I’d make Rogue One then stop making star wars movies. Stick with the Mandalorian and develop out the world of Star Wars.
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Solo is one of my favorites just because it has all the stuff I love most about Star Wars.
But it wasn’t just Last Jedi backlash, and even for what was, the hardcore fans (whether they loved or hated TLJ) are the smallest part of the audience for a franchise like this. It dropped in May, the heavy summer season, when there was lots of new stuff and, owing to the way windows work, Jedi had only just left some multiplexes.
It didn’t get a Christmas release because Disney didn’t want it to take money away from Mary Poppins.
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The rebooted Star wars Disney trilogy felt like Abrams and Johnson duking it out to come up with the silliest plot points, and then contradicting one another.
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I don’t know what the good version of the story would look like, but I know it would’ve been written by Dave Filoni and produced by Jon Favreau.
The Mandalorian is definitely what the sequel trilogy could’ve been, in terms of writing, characterization, plot… even visuals. Can you imagine how epic a visual tale you could tell if you took Favreau’s “Volume” and ramped it up with motion-picture-level money? On a TV budget, Mandalorian already matches the visual scope of the sequel trilogy, and far surpasses the original trilogy.
On paper, The Bad Batch should be another quick-buck kids show. But they execute on every level with that show, and it’s easily my most-anticipated weekly watch now that Loki is over for the season. I mean, yeah, Omega is technically a well-worn trope and a retread of Ahsoka, but… the writing and the acting make me not even care.
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The second Filoni and/or Favreau takes over as the driving voice of theatrical Star Wars as well, the fans will turn.
See Doctor Who and Steven Moffat. He went from “he writes the best Doctor, give him the reins” to “I want him gone, this is the worst.”
See Spider-Man and Dan Slott. Fans wanted him to take over the reins. He does, and there were stories that got him death threats and calls to be fired.
It was even a little bit with Abrams for the folks who really disliked Last Jedi “Abrams needs to fix it!” The folks crying that the loudest were upset with Rise of Skywalker.
The same group who were longtime fans when the prequels debuted and hated them – some still saying that Lucas doesn’t understand Star Wars and fans know better – are cheering on Filoni, who is very much a “the source is Lucas, period” type.
So that will mix poorly at some point.
Just noting the grass is always greener nature of fandom; I like what Favs and Filoni do and have done, and wish them nothing but success.
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The Last Jedi was incredible but the trilogy’s problem is it was three movies rather than one story. It was three movies in conversation with one another.
George Lucas can’t write dialogue to save his life but the prequels never directly contradicted one another or overcorrected for the things people didn’t like about Menace or Clones. I’m not saying they aren’t still bad movies, they are, but they’re not bad for the same reasons TFA and TROS were bad.
I don’t think these films needed the George Lucas but they needed a George Lucas. Filoni’s career wasn’t headed in its current trajectory until Rian took him under his wing during TLJ. But once Disney decided to toss Lucas’ notes, they needed somebody to draw up an arc. Not JJ, god no, but a Rian Johnson or a Damon Lindelof who knows and loves these characters and isn’t going to just try to remix the Star Wars films but really bring that world forward.
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This! When you start a trilogy you should have a plan, it doesn’t look like there was one. I enjoyed all 3 sequels but they do feel more like three only generally linked movies instead of a proper trilogy.
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If you have never seen Honest Trailers version of all the prequels and sequels, it’s time…
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Look, it was only a four billion dollar franchise. Perfect for seat-of-the-pants planning!
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Okay nobody beat me up in the back alley after the show for saying this, but I did not hate Rian Johnson’s story in TLJ. There were definitely parts I didn’t like, but some of the main plot points were good elements that actually drove the story. Like, at least it was clear that he was going somewhere with it. At least it was an original storyline, one that might’ve had a genuinely interesting resolution if Johnson had been allowed to go on to do IX. But fans couldn’t handle a movie where Luke Skywalker, was, uh, * checks notes *, not the plucky young hero but instead an adult who’d made real mistakes and needed to overcome obstacles from his past in order to grow, something that is both normal for a mature, complex character to do and possible to achieve. Well, The Mouse couldn’t have all these fans foaming at the mouth so they stepped in and gave the last movie to JJ Abrams despite him having already admitted that he plans nothing and in fact would rather simply copy elements of the older movies. And Abrams came up with a story that basically swept all of Rian Johnson’s work off the desk and said “But never mind all that — look at this giant fleet of obscenely huge spaceships! Also, I’m gonna force you to confront the mental image of wrinkly ol’ Palpatine getting busy and freaky because it’s more convenient than coming up with a more original idea!” God I’m just. So tired.
(But please, nobody mistake this for hate. I’ve actually enjoyed every single Star Wars movie. I also enjoy complaining about them incessantly, like any good Star Wars fan. 
)
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I loved the original trilogy, and the changes made to it later were pointless, in my opinion. (And putting Hayden Christiansen in at the end of Return of the Jedi was extremely irritating.)
My friend and I waited in line for the first of the prequels. I never did that again. As someone said, George Lucas is a terrible writer. And I still maintain that he ignored his own canon when writing the prequels, ignoring plot points given in the original trilogy. The one thing I really liked from the prequels was Yoda in a lightsaber duel. That was great. I liked Qui-Gon and Darth Maul but they’re both dead by the end of the first movie. So overall, I hated the prequels.
When the last trilogy was announced, I was cautious. I went into the first one with low expectations. It was better than I expected it to be, but I was ticked off that Han Solo was killed off. I know Harrison Ford wasn’t interested in the role any longer, but why is it necessary for him to be dead? Grr. And I agree that they pretty much destroyed his character. I read a lot of the Star Wars novels when I was in high school, and there are so many of them that kept the characters who they were without ruining them. Maybe George Lucas should have had someone else in charge of the storyline. Then, when I found out that they were basically killing off all the original trilogy characters (Yes, I know they didn’t have a choice with Carrie Fisher.), I lost interest. I wasn’t interested in watching the new movies to see them kill off every character I loved from the original trilogy. Thanks, but no thanks. I’m done.
So basically, I’m going to continue to enjoy the original trilogy and ignore pretty much everything else.
(Oh, and yes, I’m also a Trekkie.)
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What’s SUPER insane is there’s an interview with Daisy Ridley after the trilogy completed and she admitted that she didn’t know what was going on and there was no structured plan in place.
That’s just sad and lazy! But then again, it’s Hollywood baby! 
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I’m still a fan, they weren’t perfect by far, but neither were the prequels. All still very entertaining for what they were. Mandalorian & Bad Batch I really dig, and I can’t wait for book of Boba.
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Personally, I love what they did with Luke in TLJ. That was my favorite part of the whole sequel trilogy.
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Me too! A lot of people complained but I actually think it was very in character for Luke Skywalker.
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I think the prequels suffered from being a trilogy. Phantom Menace was and is disappointing but I have come to enjoy the others due to the incredible character development and world building of the supplemental tv show and novels.
So much was going on that there was no time to get a good view of Anakin’s slide to the dark side or the horrors of civil war. The novels and tv show did that well and gave me the investment I needed to care about the conflict.
I think the three part structure isn’t the best way to showcase stories of that scope. It worked in the original because the story was really about the heroes growing into their best selves and the rebellion was just the push they needed to get them going. The tension was them struggling with the idea of redemption. Han was a selfish criminal who was redeemed through the love of a woman. Vader was a former war hero redeemed through the love of his son.
The prequels were the opposite. It was a story of how otherwise good people can become villains with the best of intentions. Love, loyalty, family, and stability are all reasons that for two films and seven seasons of the tv show people turn on their former countrymen and abandon their values.
The sequels don’t do any of that. Luke is a bad teacher so he abandons his arc. Han is a bad dad and husband so he gives up. Leia is a bad senator and the Republic is not well so she leaves it. Everyone resets to where they were in a new hope.
The new conflict is a repeat of the old conflict but the only character with any sort of growth is Poe and it only happens in TLJ. And although arguably the best film in the new series, TLJ is terrible as the center part of any trilogy. It rejected all that was set up in the Force Awakens, the characters acted unbelievably with no explanation given. The training with Luke and Ray was the high point and I feel should have taken more of the focus.
The casino planet story thread was pointless and would have been better served by an undercover mission for Rose and Fin on a first order world where you could show the human side of the war. Boy did they ever waste Finn. Poe’s little growth could be accomplished the same as they have in a million movies and the Clone Wars show. He disobeyed orders, people died in a useless victory, he deals with survivors guilt and shame.
During training Rey and Luke could discuss the and confront moral, political, and philosophical issues of the Jedi.
That said, although that would have set the characters all firmly on a path to grow it would be better to show the growth through several films. In the trilogy format either TLJ would have to be first or most of the character growth has to happen off screen and in one film that is trying to have its own story.
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