“Impossible,” Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi declares to the rest of the Jedi Council after Qui-Gon Jinn reveals his suspicions about the Sith involvement in the plot against Naboo. “The Sith have been extinct for a millennium.”

This is an important line in “The Phantom Menace” and adds to the council’s incredulity at the idea that the Sith could have returned. The cameo of Ki-Adi-Mundi in Vernestra Rwoh’s small task force dealing with these Jedi murders says a lot about what we might be dealing with as far as the secret Sith assassins marauding the Jedi. It could say, on its face, that the Sith are not actually involved in the plot against Masters Sol, Indara, Torbin, and Kelnacca. We could learn that this dark warrior is from some other sect of red-lightsaber wielding maniacs with a grudge against the Jedi, and Ki-Adi-Mundi is correct in “The Phantom Menace” in his belief that the Sith have been out of the picture for a thousand years.

It could also suggest something all the more sinister.

What if Master Ki-Adi-Mundi did know that the Jedi are threatened by the Sith. What if they deal with the threat and Vernestra Rwoh’s team — already failing to inform the council — decide to simply keep it quiet afterwards? And for the next 100 years, Ki-Adi-Mundi keeps this secret quiet until his ignoble end on Mygeeto, a victim of the Sith’s grand plan? “The Acolyte” showrunner Leslye Headland has talked a lot about wanting to show the decay of the Jedi, and what could be more filled with rot than 100 years of lies told by Ki-Adi-Mundi?

“I see through the lies of the Jedi,” Anakin Skywalker tells Obi-Wan Kenobi after his transformation into Darth Vader. Perhaps the plan of the Sith for the last 100 years was to force the Jedi into more and more lies to cling to their power. “All who gain power are afraid to lose it,” Darth Sidious said wisely to Anakin, “even the Jedi.”

Maybe the most insidious thing about Palpatine is that he’s usually telling at least some part of the truth.