Where do we go from here?

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'd probably do a comic series/animated series set 15 years after the sequels. It's the inverse of Rebels etc. It's enough time for a fresh slate but there's enough background for fanservice etc. But I think Ascended's 100 year time skip is a better version of this.

[Ascended]

I think a series set a few years after the sequels would be a fantastic idea, honestly. Those characters had a lot of potential when they first appeared, and I'd very much like to see a cartoon or show that can expand on them, and basically fix them after TLJ and tRoS. I know some people are looking at the prequel films with rose colored lenses but those films were f*cking horrible, yet the Clone Wars show managed to redeem them, expand on the story, and basically saved the entire era and the characters therein.

Godisawesome posted a great idea for Finn, and I'd be down with such things. But stories like that largely just fix the sequel cast.

I think there's an even greater need to fix/redeem the original cast. I grew up when the original films were the only films so maybe this is just my bias speaking, but these guys are the core of the franchise. Star Wars proved long ago that they don't need Skywalkers and Solos to tell great stories but Luke, Han, Leia....they're still the franchise keystones, the core that everything else revolves around. And given the way the sequels went I think the best way to redeem them is to show that their influence and ideals changed the galaxy long-term.

I think if the franchise went into the far future, the originals could be treated almost like saints; their lives cited as primary influences that built a better, brighter galaxy. If the examples Luke and Leia provided are still alive and well a hundred years after their deaths, if their examples helped build a better, long lasting Republic and Jedi, then the crap that happened in the sequels seem less important, small stumbles on a larger journey, and not the unsatisfying conclusion they currently are.

And because it'd fall to the sequel cast to finish building what Luke and Leia started, it makes them look better too. Everybody wins. And a century isn't so long that we couldn't see some familiar things, like Grogu or Tatooine, to help maintain some sense of consistency and continuity.

[KurtW95]

I don’t think the sequel characters could be redeemed unless the sequels were wiped away and they were changed to fit Star Wars in a way that doesn’t ruin the story.

[Ascended]

Oh I don't know about that. It's fiction, you can always write a fixer.

If we got a quality, well done story where Rey starts rebuilding a new Jedi, maybe with Luke's Force ghost to help guide her, and all the toxic Kylo crap wasn't repeated, or even mentioned again? I feel like that'd do a lot to get her back where she should be.

Same for Finn. Let the guy be the leading man he was supposed to be, pull the trigger on that Force potential he was hinted at having, have him bounce between helping Rey and helping Poe rebuild a new (new) Republic...the sequels screwed him over but that doesn't mean he's a bad character, he was just in a bad story.

It's remarkable how a little distance and a little TLC can get a character back on track.

[WebLurker]

Recategorizing the sequels elseworld stories is the only way forward. Because further content is going to be tough to enjoy if it all leads to such destruction of the characters from the OT.

Funny, that was more or less the opinion when the prequels first came out and not only did the franchise survive, but it managed to thrive and add fan favorite content in that era. Heck, they're doing just fine letting the sequels sit as is while they do other stuff until its decided to revisit the era.

Besides, scrapping the movies would be the worst decision they could make under the circumstances.

[ChrisIII]

Seems they're pretty much still building things around the sequel era, fleshing it out maybe like CLONE WARS, although they have a much bigger sandbox (30 years instead of 3). Ochii of Bestoon for instance is a major character in the current version of the Vader comic, and certain elements in Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett are hinting at things in the sequel trilogy (Luke's school, possibly Gideon's project might be related to Snoke/Palpatine).

[godisawesome]

Seems they're pretty much still building things around the sequel era, fleshing it out maybe like CLONE WARS, although they have a much bigger sandbox (30 years instead of 3). Ochii of Bestoon for instance is a major character in the current version of the Vader comic, and certain elements in Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett are hinting at things in the sequel trilogy (Luke's school, possibly Gideon's project might be related to Snoke/Palpatine).

I think they’re tentatively approaching that… but I don't think the comparison to TCW is quite applicable, at least not yet.

For one thing, I don’t know how much they want to make this “mini-era” dependent on the ST one for its central conflict - most especially in if they would really want to rescue Thrawn and other villains to being meticulously directed catspaws from a Palpatine who will have to yet again waste resources for no good reason simply to still be the Big Bad at the end of the tunnel.

For another thing… I don’t know if even LFL knows what light, perspectives and context they want the ST to have in future material, and I think that’s causing them to shy away from outright addressing it. I still think most of their office doesn’t want Finn to be important and is at a loss for what makes Rey interesting when she’s not salivating over Ben Solo like they were.

Stuff like showing Luke’s temple being built, giving a non-entity like Ochii some appearances tentatively connects to the ST…

…But I think a big reason they had Luke train Grogu and then had Grogu drop out of Luke’s school, and why there’s some heavy ambiguity about whether or not Ahsoka is really part of Luke’s order, is because they know that making concrete statements vis-a-vie that threatens fandom cohesion. I mean, Luke isn’t a complete failure anymore… but only because his two successful students can claim to not be full Jedi on a technicality. Luke’s delivering lines that seem to directly contrast his lines in TLJ just delicately enough that critics and fans of TLJ both think it supports their opinion - and now he’s gone again, and likely so soon so that they can postpone the questions some more.

I think they’re more likely to copy the old Thrawn Trilogy in regards to how it connects to the ST for the villains - where Palpatine actually doesn't’ have Thrawn as a catspaws he controls, and is even implied to be trying to undermine him to minimal effect with Thrawn unaware. And since the heroes aren’t in the ST, and Grogu especially isn’t dying for Ben Solo’s backstory… I think that would make this a distinct adventure.

[Ascended]

I think they’re tentatively approaching that… but I don't think the comparison to TCW is quite applicable, at least not yet.

Not yet, no. But I think in the broad strokes it's much the same. With the prequels, we didn't have a lot of shows featuring other characters and eras that could drop these small ideas and connections, testing the waters to see how development and changes to the prequels might flow. We just had to jump in with the Clone Wars and hope it managed to salvage the films. Which it did. But now, they can do the same thing on a slower, gradual scale and make sure each step is a step towards redeeming and rebuilding the franchise in the right way.

And it's entirely possible that they won't pull the trigger on anything, as far as the sequels go, until they've added in enough of these bit details to see where it *could* go, and how fans would handle it. Whatever they drop in the shows that fans react positively to, they'll double down on, and that may shape the post-sequel era as much as anything else. I think in this case, if nobody really has any concrete ideas for the sequel era, they might just keep filling in the blanks between RotJ and TFA, see what works, and build from there. Basically, they might not worry about fixing the sequel era until they've figured out what Ezra's story will be, or Ashoka's, or Thrawn's, or Grogu and Din's, and seen how those things could be used to enhance the sequel era.

Far as Thrawn goes...who knows what they'll do? I'd like to see a loose adaptation of the original novels, though unless they do a whole show with cgi Luke that seems unlikely. But I wouldn't be surprised if Thrawn ends up being the guy who creates the First Order. Palpatine and his clones wouldn't even have to factor into it, there's decades between when Mando happens and when the sequels take place. Thrawn could create the First Order and be defeated, leaving the Order to flounder on its own. The Republic might think, with the head cut off, the body will die....and then along comes Snoke to revive it, completely separate from Thrawn's story. Something like that might even explain why the Republic seemed so ambivalent towards the First Order. You'd think those guys would be quick to crush any Imperial remnant right? Smash them before they grow big enough to be a threat? It didn't seem to have happened in TFA, the Republic just seems to ignore the threat the Order poses until it's too late. But if we learned that the Republic acted this way because they had already dealt with Thrawn and didn't think the Order could be a problem without him, their inaction during TFA makes a little more sense.

[ChrisIII]

It's possible Thrawn won't have that much to do with the Empire or it's remnants (Such as Gideon's faction), but have his own thing going on, perhaps with the Chiss. After all, the Magistrate didn't seem to have any major Imperial trappings, although I think it was mentioned she used to help build part of the fleet.


Some of the Order's origins have already been in the Aftermath trilogy-in particular at least how Hux fits into things.

[Ascended]

Absolutely they might. I'd love to see them start building up a threat other than the Empire, actually. Any good candidates from the old canon? I vaguely recall a few but it's been so long since I read any of that stuff nothing specific sticks out.

I'm just saying, the sequels might be put on the back burner for a while while they explore and build up the post-RotJ mythos, and then use some of those ideas to develop and expand on the sequel era. Can't use Grogu in the sequel era until you know how Mando will wrap up, right?

Or maybe Fav and Filoni already know exactly what they want to do with the sequel era. Or maybe that's somebody else's job. I have no idea, it's just fun to speculate wildly.

[ChrisIII]

The Thrawn novels have been building up the Grysk.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Grysk



They're basically the Yuzzhan Vong minus some of the more bizzare aspects.

[thwhtGuardian]

I think its just one of the inherent problems with Star Wars, so much of what made the movies work was just how cool the Storm Troopers and Darth Vader looked on screen so moving beyond villains that share that aesthetic is always going to be a gamble.

[ChrisIII]

Even the Vong were introduced with a sort of Vaderish/Sith aspect in Crimson Empire 2 before the "Skeletor" look.

[godisawesome]

I think the main thing you're always going to be fighting for and against is a dark side using and lightsaber wielding badguy. Not necessarily a Sith, and you could even massively differentiate them in terms of actual substance... but someone who functionally fits the same niche as Sith.

Because the Jedi are such a central and flexible aspect of Star Wars' appeal, giving them direct rivals will always appeal more than simply giving them formidable opponents.

Now, I'd maybe try and toy with the idea of Sith successors a bit - I love the idea of all the ancient Sith temples, alchemies, and holocrons "dying" or coming undone in some fashion so that it's clear that any successor to them aren't Sith.

Like, if you just stepped up the Nightsisters as a resurgent order of dark side using Force witches who sometimes wield lightsaber or lightsaber-like weapons, or reintroduce the Jensaari or Fallanasi and then split off some members as new Force villains, I think you can make something like that work. Maybe even have these villains pull a few secrets from the dying Sith artifacts, then destroying them to ensure the power is theirs, but not the doctrine.

[ChrisIII]

Even Dryden Vos had some Sith trappings (The glowing red blades, although not quite lightsabers). Naturally, considering who his boss was.