a place that is welcome to women like us", and wrote: "this line is so powerful within the context of the show and outside considering what so many black and poc star wars fans, more recent women, have gone through….. i teared up."

Another person shared: "Good lord, Kogonada cooked with that one. My heart was racing the entire time. Beautiful storytelling that doesn’t really let *anyone* off the hook. I constantly felt this strong push & pull between sisters, between groups, between expectations and hopes. Powerful."

One person also wrote: "I love seeing different interpretations of the Force in Star Wars and tonight delivered on it tenfold. The way the Thread was explained was such a smart nod to so many IRL cultures and how they view the unknown. I LOVE this show!"

Another shared: "Want to give a massive shout to Lesley following ep3 of #theacolyte Tantalising questions & great performances to boot +seriously impressive worldbuilding here not seen for a while. W/O spoilers think of how many future stories can be told based on just 3 episodes! Fantastic!"

One viewer celebrated the episode, by saying: "The third ep of #TheAcolyte fills in a specific narrative wish I had for Star Wars: Showing different traditions of Force users, with their own customs and interpretations and how dogmatic and downright intolerant the Jedi are in respect to this is EXACTLY what I hoped to see."

The Acolyte airs new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.