Key Takeaways
- Many fans disliked the Star Wars sequel trilogy due to vision inconsistencies & story issues.
- The new Star Wars trilogy under Simon Kinberg promises a coherent vision across three films.
- It’s uncertain if Kinberg’s trilogy will get beyond development.
Star Wars movies have hit their highs and lows over the past four decades with many filmmakers bringing their unique take on the galaxy far, far away, to varying results. Now that another Star Wars trilogy is confirmed to be in development, it looks like Disney is hoping to address one key criticism about recent Star Wars films.
The Star Wars franchise has received many criticisms over the years. Many disliked George Lucas’ prequel trilogy due to its wooden dialogue and disinteresting storylines. However, the films gained points for their visual effects which was revolutionary at the time. When Disney acquired Lucasfilm the studio wasted no time in commissioning a new trilogy of Star Wars films that would serve as a sequel to the existing six installments but, while Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens renewed some hope in the franchise, it didn’t last.
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The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Had Flaws
Disney’s plan for the sequel trilogy began by attaching three directors to the new films; J.J. Abrams, Rian Johnson, and Colin Trevorrow. While Abrams and Johnson completed their films in the trilogy (The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi), Trevorrow turned in a draft of his third film, then titled Episode IX: Duel of the Fates, but eventually left the project in 2017 after Lucasfilm was allegedly unhappy with the script. This led to Abrams re-boarding the Star Wars trilogy for the ninth film, bringing a script he wrote with Chris Terrio that became The Rise of Skywalker. However, the film was very polarizing among fans.
Among the criticisms was the fact that The Rise of Skywalker didn’t seem to align with the story set up in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi and it retconned many of the elements that had been introduced in the prior two films. One example of this was the identity of Rey, who had been persistently told she was “no one” throughout the first two films, suggesting that she may not be tied to the lineage of one of the legacy Star Wars characters. Many audiences welcomed this idea as it made Rey a powerful Jedi without relying on a connection to the Skywalker bloodline. However, in The Rise of Skywalker, this arc was altered, and it was revealed that Rey was a descendant of Emperor Palpatine, which effectively rendered her character arc up until that point redundant. This is just one of a few story issues fans had with the way The Rise of Skywalker ended the sequel trilogy, and many put these problems down to a lack of a coherent vision for the sequel trilogy.
Among the criticisms was the fact that
The Rise of Skywalker
didn’t seem to align with the story set up in
The Force Awakens
and
The Last Jedi.
The New Star Wars Trilogy Has One Key Creative
In the past week, Lucasfilm announced the development of another new Star Wars trilogy with X-Men creative Simon Kinberg attached to write and produce all three films. It’s unclear what period or story Kinberg’s movies will explore, but a promising sign for this trilogy is that it has one key creative attached to oversee the arc across three films.
With directors dropping in and out and scripts being altered after each release, it felt like the Star Wars sequel trilogy was being put together in pieces, rather than following a solid plan that was laid out from the beginning. This could be seen as the result of too many creative visionaries getting involved. While George Lucas did not direct all the original Star Wars films, he was involved heavily as a writer or in the story department on each of them. He also helmed all three of the prequel films which, while not perfect, did feel somewhat more narratively coherent than the sequel trilogy. In comparison, each of the Star Wars sequels had different writers and directors attached throughout their development, and it’s possible they may not have had much say in each other’s stories, so there’s something to be said about having one key storyteller to oversee all the films.
Will Simon Kinberg’s Star Wars Trilogy Make It to the Screen?
While it’s too early to say how Kinberg’s Star Wars trilogy will play out, the fact that Lucasfilm has appointed one creative for the whole trilogy is a promising sign the studio plans to address some of these past issues. That being said, Lucasfilm has greenlit Star Wars trilogies in this manner in the past, and plenty of them have fallen by the wayside. After The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson was in negotiations to write and direct his own trilogy of Star Wars movies, although nothing has ever transpired. Similarly, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had a Star Wars trilogy in development that never transpired.
With many Star Wars films never making it past preliminary development, it’s difficult to say whether Kinberg’s trilogy will fare any differently. If it does make it to the screen, it will be interesting to see whether a single creative vision across three films will be any more successful than the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker
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