News has broken about the rumored plans for Star Wars: Episode X, which is meant to kick off a new era for the franchise. A lot is riding on this installment after the reception to the previous three episodes from the late 2010s. Fans had waited a decade for a new movie and they finally got one with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It made over $2 billion and was well-received by critics and most fans. However, 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, while a hit with critics and at the box office, was loathed by longtime fans.
The film was so disliked that people are still writing about why they hate it over a decade later. Disney reacted to this response and changed course for 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, resulting in a movie that almost nobody seemed to enjoy, while also going against the story that had been established to that point. The end result was a messy trilogy and it soured a lot of people on the franchise. The TV side of things has been strong for Star Wars but the movies need work. These upcoming films must avoid the problems from the sequel trilogy.
With Star Wars, there is almost always going to be a desire for nostalgia. Far too many people grew up with the franchise and hold so many elements near and dear for that not to be the case. However, the sequel trilogy relied too much on this often, even going as far as to have the main story feel similar to the original trilogy. The new films need to avoid this, as grounding yourself in nostalgia only causes problems.
Reminding people of what they love often just makes them want the past and causes them to overlook or ignore the present. It’s hard to truly care about new characters and stories when you’re still so focused on the past. Nostalgia also plays into another problem the franchise has in that everything tends to connect, which just makes the universe feel significantly smaller.
As noted, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker made some changes to what was being set up as part of a knee-jerk reaction to fan reception. One of those was to bring back Emperor Palpatine, even though the notorious villain had been dead since Return of the Jedi. Bringing him back felt cheap and sort of lessened the impact of Darth Vader turning on him and earning his redemption. These sequel movies need to avoid going against what we know to be true.
Another retcon came when we learned that Rey’s parents were nobody of note. It played into the idea that anyone can be special and didn’t need a notable lineage to be that way. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker decided to change that and reveal that she was Palpatine’s granddaughter, which took away a lot of intrigue from her character. Things like this are crucial to avoid the next time around.
One of the biggest problems of the Star Wars sequel trilogy was that they’d set up interesting side characters and then toss them aside, kill them off early, or just neglect them entirely. Rose Tico was clearly set up to do more in the third film but fan backlash led to her role being reduced to little more than a cameo. Captain Phasma had a cool look and should’ve been a great secondary antagonist of sorts, yet she gets killed off with relative ease and doesn’t make an impact on the overall story.
There were tons of theories about Supreme Leader Snoke after Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only for him to also get killed earlier than expected. A twist like that could work if something more interesting was set up to replace him but that wasn’t the case. There was also Zorii Bliss, General Hux, and the Knights of Ren. Going beyond side characters, Finn’s arc is especially disappointing and frustrating.
The relationship between Luke, Han, and Leia is a pivotal piece to the franchise’s success. Even though they were kept apart for stretches of the original trilogy, you understood their bond and when they came together, it was always a highlight. The sequel trilogy’s main three characters were Rey, Finn, and Poe, yet they never truly established a relationship between the three of them. Finn is close to bothPoe and Rey, but Poe and Rey don’t really interact.
We finally see them together in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but by then it’s too late and they don’t even share the screen all that much. The small scenes we get of them are great, so not giving us more is a huge missed opportunity. The talk about the upcoming film is that it’ll see Rey mentor two main characters, so that relationship needs to be showcased, developed, and fleshed out.
The biggest issue with the sequel trilogy is how inconsistent it is. At no point does it ever feel like a cohesive story across three movies. It’s as if J.J. Abrams had a vision for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only for Rian Johnson to kind of do his own thing for The Last Jedi, which then got totally changed around due to audience reception. They only caused more problems and hurt the trilogy rather than help it.
The upcoming films need to make sure that a full story across three movies is properly mapped out. Even if it’s something that longtime Star Wars fans don’t like, the filmmakers need to stick to the plan. Retconning or randomly changing things would put them right back in the mess they’re in now. The Mandalorian and Grogu proved that even popular characters like them aren’t guaranteed to hit at the box office, so Star Wars can’t afford these mistakes with their new movies.
What do you want to see from Star Wars: Episode X? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
