This has got to be one of the fastest evolution videos when it comes to Star Wars characters but it does tend to show a lot in a very short time. One thing about the evolution of the characters in the Star Wars franchise is that things didn’t fully evolve until just the last two movies. Disagree if you want, it’s a right that everyone has, but throughout the prequels they attempted to change things but it could only encompass so much since the prequels had to match up to the original trilogy. By creating the origin of Anakin Skywalker and the younger version of Obi-Wan Kenobi we got to see a lot of interesting developments that led us to think about just why the actors were cast in their roles and how when it came to fitting in with the original trilogy. But the evolution was still not quite as profound as of yet when the first three chapters came out. It was more like laying a foundation for what had already come.
In The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi we’re finally treated to a serious evolution that has left many people madder than wet hens and sparking with impotent fury at the studio for daring to change things up. This is what evolution is, it’s messy, not entirely nice, and bound to upset a lot of people. But it’s also a throwback at times to what people remember since without the foundation of a franchise you can’t move forward. So yes, there will always be elements of the original characters within the films to come, if there are to be more after this current trilogy, but at this moment things are progressing far and wide beyond the original scope of the first two trilogies.
New ground is being broken and it’s being done within and without the architecture of the earlier movies. It’s time to move forward, and in an effort to evolve some things must be lost while some must be reclaimed and shown in a new way.
From the prequels to the current chapter we had Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and now Rey. It’s a messy jump from one to the next but master to student, father to son, and reluctant master to student is indeed the kind of evolution we’ve seen. There’s a big gap in the middle where you might think Yoda would be, but I’ve left that empty on purpose to show that evolution does indeed have huge gaps that are harder to explain.
Then we’ve got Han Solo, Finn, and Rose Tico. You might argue that there’s no connection between any of them and you’d be right, but they’re the secondary characters that are at different levels and aren’t quite as essential to the franchise as of yet, but show potential to be something quite special. I know that Finn is a big part of the films at this point but he’s still replaceable no matter what anyone says. He’s great in his part, but he has yet to show his own brand of evolution that includes something other than hatred for the First Order. We got to see a bit of it near the end of The Last Jedi, hopefully we’ll see more of it in the next movie.
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