Disney has kicked off its Star Wars Day celebrations early with the release of a new trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte – and one key detail has particularly delighted fans.
The Disney Plus teaser, which was released on Star Wars' Korean language social media channels last Saturday (April 27), is primarily made up of footage we've seen before. Indeed, the 45-second trailer, which is interspersed with Korean star Lee Jung-sae promoting the show ahead of its June 4 launch on Disney Plus, mostly comprises scenes that featured in Star Wars: The Acolyte's ominous first trailer.
There are, though, brief snippets of new sequences amid the teaser's familiar footage – and there's one specific blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, concerning the return of a fan-favorite species from Star Wars' prequel movies, that has got fans talking.
At the 0:09 mark, we see Jung-sae's character – the Jedi Master known as Sol – use his mind-trick ability on none other than a Neimoidian. This alien species, which played a prominent role in the prequel film trilogy, has largely been absent from live-action and animated Star Wars projects since the latter's May 2005 debut. Pleasingly, though, they're set to make a long-overdue return in the first of many new Star Wars shows and movies that'll arrive on small and big screens in 2024 and beyond.
The Acolyte is just over one month away (at the time of writing) from debuting on one of the world's best streaming services, so we can expect to see and hear more about it as its marketing campaign ramps up. And, with Star Wars Day right around the corner, plus the appearance of its cast at CCXP Mexico between May 2 and 5, I'm expecting a new full-length trailer to drop online in the coming days.
The Neimoidians' Star Wars history explained
For the uninitiated, the Neimoidians are a humanoid species who, unsurprisingly, hail from the planet Neimoidia. Originally discovered by explorers from Duros, Neimoidia was colonized by this galaxy-traversing race and eventually became an ally of Duro.
Unlike their Duro settlers, the Neimoidians spurned galactic colonization in favor of pursuing vast fortunes. Initially, they began by slowly seizing control of nearby planets – collectively known as Purse Worlds – before, 3,000 years later, becoming a vital cog in the Galactic Republic's machine.
Taking advantage of the Galactic Republic's decline centuries after they joined, the Neimoidians were instrumental in founding the Trade Federation, an interstellar megacorporation in the year 350 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin, aka the main fight that takes place in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope's third act). In time, the Trade Federation found itself locked in socio-political and military conflicts with the Republic – confrontations that established The Trade Federation as the primary antagonists of Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode 2: The Clone Wars. For more details on those movies, read our guide on how to watch the Star Wars movies in order.
With The Acolyte set around 100 years before Star Wars Episode 1, i.e. during the High Republic era – here are 10 things you need to know about the High Republic before The Acolyte arrives – we should get background on the Neimoidians. Not only that, but we might learn more about their rise to prominence, power struggle with the Republic (and the Jedi), and new information on their culture and ethics. Oh, and let's not forget that The Acolyte will also show us how the Sith infiltrated the Jedi, as another of its stars, Dafne Keen, exclusively told me in November 2022.
