A series of publishing announcements by Star Wars has added a new tie-in to Star Wars: The Acolyte featuring the fan-favorite characters Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett) and Jecki Lon (Dafne Keen), and it’s already retconning a small part of their Star Wars story. After The Acolyte premiered its first two episodes, Yord and Jecki quickly raised their very own fanbases, with the former being deemed the Yord Horde and the latter earning the name Jecki Jam. The swift deaths of these characters in The Acolyte episode 5 were thus incredibly shocking, but their Star Wars story isn’t over yet.
During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Star Wars announced a new young adult novel that will focus on Yord and Jecki years before The Acolyte takes place. Written by Tessa Gratton, who has also written for the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative, this story will follow the two beloved characters through a Padawan ritual gone wrong. The two Padawans, who already struggle to get along, will have to work together to save their friends – thus resulting in what’s technically an unexpected mission. Check out the novel’s synopsis and other details below.
While their Jedi Masters clean up a political mess left behind by one of their own, Jedi Padawan Jecki and her least favorite fellow Padawan Yord are drawn into a planet-wide coming-of-age ritual as featured guests. The first ritual goes well, but when the final event is interrupted, Jecki and Yord will have to use all of their abilities and work together to keep each other–and their new friends–safe from danger.
The Mission To Find Mae Wasn’t Technically Jecki’s First
This Book Retcons Jecki’s First Mission
Despite The Acolyte mentioning that the mission to find Mae (Amandla Stenberg) with Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae), Yord, and the other Jedi was Jecki’s very first, this book’s brief description alone proves otherwise. Though it seems this “mission” Jecki will be going on with Yord is more an accident than anything else, it will clearly turn into a mission by the time things are all said and done. If Jecki and Yord really have to work together to keep their friends safe, then it can certainly be called a mission, despite whatever initial intent was behind it.
This is a good retcon, as it will fix some of the confusion surrounding the fact that Jecki was eighteen years old and only just embarking on her first mission as a Padawan. It will also establish how Jecki knows Yord, given how reluctant she seemed to be to work with him at first in The Acolyte. Interestingly, however, it will show Yord as a Padawan with Jecki, which is quite different from Yord being a newly polished Jedi Knight in The Acolyte – though it will surely only enrich the context.
Above all, this story will be the solace that members of the Yord Horde and Jecki Jam need to recover from the characters’ brutal deaths in The Acolyte. These two fan-favorite characters have already made for a hilarious and charismatic duo, which makes the idea of a story set on them and their reluctant team-up even more appealing. This small retcon will also make things about Jecki much clearer, but will, on a sadder note, likely make her and Yord’s fates in The Acolyte even more tragic.