There’s no dancing around it anymore, if there was ever any point in doing so in the first place. The Star Wars sequel trilogy was not a good story, and it needs salvation from the dynamic duo that could actually save it.
It may not be anytime soon, but with the work they have done in recent years on Star Wars shows like The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars Rebels, there’s no question that Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau need to be at the head of fixing the mess that has been created by those in charge of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.
As far as Star Wars films go, the sequel trilogy is at least entertaining. Fans were more than willing to see what kind of world might be left in the post-Return of the Jedi era of Star Wars lore, but the stories in Episodes VII-IX fall painfully short.
To think, just over two years ago, the Star Wars fan base’s primary concern was J.J. Abrams ret-con-ing what they believed to be an egregious portrayal of Luke Skywalker.
As all of us have seen, it was Favreau and Filoni that redeemed that story, at least for the time being. More on Luke later.
The Star Wars sequel trilogy needs salvation. It may not happen in the next decade, but at some point, the stories that are being created on Disney+’s The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett as well as the upcoming Kenobi project are going to necessitate some serious creativity from storytellers if they are going to intertwine with the horrendous plot that unfolded in the sequels.
There are more than just five, but for the time being, let’s look at five aspects of the stories that need to be saved as soon as possible.
Help us Favreau and Filoni, you’re our only hope.
1. Finn’s character arc must be better
Let’s make something abundantly clear right out of the gates — not everything about the sequel trilogy is terrible. In fact, there are a lot of great ideas that were just fleshed out horribly. For instance, one of the absolute best ideas is the character of Finn.
Finn, a brainwashed stormtrooper who has a bout with his conscience, is one of the most interesting characters introduced in Episode VII. Needing absolutely no explanation for his inclusion in the story other than the fact that he was basically born into the rejuvenated Empire, Finn could have been one of the coolest characters in Star Wars lore.
Instead, he was diminished to a boring side role who never actually told Rey what he had been meaning to tell her. Remember that?
It’s ever-so-subtly revealed that Finn is a Force-sensitive character. It’s great that we get to discover that in the final film of the trilogy when he’s doing absolutely nothing with it.
Imagine the story of a stormtrooper turned Jedi. That could have been Finn. Instead, all we remember Finn for is the many times he screamed, “Rey!”
The duo we got: Rey and Kylo. The duo we should have got: Rey and Finn. Two nothings from absolutely nowhere who discover their force sensitivity and power at an older age. This is one element of the storyline that may never be rewritten unless they choose to do so in the near future.
John Boyega did a tremendous job with this character. Finn is cool, he’s funny, and he’s got a fascinating past. Unfortunately, he went nowhere after Episode VII.
2. Ditch the Reylo romance
The “Reylo” romance was one of the most unnecessary inclusions in the sequel trilogy.
Sure, the element of romance was missing from this trilogy if not for Rey and Kylo, and that is certainly something that was prominent in the other trilogies with Han and Leia in the original trilogy and obviously Anakin and Padmé in the prequels.
But both of those romantic storylines served the story. Rey and Kylo was fan service, and it was awful.
Rey and Kylo had great chemistry, and they had a unique connection in the force unlike any other in Star Wars lore. These two could communicate face-to-face through the Force and didn’t even need to be on the same planet to do it.
You can certainly make the kiss at the end of Episode IX make sense. Kylo just sacrificed his life to save Rey and the two obviously had a strong connection before that. However, Rey then goes ahead and takes the Skywalker name for herself at the end of the film, which makes the kiss a bit awkward, to say the least.
The sequel trilogy should have undoubtedly had a romantic interest, and it should have been between Finn and Rey.
As mentioned in the previous point, Finn’s character arc was horrendous, and the chemistry between him and Rey was absolutely there from the very beginning.
Again, what was he going to say to her that he never got to say?
No matter how many people deny it, we all know that Finn loved Rey.
The forced kiss with Kylo Ren to try and appease the masses ruined that.
3. Acknowledge other (better) lore
One of the worst things that the sequel trilogy did was ignoring the better lore that has already been put into place by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, even if it was mostly Filoni’s lore.
For example, in one of the final scenes of Episode IX, when Rey hears all of the voices from Jedi in the past, where is Ezra Bridger?
Ezra Bridger is one of the most powerful Jedi to ever live, and his existence is just completely not acknowledged in that particular scene. If you don’t buy what I’m trying to sell with Ezra Bridger being one of the most powerful Jedi to ever live, take a few minutes to read this.
Even though that scene acknowledges some deep cuts of Jedi from the past, the fact that Ezra Bridger is not in there means he was either overlooked or is not dead.
If the latter is what they were going for, how could Ezra not have played a bigger role in this part of the story? How could Ezra not have played a part in Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi order?
One way or another, the lack of Ezra Bridger here is an absolute joke, but it doesn’t end there.
Did the sequel trilogies kill Ahsoka Tano?
What do we know about Ahsoka at this point? We know that Ahsoka is getting her own series after her appearance in The Mandalorian season 2. She’s looking for Thrawn and it should be noted — the events that take place in The Mandalorian happen a very short time before the events that unfold in The Force Awakens.
Although Ahsoka would be even older than Luke Skywalker at this point, it’s very possible she could still be alive. The fact that she communicated to Rey through the Force like all of the other Jedi that had died previously indicates that J.J. Abrams and the crew in charge decided that at some point, Ahsoka actually dies, or figures out how to communicate to Rey through the force alive and, like Ezra, completely disengaged from this critical piece of the Star Wars story.
It was cool to hear Ahsoka’s voice in this moment, and it’s not the fact that the character could be dead at this point in the story. It’s that they jumped there before most of Ahsoka’s story has been written.
We haven’t even seen Ahsoka meet Luke yet, and there was nothing mentioned about her previously in the trilogy. It’s a shame that more of the lore established by Filoni and his great characters was not acknowledged with this trilogy.
4. Fix the most critical moment in the entire trilogy
For my biggest gripe yet… How could you ruin the most important moment in the entire trilogy The sequel trilogy as a whole might have been forgivable if not for this one unforgivable offense.
When Kylo Ren feels the death of Leia through the Force, he’s forced to make a critical decision about his future. As he is about to have to make this decision of whether or not to choose between good or evil, right or wrong, light and dark, he’s met by a familiar face and someone very important to him.
…Anakin Skywalker.
Oh, wait — what?
Kylo Ren didn’t get the chance to see the Force Ghost of Anakin Skywalker? The man he worshiped as Darth Vader, the one whose mission he wanted to “finish”?
No, instead, the sequel trilogy was ruined in one fell swoop by the return of Han Solo from the dead.
As great as it was to see Harrison Ford playing the role of Han one final time, it made absolutely zero sense. How was it not Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker confronting Kylo Ren in this moment?
How was it not Anakin Skywalker, the one who brings balance to the force, encouraging Ben Solo to come back to the light?
How did they get this wrong?
Instead, they chose Rey, apparently a descendant of Emperor Palpatine (make that one make sense) to hear the voice of Anakin, but why was it her? She was a Palpatine, and Ben Solo had Anakin Skywalker in his blood.
Why was Rey the one that brought back balance and not Ben? Yes, it’s fun that they were some Force Dyad (which caused Finn to be completely disregarded) but this particular moment where Ben Solo has lost absolutely everything should have been the perfect time for him to encounter his beloved grandfather, whom he never met and will never meet as long as this story stays the same.
5. Ditch the “Final Order” or change its mastermind
The Empire had fallen. It made sense that the writers would create something that came from the ground up because if there is good, there has to be evil to balance it all out, right?
As the new Empire rose from the ashes, it was absolutely fine that there was a “First Order” created by the writers but what is with the “Final” Order?
This was just a lame inclusion and way to get Emperor Palpatine back in place. Where was everyone from the Final Order hiding out all this time?
It’s clear that Favreau and Filoni are running with the idea of Palpatine having something to do with the cloning process that led to the plot of Episode IX. It made sense that Snoke was merely a puppet of Palpatine in The Last Jedi.
What doesn’t make sense? The fact that Palpatine was the one operating the whole thing.
You know who else would have likely known about the cloning experiments? You know who else would have been able to come up with the master plan of the First Order without anyone knowing he was behind it?
Thrawn, that’s who.
Why is Ahsoka trying to find him in The Mandalorian? Presumably to find Ezra Bridger, right?
There might be more to that story. Perhaps the combination of Favreau and Filoni will write Thrawn into the story as the true mastermind behind the First Order because, once again, we did not see better Star Wars lore properly acknowledged in these films.
Thrawn is one of the most intriguing characters in all of Star Wars. Had Ezra Bridger not taken him out in Rebels, he might have seen to it that the Jedi went extinct. But we know that Thrawn is not dead as of just a couple of years prior to the events that unfolded in The Force Awakens.
What has he been up to?
The fact that he wasn’t included in the sequel trilogy is not altogether surprising because many fans wouldn’t have known who he is. If only there were an introduction film to the trilogy that included an opportunity to introduce him instead of provide a bunch of nostalgic, fan service moments.
There is a lot to like about the sequel trilogy, but the more Star Wars storytelling fans get to see from Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the less acceptable the sequel trilogy is to the greater canon.