The Star Wars sequel trilogy struggled with identity, alternating between nostalgia and attempts to subvert it. The Force Awakens leaned on nostalgic replication, The Last Jedi aimed to dismantle nostalgia, and The Rise of Skywalker attempted to reassemble nostalgia hurriedly. Those shifts produced a messy, divisive outcome that left Disney with limited spin-off opportunities. Key sequel characters proved largely forgettable compared with original-era icons, reducing prospects for successful Disney+ series or standalone films. George Lucas's original and prequel eras produced more distinct, enduring characters and clearer avenues for extensions and spin-offs.
The problem with the post-Lucas films is that they never quite decided what they wanted to be. The Force Awakens tried nostalgia cosplay. The Last Jedi tried to set fire to nostalgia cosplay. The Rise of Skywalker then tried to urgently stitch nostalgia back together again. The result was messy, divisive, and crucially for Disney almost impossible to spin off.
Because before the actor's comments in a new interview with Variety, it was quite possible to forget that the sequel trilogy ever existed. Was The Force Awakens really a film, or just two hours of Disney rummaging through George Lucas's recycling bin? Did The Last Jedi split the fanbase so violently that Brexit looked like a parking dispute? And could The Rise of Skywalker really have stunk that badly?
When all's said and done, and six years after JJ Abrams's final instalment vanished down the memory hole with all the grace of Jar Jar Binks attempting parkour, this most dysfunctional and directionless of trilogies really does seem to have fewer memorable characters primed for Disney+ spin-offs or standalone movies than the Mos Eisley cantina band's roadie crew.
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