Few fandoms have been more polarized than followers ofStar Wars, especially in the wake of Disney’s acquisition and the culmination of the Skywalker Saga. With the final film of the sequel trilogy,The Rise of Skywalker, a rather empty feeling set in. However, as is always the case in the world of Star Wars, there is hope. Rey (Daisy Ridley), the foremost star of the sequel trilogy, will continue in a project bearing the placeholder nameNew Jedi Order. After aseries of setbacks,New Jedi Orderhasfound a new writerand is inching closer to production.
With directorSharmeen Obaid-Chinoyattached,the movie is said to take place many years afterEpisode XI, likely following Rey as she trains a new generation of Jedi. Plot details are scarce, meaning we don’t know what supporting characters and incoming foes to expect. What’s clear is that Rey,New Jedi Order, and the entireStar Warsfranchise have the opportunity to finallybreak free of the Skywalker Sagaand do something truly fresh.
Where Did the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Go Wrong?
One ofthe sequel trilogy’s most glaring faultsarrived in its final entry,The Rise of Skywalker.“Somehow, Palpatine returned,” Poe (Oscar Isaac) proclaimed to a gathered group of allies early in the film. Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has made himself known throughout the galaxy, essentially announcing his return, which we’ll soon discover was achieved through a series of cloning and an eternal existence of the Sith that’s never explained in-depth. This wasn’t the only difficult pill to swallow, but it delivered an exhausting final blow for anyone hoping the end of the sequel trilogy would wrap things up in a refreshing way.The Force Awakens, despite offering plenty of enjoyment, set the stage for rehashing the original trilogy at a steady pace.
Return of the Jedishowcased the fall of the Galactic Empire, but a strikingly similar power — the First Order — would be well established by the time ofThe Force Awakens. They even unveiled Starkiller Base, a planet-sized recreation of the Death Star, promptly wiping out a significant portion of the New Republic. Enter: Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), back to their vagabond ways, pausing upon their Millennium Falcon entrance, as if holding for a sitcom-like audience applause. As you know, Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) soon follow, butthe trio is never unitedas a whole.
Palpatine Was Right All Along — Yoda Totally Blew It
“Your arrogance blinds you, Master Yoda.”
So it’s not just the resurrection of a key character after he met such a well-earned end that made it sting; it’s what that symbolizes for the franchise — a nearly beat-by-beat adherence to the original trilogy’s framework.The over-reliance onnostalgia and callbackshas manifested as a heavy burden, rather than a few fun Easter eggs. When new leaps are taken, they’re apologized for and swiftly swept under the rug, with the disconnect betweenThe Last JediandThe Rise of Skywalkerbeing the best representation of this. There’s room to be more than merelyscathing and critical, though. Now we can get into what’s worked under Disney’s reign ofStar Wars, what should be appreciated and explored further, and where the franchise can go from here.
With the Skywalker Saga Finished, We Can Move On From Its Blueprint
The Skywalker Saga bookended Rey’s story with her declaring herself a Skywalker. After being asked for her full name, she gazes upon the Force Ghosts of Luke and Leia and decides to take on their surname, even though she has no ties to the family. They werealmost doing somethinginThe Last Jedi. With Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) telling Rey that she’s no one special — not a Skywalker, not a Kenobi, nobody — writer and directorRian Johnsonoffered Rey the opportunity to represent any of us. She’s just a person. That could have been gold, allowing Rey to embody the hope that any person, even a “commoner,” can tune in to The Force and withstand evil.Instead, she was retroactively made into aPalpatine by bloodand a Skywalker by choice.
Does Rey’s upcomingNew Jedi Ordermovie need to retcon all of this? No. But it can (and must) move on from this. It must significantly cut ties with the Skywalker Saga and allow Rey to explore new aspects of the Star Wars universe. Many encouraging aspects of the sequel trilogy were minimally mined or abandoned outright. Finn (John Boyega), a Stormtrooper turned Force-sensitive defector, was largely sidelined afterThe Force Awakens, and Rey’s struggle with the dark side veered into her fully representing the entirety of the Jedi by the end. If Rey enters uncharted Jedi territory in the future, perhaps a “gray” side of the Force could finally emerge.The binary nature of light versus dark is as limiting as it is overdone. Most people are not all good or all bad.Theordinary people of theStar Warsuniversecan put this on display while adding a refreshing break from the familiar and frequently rehashed core.
‘Skeleton Crew’ and ‘The Acolyte’ Proved That a New Model Can Work
The Acolytemay have been canceled after facingexhaustive critical discourse, but theincredibly high ratingscan’t be overlooked, and it was set long before the Skywalker Saga.Skeleton Crewtook a similar approach with an entirely new set of everyday people, and they didn’t even need to take place long before or after any of the movies. Set during theNew Republic Era,Skeleton Crewsits between the original trilogy and the sequels. Even the movies and series that incorporated, expanded upon, or held closely to the Skywalker Saga (Rogue One,Andor,The Mandalorian,and its offshoots) found their greatest successes when they zeroed in onnew characters and narratives. With Rey as theNew Jedi Orderfigurehead, everyone will still get their Force and lightsaber fixes. No one’s here to deny that these iconic elements are essential for Star Wars.But the rest of the galaxy has a story worth telling, too.
Star Wars: New Jedi Order
