Disney Investors Day really gave us a lot to think about. If their Marvel announcements didn’t get you excited enough, they sure surprised us with Star Wars. I mean, let’s be honest, how many enthusiastic Star Wars fans are out there? Other than The Mandalorian (second season has been awesome so far), Star Wars has been on a slump. That’s putting it lightly, as very many Star Wars fans are no longer excited to see anymore Star Wars movies. Boy, doesn’t that make you sad? I remember when I was a youngster during that time, the Star Wars fanbase was never so toxic. Nowadays, it seems hard to be a Star Wars fan without getting into a nerd rage debate with another Star Wars fan.
Hey, some people like the prequels more, some like the new trilogy more. Either way, Star Wars fans will battle on the internet like there’s no tomorrow. I won’t lie, I’ve done it. It’s possible to have a debate without nerd raging, but when it comes to Star Wars, it’s almost impossible. But you know what? It’s kind of fun, depending on who you debate with. At the end of the day, however, we’re all still Star Wars fans and we all want the same thing. That “same thing” is more great Star Wars movies.
We have seriously been lacking in some good Star Wars movies lately and that’s why this newly announced slate is so important. For me, it didn’t really get me as excited as I wished. I’d say the slate overall makes me more curious than anything. What stood out to me about it most was that all of the movies/shows that were announced took place long before the new trilogy. Is that really a bad thing? Not exactly, but it does make me ask some questions.
Does Disney/Lucasfilm intend on expanding the sequel trilogy? After the poor reception of the Rise of Skywalker, I wouldn’t be surprised. The movie wasn’t that good and it barely made enough money to break even. And if were being frank, none of the new characters had the same impact on fans as the characters from the original trilogy. Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure many of the characters from the prequels were more liked than the new characters. Many people like Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, Count Dooku, and General Grievous, but how many people like Rey, Poe Dameron, and Finn that much?
The answer is really no one. In my opinion, Poe Dameron was a fine character, but he was too much of just Luke Skywalker in the form of Oscar Isaac. He was a very good pilot who kept telling people to never lose hope and fight on. Seriously, is that not how Luke was in the beginning?! Speaking of Oscar Isaac, he’s a busy guy and it seems like he’s moved on from Star Wars. I mean, the guy will be Moon Knight and Solid Snake soon, so he has his hands full for future projects. He was good as Poe Dameron, but the character himself had nothing unique about him.
As for Finn, he was one of the most wasted characters in the whole trilogy, if not the most wasted. First it was implied that he was force sensitive, then Kylo Ren cut his spine with his lightsaber, and then The Last Jedi happened. He was walking normally like his spine wasn’t cut by a lightsaber, and then he went on a useless journey with Rose (lamest character in the sequels) to that casino planet. He really didn’t do anything much more significant in Rise of Skywalker. Colin Trevorrow had a much better plan for him, but after he left, J.J. Abrams just turned him into Rey’s sidekick. Such a sad waste of potential.
It’s sad that Finn probably won’t get the proper story he could’ve had. After John Boyega recently came out and pretty much slammed Disney’s poor use of the character, it’s very safe to assume that he’s not interested in returning to Star Wars. Can we really blame him? Based on what he said, it sounds like he was really done dirty. Honest to say, we probably don’t need more Finn stories anyway.
Now as for Rey, I’ve argued before that she can be much better developed. Imagine if she had another movie where more people discover that she’s a Palpatine? Most of the galaxy will be gunning for her and she’ll be on her own. I imagine it as The Fugitive meets Star Wars. Plus, she can finally use that yellow lightsaber. It sounds like a movie we’ll see twenty years from now, but after hearing the new planned movie slate, it seems that Lucasfilm is done with her. For now, we have to assume that she’ll live as a farmer on Tatooine with BB-8 to keep her company. Such an anti-climactic ending.
What the new movie slate tells me is that Star Wars is moving backwards, but that’s not really a bad thing. We Star Wars fans like those old days when the Empire was still ruling the galaxy or when Obi-Wan was still Ewan McGregor. I sorry, but I’m so stoked for that show. And Hayden Christensen coming back as Darth Vader? The little kid in me is going nuts!
The biggest downside to this is the lack of originality. What makes The Mandalorian so great is that Mando is a character that we’ve never seen before. When they introduced him and characters like Cara Dune and Baby Yoda, they were expanding the universe. Heck, they even brought back characters like Ahsoka Tano and Boba Fett and made great use of them. Adding more original characters expands the universe of Star Wars and they shouldn’t rely on flexing the old characters so much because the fans like them.
However, since The Mandalorian continued the stories of Ahsoka and Boba Fett, I feel like their characters are being better developed. Ahsoka is now a grown adult and a wiser Jedi. Her show will be super fun and I can’t wait for her confrontation with Grand Admiral Thrawn. That’s why I have hope for shows like the Obi-Wan and Ahsoka show. Other than seeing Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan again, the show is a chance to expand his character with a writer who isn’t George Lucas. Okay, I love George, but c’mon, that dialogue didn’t do Obi-Wan any favors. Even a character like Cassian Andor can now have the chance to be more explored with his own show. Yes, we’ve seen him before, but he’ll be on a new adventure with new characters and he can be further developed than he was in Rogue One.
This new movie slate speaks volumes to me in a good way. I think Disney and Lucasfilm learned their lesson after going with that poorly planned sequel trilogy. They want to go back to what works, while throwing in some new material into the mix. Maybe now they can win back some of that loyal fan base.
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