How the Star Wars sequel trilogy wasted its potential

Now that Disney has decided to drop some Star Wars projects that people will actually care about—Obi-Wan Kenobi—it seems that they are starting to give fans the content that they truly desire in the space opera’s lore. However, Disney has done plenty of damage to the saga that almost seems irreparable.

That damage mainly consisted of the sequels to George Lucas’ lucrative franchise. What began with such promise was ultimately spoiled by Disney’s bloodlust for money and their ability to milk a franchise to death.

What was it that made the Star Wars sequels more detestable than the divisive prequels?

The Star Wars sequel trilogy gave fans characters nobody cared about

The worst part of the sequels is that they introduce new characters that brim with dull characterizations and lack any type of new personality. Rey and Finn had a lot of potential in their introductions but they seem more unmemorable than anything. First of all, Rey is a totally wasted character.

When audiences are first introduced to her, she is a scavenger living on the planet Jakku and as the series progresses, fans are given hints at who her family might be and where she came from. However, in the dreadful The Rise of Skywalker, all of that seems to be abandoned for a half-baked ending that never amounts to anything in her character arc.

Finn’s case may be worse, as the filmmakers attempt to use a plethora of different elements to sew up Finn’s character that only end up scrambling and colliding into one another haphazardly. The point is that the sequels fail to drive good character development in their players and, as a result, they fail to instill any sort of resonance in the fans.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy rehashed the original movies

Since Disney decided to ride the Star Wars express, it seemed more than obvious that they would try to emulate the original films, as that worked so well in the past before. However, while they still made box-office fortunes, the films took so many elements of the originals that they often look more like copycat rip-offs rather than authentic sequels that could stand on their own.

They use the same beats, follow the same rhythm and abide by some of the similar motifs of the originals to the point that they fall flat on their faces. Each of them do that in their own way with Rey acting as the sequel trilogy’s Luke Skywalker. At this point in time, Luke seems more like the retired, drunk uncle that stopped caring about the world and passed it onto the young whipper-snapper that happened to be Rey.

Disappointingly, her hero fails to attain the same level of astonishment that Mark Hamill first brought to screen and she comes off as second fiddle to a cast of superior veterans that did the same thing already but better.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy tried to use nostalgia to get by

A common theme in the sequels is that they will use characters and allusions from previous Star Wars films. On paper, it sounds like a good idea but it just undercuts the legacy of the originals by cramming in nostalgic Easter eggs and doing nothing with previous tropes from the franchise.

The sequels even tried to use old lines from other movies to attempt to capture a twinge of nostalgia that just comes across as second-rate. They could have been great if the characters from the originals were utilized to a better degree, but it falls flat in every other aspect.

It’s time to reboot Star Wars again and maybe the next trilogy will be better.

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