How would you have fixed the Sequel Trilogy?

[adamishere1]

Title says it all, the sequel trilogy had some moments, but overall was not great..So let me know how you would have changed the films. For me it might all ready rubbish, but how I would have changed thing

Force Awakens:
Rey is not a no-one, she's Luke's daughter which is why his lightsaber reacts to her and her natural ability in the force is through training. I would have her been at the Luke's academy training and survived its destruction. To protect her Luke wiped and slightly altered her memory and left her on Jakku. The Falcon is there because he knows eventually she'll need to leave and he wants someone to be able to find her, i.e. Han and Chewie. Oh and Han and Leia are still married, Han is just doing is own thing at the moment, while helping Leia with the resistance. Han does not die, Kylo goes to use the lightsaber but something stops and merely wounds him. Finn fight Ren and gets close to beating him, before Ren cheats at which point Rey calls the lightsaber to her and surrenders to the call of the force that she has felt since she first touched the lightsaber. Beats Rens and is left wondering why she was able to do so. Then she, Han, Chewie and R2 go to find Luke. Film would end with just a voice (a familar voice to us) saying 'everything has proceeded as I have forseen it'

The Last Jedi - Luke doesn't toss the lightsaber away, he hands it back to Rey and walks away. Conflicted he agrees to re-train Rey, but doubts himself which causes her to touch the dark side and heads off to find Ren taking the Falcon with her. R2-D2 is left behind and Luke is left wondering where he went wrong again. At this point R2 plays the original 'Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi message' which reminds Luke of how he was, then a 2nd message plays but this is his father and mother recording a message to their child, how they hope for brighter future for them and they only want the best for them and hope that they will forgive for any mistakes they have made. At this point Yoda shows up and tell him that its through failure we learn to grow. This makes Luke realise he's been hiding and he takes his x-wing and goes to find the resistance. At this point I would imagine the film takes a similar path, except Snoke doesn't die he's too smart and anticipated Kylo's actions. There's a fight between Rey and Kylo which ends up with Kylo revealing he's her cousin. Rey again beats him, but asks him to help her learn more about herself and they go to join the Resistance... The Knights of Ren show up and cause chaos on the planet and its Luke arriving that brings thing to a halt. He takes on the Knights allowing the others to escape and admits his failures to them (they're all his former students). Despite best efforts the Knights over power Luke, but before they kill him, they are called our away... but with a parting of 'just like your father, and you, your daughter will be mine'. The resistance retreats.

Rise of the Skywalker:
Not sure how I'd change yet - but there would be no 'Somehow Palpatine has returned line'. It would be definitely more complex and with clues throughout the first 2 films and perhaps the 1st 3rd of this film all leading to the reveal that he's alive... 'maybe a line abut how the dark side is the pathway to many abilities that people find unnatural

[j9ac9k]

Rather than start from scratch, I'll try to work with what's there and try to be brief and narrow it down to a few things:
-- Have the main characters together for most of it. Po not even meeting Rey until the end of the second movie is weird. And Finn and Rose's stuff could literally be lifted out without affecting the main story, which is not good. They all need to be important even if Rey is the main character.
-- No Palpatine. Kylo should be the Big Bad, even if he's redeemed at the end.
-- Rey is a nobody rather than related to any main characters.
-- Show that Luke did restart the Jedi but he needed Rey to carry on and make it different than it had been so that they don't make the same mistakes moving forward.

[godisawesome]

1/2

TFA is the same, because honestly, it’s a lot more special than people will admit. And no one should ever have dropped the cgaracterizations Fo the new characters from TFA, as TLJ did; if someone can’t see that almost *literally* every major ST cast member (Rey, Finn, Kylo, Poe, Hux) was written out of character in the next film, they’re blind.

New!TLJ has:
- Rey revealed as Luke’s daughter, and they have a tense, conflict-filled relationship as he trains her, with her rage at Kylo being the most visceral threat to fall to the dark side of any Star Wars protagonist (even more so than Anakin, as Rey can be coldly ruthless towards Kylo already). There’s only upsides to that reveal, and too many disadvantages that the actual TLJ showed - namely, that LFL and the larger audience would immediately turn to Kylo if she’s not a Skywalker. In fact, I’d argue anyone who tolerates or likes TLJ disproved the supposed appeal of “Rey Random” - they pimped her out to Kylo the second they decided she wasn’t a Skywalker, and way too many hypocrites said nothing.

- Finn gets into a story with Poe against Phasma that plants seeds for a Stromtrooper Rebellion, hints that Finn might have the Force, and that Rey is attracted to Finn. Honestly, John Boyega getting screwed for not being Adam Driver was complete nonsense, and the idea of Stormtroopers rebelling actually dramatically justifies bringing them back - they’d be a reverse of the clone troopers.

- Luke’s trying to fix Jedi teachings because of Ben’s fall, but is sabotaged by the “No Attachements” thing of the Old Jedi Order - part of the story would be that he managed to become the perfect Jedi that way, and it cost him the love of his life, his daughter, and his nephew. It causes problems with Rey, since he knows she needs a father, and he knows that him not knowing about her is worsening that situation, but the feelings he feels just increase the chance of the dark side consuming him as well.

- Snoke is the last Inquisitor, and thus the last of Vader’s dark side students. He’s not actually that powerful, but is an utter master of illusion and mental attacks that make him *seem* powerful - a sort of dark side Wizard of Oz. He drove Ben Solo to madness with illusions and 24/7 mental attacks, both to gain a weapon in a scion of Skywalker and get posthumous revenge on Vader. He did likewise to the Knights of Ren, who are an assortment of other brainwashed would-be Jedi students of Luke who Kylo *does* care about in a twisted way, and who Snoke sends to hunt down our heroes as “sub-bosses.”

- Kylo, unknown to Snoke, is starting to have his madness grow beyond Snoke’s control - Kylo is seeing visions of Vader without Snoke’s prompting, for instance. Kylo ends up displacing his guilt and rage at murdering Han into blaming Snoke for it, finally getting complete Dark Side Skywalker power… but is also clearly irrational and growing worse, to the point Kylo becomes a complete split personality from a broken Ben, and takes over.

- Kylo still manages to convince Rey to help him kill Snoke and survive the (here, Force-empowered) Praetorian Guards revenge… but Rey tries to murder Kylo when the fight is over, giving into the dark side herself… only for Kylo to beat her harder than any previous hero’s loss in Star Wars, even taking her eye in revenge for the scar on his face after subduing her, and blasting her with Force Lightning. She escapes because of Finn and Luke meeting and teaming up, but while Finn drags her wounded form away, Luke has to sacrifice himself against Kylo and the Knights of Ren.

- Hux and the First Order Fleet win a major battle against the New Republic’s remnants, but don’t yet have the numbers or support to take over the entire Galaxy… so part of the subplot is Poe discovering Hux is recruiting the Hutts and former Confederate worlds, bringing in mercenaries and millions of droids, so that the final war is literally a combo of the PT and OT’s conflict.

Duel of the Fates is next…

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

I'd tweak a few characters-

I'd make Finn the central character because he has the coolest hook. Instead of making him a brainwashed orphan, I'd make him from a family of Empire loyalists. It makes his reluctance to join the Resistance more believable and makes him a foil for Kylo Ren. He has Force Echo abilities or a version of Empath abilities.

Rey wasn't a Mary sue but she was a poorly constructed character. So I'd just cut out all the mystery about her parents. She's Luke Skywalker's daughter who crash landed on Jakku a year before the Force Awakens. Her dynamic with Finn is more like Aang and Katara from the Last Airbender cartoon. She would have the ability of technopathy or photographic memory.

Poe is the least changed of the trio. I'm just gonna have him be secretly sick of the fighting and desperate to end the war by any means. So his arc is learning how to come to terms with that and growing into the next gen leader.

Kylo's birth name is gonna be changed from Ben to Bail organa solo.

Palpatine is gonna come back but as a force ghost possessing people to stay alive. Only problem is his hosts die too quickly and the Empire doesn't care about him anymore.

A tag line for this series is “Hope Endures”.

[godisawesome]

2/2

New!Duel of the Fates has:
- Rey, recovered physically from her fight with Kylo, is still suffering horribly spiritually and mentally, especially as the dark side cuts her off from interacting with Force Ghost Luke, doesn’t give her an edge against Kylo or the Knights of Ren, and has put strain on her relationship with Finn because her ruthlessness and violence remind him of Phasma and the First Order, making her even more afraid of being alone.

- Finn, definitely in love with Rey but conflicted by her new, darker nature, attempts to start the Stormtrooper Rebellion - but is opposed by Kylo’s new Bloodtroopers; Kylo’s paranoia about Hux has made him elevate troopers who *do* carry out war crimes and mass murder above other stormtroopers, and they are equipped in the red armor of the Sith Troopers from the actual films, and given each Bloodtrooper squad is given a platoon of battle droids to command. Hux tries to launch his own stormtrooper-supplied coup, which fails, and when Kylo orders the Bloodtroopers to kill the regular stormies, Finn has his uniting force to cause the Rebellion. This culminates in a mid-Hyperspace battle for control of multiple Star Destroyers, with Finn leading rebellious Stormtroopers (who decorate their armor like clone troopers) against their rivals in a brutal, costly, but ultimately triumphant struggle.

- With Snoke’s death, some of the other Knights for Ren are regaining some sanity, but still loyally serve Kylo - who has become even more mad and vindictive, wanting to punish the Galaxy for “failing his family” and “dishonoring their greatness.” Kylo makes his home in Vader’s broken castle, has a broken and repaired mask, and his tantrums have grown worse and far bloodier. He equips the Supremacy with a weaker but still formidable super laser, to begin conquering planets in brutal speed.

- Leia meets up with Lando, who it turns out, has awakened a small but dangerous network of underworld and unconventional contacts assembled by Han as “insurance” against a resurgent Empire. Leia uses this to coordinate a “reverse Endor” - they’ll take the risk of leaking a rebellion at Coruscant, only to bring in EVERYONE to try and take down the Supremacy and seize as much of the First Order fleet as possible.

- Rey ruthlessly kills a Knight of Ren and his stormtrooper back up, seemingly disgusting Finn completely against her, and in her sorrow reaches her lowest point… only for Leia to have R2 (and thus an AI picture of Fisher) send Rey a message about the pain she had forgiving Vader, and how Rey needs to want forgiveness, forgive herself, and find something that’s “”righteous” to fight for - because, with Luke’s death, “Our only hope is something more than a Jedi.”

- Rey, in an emotional scene meditates to try and let go of her anger, despair and rage, and to try connecting to Luke… but even though she manages to see and hear several Force Ghosts, she can’t find Luke because of her emotional state with him. A mysterious voice of a Force Ghost begins talking to her, mentioning that while emotion and attachment can twist the Force to the dark side, it can also bring someone back, and even grant them power they didn’t know they had… and when Finn returns to her again, she realizes the truth in the Force Ghost’s words, confesses she loves Finn, and prepares herself, however shakily, for the final battle. (The myserteous Force Ghost? He’s voiced by Hayden Christensen…) She also tries to free a captured Knight of Ren of her madness… and it works, gaining another student of Luke as an ally.

- The final battle is massive, epic assault; some of the First Order’s Star Destroyers are seized by rebelling stormtroopers at the start of the fight, while literally every type of ship form the movies and Tv shows is there to take down the Suoremacy and it’s escort fleet before it cracks open Coruscant with its super laser… but the super laser annihilates many of the capital ships, some of which sacrifice themselves to spare Coruscant. The heroes desperately launch a boarding action to seize the Supremacy’s super laser power core (which, for once, cannot be destroyed to destroy the capital ship as well.)

- While Finn, Chewie, and a bunch of rebelling Stormtroopers and Resistance heroes manage to win a mad brawl in the Supremacy’s hangar, Kylo interrupts it… and Force Freezes EVERYONE. Rey manages to free herself, and they partake in a duel surrounded by frozen explosions, blaster bolts and soldiers. Kylo still dominates the actual lightsaber duel, and Rey can’t defeat him - he even pulls the Skywalker lightsaber from her hands, and comments that he will show the Galaxy, now and forever, the true legacy of the Skywalkers, as he freezes her again and makes to stab her.

- Rey gives up physically fighting and instead concentrates on meditating as time slows while Kylo stabs at her from her using his Force Freeze ability against him as well. She manages to focus on those she loves, purges herself entirely of the dark side, and frees herself once more, now evading Kylo without a weapon. Seemingly in complete serenity, she concedes he will beat her in a physical fight - and then makes it a mental battle. It’s close… until Rey is joined by the Force Ghosts of Luke AND Anakin. With their aid, she purges Kylo of his madness, destroying him… and leaving Ben Solo broken and weeping before her.

- However, with the battle lost, the Supremacy’s captain panics and launches them into a blind Hyperspace jump… which will end in a star. In the chaos, Rey allows Ben to try and redeem himself by leading the other redeemed Knight of Ren in a sacrificial assault on the bridge while she tries to get everyone off ship. Finn actually Force Pulls her to his arms when the ships starts to break, revealing he has Force sensitivity as well. They manage to escape… but so do others…

- The end of the film is bittersweet, but mostly triumphant. Leia, again represented by an R2 hologram, briefs out heroes that while the Republic is rebuilding and the First Order is broken beyond repair, enough pieces remain and have entrenched themselves with their Hutt and Confederate Allie’s that the Galaxy will not see true peace for decades. Rey and Finn quietly agree to begin training other Jedi while also exploring their feelings for each other, trying to move past the “No Attachements” rule knowing it will be difficult. Rey also notes a key question remains unanswered: “Where is my mother?” (Yes, I’m doing a Last Airbender thing) And while Luke’s Force Ghost watches them proudly, Anakin’s Force Ghost greets a marooned a marooned and repentant Ben Solo as he and his fellow redeemed knight seek to survive a desolate, frozen planet(mirroring Rey on Jakku)…

[Jokerz79]

Leia is the Chancellor/Head of the New Republic and Luke is Head of the New Jedi Order and Leia's daughter Jaina who is his star student. Also, Lando runs the Trade Union inside the Republic which is the largest organization of Corporations in the Republic. R2 is still Luke's Droid and C3PO serves Leia much like he did Padme.

The 1st Order would be the villains but be better explained like the Remnants of the former Empire control a small part of the galaxy and are led by Thrawn by Thrawn's side is Darth Caedus who is Jacen Solo Jania's Twin. Han died on a secret mission ordered by his wife this with the secrets of his linage has turned him to the Dark Side.

On Jakku which is in 1st Order territory we find Mara Jade and her daughter Rey. Mara Jade a former force sensitive servant of Palpatine who has rejected the Sith and Jedi teachings is trying to live a quiet life keeping her daughter from agents of both the Jedi and the Sith. Believing the Jedi are too dogmatic and the Sith well are just evil. Rey is the daughter of Luke. Rey and Mara Jade encounter a Force Sensitive Stormstrooper named Finn who is trying to escape the 1st Order Finn takes a liking to Rey.

Chewie and Poe an orphan young pilot who Han took under his wing and has more than a passing interest in Jaina are smuggling weapons with their droid BB8 to the Resistance people who planets are inside the 1st Order borders. Leader of the Resistance is Ahsoka Tano.

At the end of the 1st film I would have Caedus reveal to the New Republic Vader was Anakin Skywalker this would thus cause major leadership issues for the New Republic, Jedi Order, and Resistance with Vader's Children and Padawan having leadership position in all of them and people now not trusting them due to the Vader connections.

In a second film the disabled Republic, Jedi, and Resistance while a opportunity for the 1st Order would become a problem once the Yuuzhan Vong enter the game and a 1st Order Republic Alliance is needed for survival. Also Han's secret mission would have involved this new threat of the Yuuzhan Vong.

[ChrisIII]

I think it would've helped to have a bit more variety in the designs. I mean, it's 30 years later but the X-wings and TIE fighters are basically just the OT designs with different colors and mostly small cosmetic changes to the wings mostly. Same with the A-wings, B-wings and Y-wings which showed up in the later films, although at least some of the TIEs got some variety (Although we barely see the TIE dagger in ROS).

The PT had ships that were obviously ancestors to the OT tech but still seemed fairly distinctive-ROTS's starfighters, for example, are patterned on X-wing and TIEs too but still are just different enough.


That being said I thought that TLJ at least tried a bit with the Resistance fleet, which were modeled on the classic Rebel ships but also were different enough. Ditto with some of the First Order fleet (The Dreadnought, the Mega Destroyer).

Of course the greatest design problem was the Final Order fleet. All they did was take the "Rogue One" and "Solo" ANH-style Imperial Star Destroyer CGI model, make it a big larger, give it a big canon and some red paint.

[ZeroBG82]

I'mma doing these one at a time.

TFA:

The film opens much the same way, but instead of a map to Luke, Lor San Tekka gives POE information relating to a Sith Wayfinder. FINN helps him escape, though they are shot down. Both men survive and continue into town, where they go their separate ways. Poe looking for his droid, Finn looking to escape the First Order forever. Though Poe leaves Finn his jacket. Finn stumbles across BB-8, who has befriended REY. Accosted by local ruffians who look to claim the droid on behalf of junk dealer Unkar Plutt, Rey absolutely kicks their butts with her staff and fighting moves. She's already a warrior. Finn, who desperately wants to run, is overcome with the urge to reunite BB-9 with Poe despite his urgency. The First Order attacks, but the trio manage to steal the Millenium Falcon from Unkar Plutt, with Poe flying and the other two manning the cannons for the action sequence. They escape into space and are in turn captured by Han Solo and Chewie.

We learn that Luke has been missing for years. He learned of Exegol, a secret Sith world that may have held untold dangers and arcane powers. He went searching for it, but never returned. He is believed dead by most of the galaxy. In his absence, his Jedi Academy fell into corruption and ruin, with two of his students, Snoke and Kylo Ren, falling to darkness and killing the others. Snoke has taken Kylo as his apprentice and joined the First Order, a militant offshoot of the long withered Empire. Snoke has sent Kylo to find the Wayfinder that it might lead them to Exegol and the rebirth of the Sith. The First Order is believed to be a minimal threat by the New Republic, but some along the border have realized the danger and have begun THE RESISTANCE, a rag tag military counter to the FO. Poe is an agent of Resistance leader General Leia Organa and needs to get the Wayfinder intel back to her. Han, reluctant to call Leia directly, but taking an instant liking to Rey, agrees to take the trio to a place away from the First Order where they can then go about their business and they all head to Maz Kanata's castle.

Leia was trained to be a Jedi by her brother, but laid down her sword and the Jedi path to be a mother to her son Ben. Ben went off to train with Luke, but has succumbed to darkness and become Kylo Ren, the wannabe Sith. Ren is utterly fanatical in his drive to find the Wayfinder and fulfill what he sees as his destiny to rebirth the Sith with the secrets of Exegol. The Jedi are once again believed to be extinct.

At Maz's, Rey has her fateful meeting with Anakin/Luke's lightsaber. She hears the same dialogue, but we add a single line, delivered by Hayden Christensen. "Balance has been broken, the Force calls." The FO attack and Resistance arrival plays out the same, with Kylo encountering Rey in the forest and realizing she's seen the map Poe was given. He captures her just as in the existing film. During her interrogation by Ren, she is aided by a voice she doesn't know, but which we recognize as Anakin's, who helps her deflect Ren's assault. She will be guided by Anakin's voice throughout the remainder of the film. However, even this guidance can't keep Ren from locating the map in her mind, allowing him to discover the location of the Wayfinder.

Poe, Finn, Han and Chewie meet Leia. She is troubled to learn of the map and Kylo's hunt for the Wayfinder. An important change is made here, as R2-D2 is NOT present in any of these scenes. BB-8's map is analyzed and the location of the Wayfinder is confirmed: Mustafar. The FO and the Resistance both make their way to the volcanic planet, where the final set piece takes place in a battle over and around Vader's long abandoned castle. Guided by Anakin, Rey escapes FO custody and makes her way to the castle, where she reunites with Poe and Finn. Han encounters his son and tries to bring him back to the light, but is killed by an unrepentant Ren, securing his place in the darkness. Finn locates Darth Vader's Wayfinder and destroys it. Finn and Kylo duel, just as in the current film and Finn is nearly killed before Rey intervenes. The duel plays out almost identically, but now with Anakin's voice aiding Rey, including quoting such Obi-Wan gems as "Use the Force, Rey," and "Let go, Rey." At the climax of the fight, the pair Force duel for Anakin's lightsaber, during which they both have a shared vision of Luke Skywalker. Stunned, Kylo is left open and Rey defeats him, leaving him scarred.

Kylo is enraged, but remains determined. Now convinced that Luke still lives, he returns to his quarters where we learn he has the powered down R2 in his custody. He vows that the droid will lead him to the last Jedi. Elsewhere, Rey reveals that she has had a vision of Luke and believes him to be alive. From what she saw, Leia is able to deduce a possible location for her missing brother.

[ZeroBG82]

TLJ: (1 of 2)

It's one year later. The First Order has begun a full scale attack on the New Republic. The Resistance has become the centerpiece of the response, with General Organa leading the fight. The war does not go well. Kylo Ren, under increasing pressure from his master Snoke, continues to use data retrieved from the powered down R2-D2 to attempt to locate Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi. He leads devastating attacks on worlds that may hold clues, and despite his petulant man-child behavior, his skill and power make him a dangerous foe. Poe, Finn and Rey work urgently to uncover clues from Rey's vision (at the end of TFA) and locate Luke. However, Rey hasn't heard the mysterious voice (Anakin) since the duel on Mustafar. She has become impatient, angry, and vengeful, blaming Kylo for his torture and the death of Han. This has stunted her Jedi training under Leia, who makes clear that she is performing in this role only reluctantly. She, after all, gave up the path of the Jedi because of her attachments.


As the First Order's attacks become more vicious and the New Republic's response continues to prove almost useless, Finn proposes a bold plan. Most of the FO's Stormtrooper corps is actually made up of kidnapped conscripts who were raised to be troopers at the expense of everything else. He believes that his own experience proves that this conditioning can be broken, and that some if not most of the troopers will refuse to fight for the FO if given the choice. Leia agrees to the plan to try and sway the troopers, anything will help at this point. She sends Rey along with the boys because she recognizes that Rey's training has hit a plateau. She hopes the mission will help clear Rey's mind and quiet the darkness within her.

To infiltrate the FO and make contact with the troopers, the heroes first head back to Maz Kanata's castle. While Maz puts together the data she has, she finally agrees to tell a little bit of the story of how she acquired Anakin's lightsaber. After Bespin, the lightsaber was retrieved by an agent of the Emperor. How exactly this person located the blade even Maz isn't sure. After Endor, this agent set out to murder Luke in revenge for the Emperor's death. She hunted Skywalker for years, always a step behind. Until he opened his Jedi Academy. There she finally confronted him, eager to take her revenge. Their encounter didn't go at all like the agent expected, though Maz doesn't go into further detail. Maz tells them that in order to succeed in their, they are going to need to infiltrate a facility that requires very specific credentials. Thankfully, Finn knows one Stormtrooper with what they need, Phasma. The heroes target Kylo Ren's destroyer to kidnap Phasma.

Meanwhile, Ren finally has a breakthrough in his search for Luke. His hunt brings him to Tython, an ancient world of natural beauty with a deep connection to the Force. Heroes and villains collide when Rey and Ren encounter each other yet again on Tython's surface. Ren senses the anger in her and seeks to turn her to the Dark Side. Her fear and hatred of him blinds her and leaves her vulnerable. They battle, but Kylo gains the upper hand. Before he can kill her, Anakin's lightsaber leaps from her downed hand... straight to Finn's. Finn has used the Force. However, Finn is also no match for Kylo and he knows it. But he fights on anyway. Kylo takes his hand, just as Vader once takes Luke's. But then Kylo Ren freezes in his tracks. He turns, all rage and menace and faces... Luke Skywalker, the Last Jedi. Hux and Phasma convince Ren to flee in the face of this opponent, though Ren isn't happy about it. However, the heroes manage to secure the credentials from Phasma they need to infiltrate the trooper training facility... under the watchful eye of Snoke's personal Star Destroyer and the flagship of the FO fleet.

Poe and Finn depart for the mission. Rey remains behind with Luke. Luke is much the same broken, doubt ridden man we met in the existing film. Luke has become convinced that the cycle of light and darkness and the endless war they bring to the galaxy can never be broken. That the Jedi must end just as the Sith have, for the good of everyone. Much of his feelings on this emerged from his quest for Exegol and the things he learned about the ancient wars between Jedi and Sith along the way. Ben Solo's fall was merely the last straw. If he couldn't even keep his own nephew from the darkness, then surely there is no hope? Rey wants to be trained, but Luke senses the darkness and anger in her, stemming from her mistreatment at Kylo's hand, and it only reinforces the narrative he's come to accept. The light is swallowed by the darkness, the battle between the two is corrupting and all consuming. And it must end. He will not train her. He instead shows her lessons that reinforce the balance, the neutrality of nature and the ebb and flow of the natural Force in it's unmanipulated state. He begs her to give up her quest to become a Jedi.

Elsewhere, Finn and Poe successfully slip past Snoke's ship and infiltrate the indoctrination facility. They parlay with a group of seemingly willing troopers, and Finn's own experiences connect with them on a meaningful level. But they are terrified, and their fear holds them back. They won't rise up against the FO en masse unless they can be shown that the FO can be beaten. Phasma arrives, having realized that her ID was stolen and tracked it back here. The FO lays siege to the facility and Phasma demands the Resistance fighters be turned over to her. At which point Leia and the Republic arrive, spurring a massive battle in space and on the ground. Leia leads the ground assault. Finn and Poe reunite with their Resistance/Republic allies and lead the charge, determined to show the trooper candidates that the FO isn't invincible. However, the battle turns against them. They are surrounded on all sides. There may be no way out.

Rey is furious. At Kylo. At Luke. She has all this power and can't use it to help anyone, not even herself. She rages at Luke, and it turns into a fight. Luke's green lightsaber against Anakin's blue. Luke is distraught but can't seem to get through to her. And all she's doing is reinforcing his belief that the Force shouldn't be wielded by anyone. Their fight grows more intense as each combatant fails to win the other over with words and arguments. But they are interrupted... by the spectral form of Anakin Skywalker. Anakin prods Luke to share with Rey the story of what happened when he was faced with the Emperor's vengeful assassin. Luke reluctantly shares with Rey the story of how he was forced to fight the younger woman, quickly realizing she was as much a victim of the Emperor as anyone. Refusing to kill her, Luke managed to reach her through the Force, and ultimately talked her down from her rage. Breaking down, the assassin came to realize that her hatred of Luke was born of the feeling of loss, not of the Emperor or the brutality he visited on her, but of her place in the world. But Luke shows her that the Emperor was not a mentor or a father figure, he was a brutal bully and torture master. As Anakin looks on proudly Luke concludes the story of how he brought this assassin back to the light, just as he once did his father.

It was she who revealed to him the existence of Exegol, of the threat that the Sith may still yet pose.

Kylo Ren receives an update from his data mining of R2-D2's stores.

[ZeroBG82]

TLJ: 2 of 2

Anakin attempts to impress upon Rey that the power of the light is born of forgiveness and love. Of saving people we care for or empathize with, not destroying those we fear or hate. He challenges her to forgive Kylo Ren, to rise above as he could not so many years ago. Conflicted, but determined to become a Jedi even if Luke won't acknowledge her, Rey leaves Tython. She decides to confront Kylo and force the issue. Just as in the existing film, she surrenders to Kylo Ren and is to be brought before Snoke. Ren shows her R2, telling her that this is how he found Skywalker once, and it would be how he did it again if she didn't turn. Before the audience, Kylo taunts her with her meaninglessness. Her unimportance. How even her family abandoned her, a nobody. She snaps back at him, challenging him as a coward and a monster. He HAD a family that loved him, that tried to do right by him. And he threw it away. Murdered it. It's clear that Rey is failing her trial. Snoke gleefully confirms this when she is brought before him. She will turn. She will tell them where to find Skywalker. Snoke orders Ren to kill her, but he turns his blade on Snoke instead. Ren and Rey work together to defeat Snoke's guards. She can't believe it. He saved her? Why? We see the conflict in her, the hesitation. Is this a sign of light still in Ben Solo? Was Anakin right, and she should forgive him? But Kylo reveals himself to be just a monster. Two Sith, he reminds Rey. A master and an apprentice. But now he's the master. Her rage reawakened, they clash. Her darkness burning through, overwhelming even Kylo's incredible power. On the planet, Finn senses Rey's anger. "No Rey, not like this!" he urges her, but he doesn't now if she can hear or feel him. Ren begins to realize she is going to beat him, kill him. His fear grows. The space battle outside cripples the ship, separating the two. Kylo flees, but not before Rey hatefully reminds him that she IS going to kill him. Rey moves to escape the ship, stopping to free R2 on the way.

Anakin talks with Luke. He reminds Luke that the Emperor's assassin came back to the light not because she forgave Luke, but because she forgave herself. This is the most powerful form of forgiveness, but the most difficult. The message is pointed. Luke has lost his faith, not just in the Jedi but in himself. But he can still forgive himself. Talking with his father seems to finally get through to Luke.

Hope is gone, the Resistance is about to be crushed. Surrounded by superior forces, with their potential allies all too keenly seeing their weakness, there are no cards yet to play. Until Luke Skywalker appears. How did he get here? Where did he come from? This next bit is basically what's already in the film. Luke confronts the First Order and Kylo Ren single handedly. Kylo is driven by his embarrassment at nearly dying to Rey earlier, and his own conviction that ending the Jedi is meant to be his destiny. His spectral duel with Ben gives the Resistance time to flee. The legend he inspires wins over the trooper candidates. But the strain of the action, seated on the seeing stone of Tython's ancient Jedi temple, results in Luke's death. Anakin is with his son as he passes.

Rey helps rescue the surviving Resistance fighters and they flee to regroup. Rey is deeply conflicted. She despises Kylo Ren and wants to see him dead by her hand. But Luke's sacrifice and Anakin's message of forgiveness pull at her. She and Leia have a moment of reflection on Luke's passing (the "peace and purpose" dialogue fits well here) and Leia is clearly aware that under the surface Rey is all kinds of twisted up. She vows to help Rey become a Jedi, if that's still what the younger woman wants.

Kylo Ren becomes Supreme Leader of the First Order. He reveals to Hux that R2's data has shown the existence of a second Wayfinder. He will find Exegol, he will rebirth the Sith. He will destroy everything Luke Skywalker stood for and will gain the power to kill the girl.

[ZeroBG82]

Legacy of the Force (because Rise of Skywalker is a terrible title) (Also, taking into account Carrie Fisher's passing.)

Six months have passed since the death of Luke Skywalker. Rey is completing her training under Leia. Finn is also slowly learning to use his growing power in the Force. The war with First Order continues, though with a huge chunk of the First Order trooper corps rising up against their slave masters the tide of the battle has seemingly turned. Kylo Ren has learned of the existence of the second Wayfinder and is more determined than ever to reach Exegol, the secret world of the Sith.

Princess Leia has died. Her passing shakes the foundation of the Republic's response to the First Order. Left without a teacher, Rey finds her anger rising once again. Finn senses her distress, but doesn't know how to help her. Their bond grows, but also grows more strained as she drifts further towards the dark. Leia leaves her lightsaber to Finn.

Poe and Finn capture General Hux. He almost gleefully betrays Kylo Ren and gives them details on Ren's new quest for the Wayfinder. The Resistance sets out to stop him acquiring it.

Desperate for some kind of answers, Rey returns to Maz Kanata's castle for a chat. Maz furthers the story of Anakin's lightsaber. After Luke pulled the would-be assassin back from the darkness, she shared with Luke her limited knowledge of Exegol and the Emperor's belief that so long as the planet remained secret the Sith would always achieve victory over the light. The two then began a hunt for the planet, tracking clues across the galaxy. They were hunted by assassins who worshipped the Sith and sought to keep the secrets of the dark order buried. Maz doesn't know why, but at some point they parted ways. And the woman, Mara, left the lightsaber with Maz before disappearing. Maz doesn't know where she went, but she heard that the woman was eventually killed by the same Sith secret keepers that had hunted her and Luke. The lightsaber sat in Maz's vault until Rey stumbled across it and made her fateful connection with it.

With everything pointing to Exegol, Rey joins her friends on the hunt for Kylo Ren. Finn is hesitant to bring her along, he knows her connection to the dark side grows stronger from her hate for the man. They track Ren and Phasma to Endor, where the evil duo are scouring the wreckage in search of the remains of the Emperor's throne room. Heroes and villains collide as everyone reaches the Wayfinder. Finn battles and ultimately kills Phasma, ending his feud with her. But Ren and Rey have an epic clash, her anger and his fear building to a violent crescendo. She is prepared to kill him when Finn intervenes, determined to save her from herself. Falling to darkness, Rey turns on her friend and they find themselves dueling. Ren is able to grab the Wayfinder and escape, making his way to Exegol.

Rey and Finn fight. She is completely losing herself and he has no idea how to stop her. He knows he can't defeat her. So he surrenders. He puts aside his blade and leaves himself completely vulnerable. He confesses to Rey that he has come to love her, but that if she is going to throw away everything she is in her rage at Ren then she's going to have to kill him because he will never give up on her. She moves to strike... but can't. Broken, she flees. Heartbroken, Finn and his friends are forced to leave her behind.

Kylo Ren reaches Exegol, where he encounters the disembodied spirit of the late Emperor Palpatine. Palpatine isn't truly dead, but nor is he alive. Trapped in a horrific, painful between in a desperate attempt to cling to existence. Palpatine reveals that he foresaw these events decades ago. The final victory of the Sith, led by a Skywalker Chosen One. Chosen to annihilate the light once and for all. Palpatine reveals the Final Order, a Sith Empire that he claims will rule for eternity. Promising Ren the secrets of the Sith, he adopts him as his apprentice, dubbing him Darth Finalis. Ren prepares to unleash the Final Order upon the galaxy.

Finn goes back to Maz. Can she offer him any guidance? She tells him a story. A story of Rey's past, which she tells him even Rey may not be ready to hear.

Elsewhere, a despondent and suicidal Rey is visited by the spectral form of Luke Skywalker. He was right, she tells him. The darkness is all consuming, the cycle needs to end. She can't control the darkness within her and it nearly made her murder her best friend, a man she cares deeply for. She has lost her faith, truly and completely. Luke decides to share with her the true reason he lost his faith. He traveled the galaxy with Mara, searching for Exegol. But he fell in love. He struggled with the thought of abandoning the Jedi path to be with her. The conflict within him made him realize that even he couldn't escape the same cycle of pain and attachment that doomed his father. If even he could fail, then what was the point? But he has since realized a powerful truth. Attachment is painful and can lead to darkness. But it doesn't HAVE to. Because love also guides us, pulls us back to the light. Protecting those we love is the most powerful of all lights. Like anything else, it's about what you do with the emotions. How you control them, temper them. He confesses to Rey that he loved Mara. But the conflict in him drove her away, and she left him. Or so he thought.

Now he knows the truth. The truth of why she left, the truth of why she abandoned Anakin's lightsaber to Maz. She was pregnant. Rey wasn't abandoned on Jakku, she was left for her own protection. Her mother slain by agents of the Sith. Rey is Mara's daughter. Luke's daughter. It's why Anakin aided Rey, why his lightsaber called to her. This truth changes everything. Realizing that the struggle of three generations of Skywalkers to confront the darkness isn't proof that the cycle will never end, but rather proof that the dark CAN be fought back, Rey rededicates herself to the Jedi path. Knighted by Luke and Anakin together, she senses a terrible disturbance in the Force as the Final Order is unleashed.

All our heroes race to the scene for the final battle. It's an epic struggle between the fleet of the Final Order and the Republic. Poe emerges as a leader of the Republic, his daring and bravery shining through. But it is Rey who arrives to confront the Sith menace once and for all. Rey reveals her identity to her cousin, and both Anakin and Luke challenge Ben Solo to fight the dark and return to the light. But he's too far gone. And he knows it. Increasingly desperate, he orders his ships to engage in kamikaze tactics. To slaughter the Republic at any cost. Rey fights him bravely, but struggles. Can she strike him down? With all the anger she still holds for him in her heart? The battle is made more complicated by the revelation of Palpatine's twisted remnant, perhaps the graver threat.

Finn arrives to aid her. As Rey turns on Palpatine, Finn finally faces Kylo Ren as a Jedi. Lamenting that Ben has so betrayed Leia's legacy, Finn strikes him down. Rey, Anakin and Luke turn their combined power against Palpatine's ghost. What's left of the Emperor is finally destroyed. With the head of the snake severed, the Final Order crumbles, as though Palpatine was influencing their minds by his sheer presence.

In the aftermath, the Republic begins to rebuild. Finn and Rey decide to rebuild the Jedi, together. To accept that the Jedi of old may not have all the answers, and that they can do things differently. Learn from the failures, and build something stronger.

[Xwho]

I could prefer if Maul was the main villain in the sequel's and, in his own, obtaining more with a underworld empire than Palpatine did with his empire.

[Mister Mets]

Force Awakens was fine. Last Jedi was excellent. The new cast is probably the strongest the series has ever had in terms of acting talent. There's a reason they're all working on major problems.

The major issue is that the Rise of Skywalker didn't nail the landing. One obvious complication was the death of Carrie Fisher, who was supposed to have a much bigger role, and that's something that can't be predicted in advance. But Last Jedi left the series in a place where it was hard to wrap things up in one movie, especially if they were going to reintroduce the Emperor.

The most logical fix would have been to make it two movies, with the argument that it's fine for the concluding saga to be four, rather than three movies.

They could use one film to set up the Emperor's return, with Rei's temptation and Kylo Ren going to the light side. Then one more film would end it.

It seems important for Kylo Ren to survive, because otherwise the Skywalker saga ends in a depressing way as the bloodline is wiped out.

Two more films allow for more of a story for Finn, Lando and especially Rose, who really got shafted.

[godisawesome]

Force Awakens was fine. Last Jedi was excellent. The new cast is probably the strongest the series has ever had in terms of acting talent. There's a reason they're all working on major problems.

The major issue is that the Rise of Skywalker didn't nail the landing. One obvious complication was the death of Carrie Fisher, who was supposed to have a much bigger role, and that's something that can't be predicted in advance. But Last Jedi left the series in a place where it was hard to wrap things up in one movie, especially if they were going to reintroduce the Emperor.

The most logical fix would have been to make it two movies, with the argument that it's fine for the concluding saga to be four, rather than three movies.

They could use one film to set up the Emperor's return, with Rei's temptation and Kylo Ren going to the light side. Then one more film would end it.

It seems important for Kylo Ren to survive, because otherwise the Skywalker saga ends in a depressing way as the bloodline is wiped out.

Two more films allow for more of a story for Finn, Lando and especially Rose, who really got shafted.

I think you’ve perfectly summarized the kind of follow-up The Last Jedi needs… but I’ve highlighted the stuff that I think points out that’s sort of a contradiction with the idea of The Last Jedi being a competent Star Wars films, let alone “excellent.” It ties into why I think that, ultimately, while the Luke story occupies most of the debate, any actual long-term view would show that TLJ was shafting Finn, Rey, and the Skywalker family, and any narrative cohesion by not making Rey a Skywalker when the creators, audience, and fans of TLJ itself only care about the Skywalkers. You have a great premise for someone who likes Kylo/Ben… but maybe doesn’t care about much else. And that can be fine for some people, but I genuinely think it’s a bad perspective for the larger franchise, let alone the fanbase.

Which is why TLJ was **** if we were looking anywhere beyond it - before we talk about TLJ being racist against Finn and sexist against Rey.

Like, you’ve got a solution for the out-of-left field appearance of Palpatine by giving him more time and how to give Ben Solo more time to appear and do his thing… but you’re not addressing how that hurts Anakin’s story beforehand or how that’s also totally abandoning the supposed genius of Kylo being the new Big Bad (an idea that I think TFA fans liked more than TLJ fans), how Ben Solo taking the job of male lead automatically fucks over Finn by demoting him, how Ben Solo being a Skywalker hero automatically fucks over Rey by displacing her in LFL’s plans and the audience’s attention, and how after TFA, Ben Solo is automatically a less interesting and even loathsome realization of a “Skywalker Hero” compared to Rey being a Skywalker.

I also think Rose got shafted on a concept level by Johnson in TLJ - his goal with her was not to make a good Star Wars character (any perception of that is purely a happy accident) but to make a female love interest for Finn who A) wasn’t Rey, and B) preferably able to drag Finn into the background and out of the spotlight while spouting a bunch of nonsense to gaslight the audience into forgetting TFA’s much better storyline. If he hadn’t cast Kelly Marie Tran in the role and she wasn’t clearly better than the material, we wouldn’t have to pretend that people are angry at Rose getting shafted as a character, and we could admit it’s largely performative outrage tied to defending TLJ hijacking genuine anger at Tran’s mistreatment by the same people who complained about Boyega (and who Johnson and LFL catered to on that point.

Here’s how you “fix” Rose - dump Johnson’s actual reason for the character, and free her concept from that dreck.

He wanted her to pull Finn back, so drop the idea she’s Finn’s designated boring love interest. Instead, actually have her be a scrappy mechanic wise beyond her years in a way that helps the story, have her sister’s death actually mean something, and write her like Finn was in TFA: as a humble background character who ends up evolving into a playmaker. Have her know Finn was Paige’s co-gunner (Johnson’s original idea before his desire to be bored with Rose and Finn took over) and be on his team infiltrating the First Order. Throw DJ out; he’s useless. Rose is the person sneaking their ship aboard the Supremacy with her tech no how. And the biggest thing?

Have her deactivate the Supremacy’s shields to justify why Holdo’s otherwise stupid maneuver works.

Boom. Rose matters, and isn’t a plot tool to undermine Finn anymore.

[Jokerz79]

TLJ was awful IMO.

Holdo not telling Poe her plans were dumb because the audience already knew and trusted Poe meaning a lot of us did not like her because she's been made an enemy of our boy. If it had been Admiral Ackbar a character, we knew and trusted we then would have trusted their decisions to be secretive. At the very least if you keep Holdo put a spy on the ship to justify her secrecy because she just looks idiotic as is.

Captain Phasma was wasted.

By there being no time jump it made Rey appear as a "Mary Sue" due to her lack of training and abilities this would be like Luke being near ROTJ level at the end of ANH.

Rey being a "Nobody" means nothing the Jedi Temple was full of "Nobodies". TFA asked the question who her parents are and when you ask your audience a question they deserve and answer besides nobody.

They save the "Space Horses" yet leave the kids. Talk about priorities.

If Snoke was a throw away villain than there should have been hints to a bigger bad in TFA.

I have no issue with Luke being a recluse especially if his nephew murdered his students, but Luke even thinking about hurting his nephew is a violation of his character this man thought Vader had good in him and needed saved.

Luke dying was a mistake once Carrie died and it should had been fixed in post just by having Luke not fade away.