Lucasfilm’s ongoing reexamination of the Force has found a new venue, and it is not a soundstage. Marvel’s “Star Wars: The Fall of Kylo Ren,” written by Charles Soule, has given the Knights of Ren a vocabulary of their own for both sides of the Force, nudging the franchise further from the clean light-versus-dark binary that has defined it for nearly half a century.
In the comic, the Knights call the light side “The Shine.” The term pairs with “The Shadow,” their name for the dark side, which Soule established in an earlier installment featuring the group. A third word surfaces in “The Fall of Kylo Ren #3,” where the Knights label someone “Radiant,” apparently their designation for a Force-sensitive individual.
The series occupies narrative territory the films left almost entirely untouched: the span between Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019), when Ben Solo (Adam Driver) and his masked enforcers were operating offscreen. On film, the Knights functioned chiefly as atmosphere, appearing in the rain, following commands, and meeting their end at Ben Solo’s hand on Exegol. The comic proposes that they held a belief system worth naming, one independent of both the Jedi Order and the Sith.
For longtime observers of the franchise, the move carries an echo. Two years ago, The Acolyte attempted something comparable on a much larger stage. Created by Leslye Headland for Disney+ and set about a century before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), near the close of the High Republic era, the 2024 series introduced a coven of Force witches on Brendok under Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith).
The coven described the Force as “the Thread,” a single strand to be pulled, woven, and shared by those connected to it, rather than a power divided into opposing halves. Within the show, the Jedi received the notion with curiosity rather than contempt, treating it as a parallel tradition examining the same power.
Off-screen, the reception was less generous. A vocal segment of the audience argued that The Acolyte was revising established lore, and the Thread was frequently cited alongside objections to the coven’s apparent ability to create life through the Force and to the series’ portrayal of the Jedi. The argument persisted throughout the show’s run, and in August 2024, Lucasfilm announced that The Acolyte would not return for a second season, leaving its final cliffhangers unresolved. A further connection has since come to light, with confirmation that Qimir (Manny Jacinto) was, in effect, the first Knight of Ren.
That lineage makes the comic’s approach all the more notable. “The Shine” and “The Shadow,” like the Thread, are framed as one faction’s interpretation, not a revision of how the franchise itself defines the Force. What differs is the platform. A comic book invites far less scrutiny than a flagship live-action series, giving Lucasfilm room to expand its mythology with considerably less exposure.
The studio’s interest in the subject shows no sign of fading. Ahsoka Season 2 is positioned as the next major live-action project to take up the nature of the Force, with Dave Filoni, who now serves as Lucasfilm’s President and Chief Creative Officer, indicating that the season will delve into the mythology of the Mortis Gods. The Father, the Son, and the Daughter were first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
The most ambitious treatment of the topic, however, remains in limbo. At Star Wars Celebration London in April 2023, Lucasfilm announced that James Mangold would direct a feature set at the dawn of the Jedi, some 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga, chronicling the discovery of the Force. The film remains officially on the slate but has seemingly been paused indefinitely, without a production start, cast, or release date. Were it to move forward, it would be the first Star Wars story positioned to explain the Force’s origins, and with them, the roots of the very terms “light side” and “dark side.”
Until then, the clearest new window into the Force comes from the Knights of Ren themselves. “The Fall of Kylo Ren” is available now at comic book shops and digital retailers, while the larger answers may depend on Ahsoka Season 2 or the eventual return of Mangold’s long-dormant project.
How do you feel about this new lore being introduced? Let us know in the comments down below!
