How Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy Could Have Been Better

Spoiler: one of our points includes the Knights of Ren

The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy has been under fire recently from a lot of fans. Though the films do get love, these three get criticised for their inconsistency and unfaithfulness to the universe’s lore.

Doesn’t it make you think of what could have been had this all been planned out much more concretely? Our fanatics have put their heads together and come up with ways the trilogy could have lived up to expectations. See below for all of our ideas!

Kylo turning to the light side in The Force Awakens

Granted, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo had probably the best storyline in this trilogy. Having said that, he could have broken the predictable good turns bad/bad turns good mould.

Star Wars has a track record with flipping a jedi’s allegiance in the last film of a trilogy. Darth Vader turning good in the Return of the Jedi. Anakin Skywalker turning bad in Revenge of the Sith. It was easy to guess Ren would be on the light side by the end of The Rise of Skywalker. We could have had a much more interesting and unpredictable storyline if this was tweaked.

Kylo turning good in the third act of The Force Awakens? It would’ve been a big twist for the opening film to have the villain turn good to early on. How could this be a good point? It has us questioning if he will stay good or go back to his dark ways by the end. It emphasises Ren’s unbalance and would actually have a knock on effect with the rest of the characters.

Might Rey be too trusting of him? Would Luke be too hard on him and push him back to the dark side? Could Leia be willing to do anything to keep her son by her side? Having Ren switch out a red lightsaber for blue would have given the trilogy quite a jolt to start off with.

Luke not dying in The Last Jedi

Though Luke’s death opened up the gates of Carrie Fisher’s Leia to be centre stage in the final instalment, it still felt quite rushed to say hi and bye to the character in the space of one film. Especially after 30 years of waiting to see the character again for most fans.

Had The Last Jedi ended purely with Luke returning to The Resistance to fight off Kylo and escape with everyone, it could have led to interesting developments in the third and final film.

What are his actual teaching methods with Rey? Is he still a first class pilot? Has years in hiding had an effect on how he is around people? Is he less trusting of people after Ben Solo’s fall to the dark side? There was a lot more to find out about the character since Return of the Jedi that was left unexplained.

Related Article: Biggest Star Wars Plot Holes

The biggest lightsaber battle in The Rise of Skywalker

Probably one of the biggest let downs of The Rise of Skywalker was the final confrontation. As great as it was to see Palpatine back and to see Rey having the voices of past jedi surrounding her…it wasn’t fitting for the final battle in the Skywalker Saga. No two lightsabers clashed even once.

To have Palpatine duelling both Ben and Rey could have given us something a bit more adrenaline rushing, and it would have echoed back to the battle between Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace (chronologically the first film in the saga).

We’re not asking for replicates of the final battles from any of the Prequel films, as they would be hard to top, but having Palpatine only use his electricity felt like an anti-climax for the big bad of the entire film series.

A more surprising return for Palpatine

I think it’s fair to say that as amazing as it was hearing Palpatine’s cackle in the first trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, it ruined the surprise of his reappearance. Having Palpatine back should have been something fans found out whilst in the cinema first hand.

Having maybe Rey venture into the ruins of the Death Star, lurking around, and happening upon an elderly cloaked man asking for help would have been a much more jaw dropping twist for him coming back. From there you know who he is and that he’s going to be showing his evil side at some point.

It also should have been better explained in term of how he is alive, his connection to Snoke, what he has been doing all this time etc. Some of this has been expanded on in books since the film’s release, but most fans only stick to the films, which is where most of the explaining should take place.

More appearances from the Knights of Ren

Kylo Ren’s gang of not-so-merry men were teased heavily in The Force Awakens…then no sign of them in the next film…then they were just wedged into the final film.

Before The Last Jedi‘s release, rumours circulated that they would be landing on Ach-To to fight with Luke and Rey. This was a welcomed idea by most fans. However, Rian Johnson had other ideas clearly.

There was clearly a lot of potential for the characters, with some fans also believing that some of the knights being characters we know e.g. Rose, Poe or even Keri Russell’s Zorii Bliss working as spies for The First Order. However, this band of weird helmet-wearing individuals only got one big scene. This was in the shape of their confrontation with Kylo Ren in the final film.

A scene between Luke, Han and Leia

One of the more nostalgic points on the list. Fans hoped for a scene featuring the original trio, even just once in some way. Sadly, it never came to pass.

Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, did have an idea for The Force Awakens. His idea had Luke already on Starkiller Base, disguised as a Stormtrooper (nod to A New Hope). He liked the thought of Leia being on the base also with him saving her at some point. From there, they both run to help Han but instead arrive only in time to see Kylo Ren murder him.

It makes much more sense than just Finn and Rey watching this happen, and it helps get over the fact that Chewbacca’s reaction wasn’t all that much to write home about.

Sadly, Solo was killed off in the first of the trilogy, Skywalker in the second, and Carrie Fisher’s real life death made it impossible to see any kind of real heart warming reunion between the three characters.

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Disagree with our thoughts? Have your own ideas that we missed out? Let us know in the comment section below!