The Star Wars franchise is currently entering uncharted territory in the wake of the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, which ended with The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. Previously dominated by the sequel trilogy, the Disney era has now shifted focus to television, with shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor.
Disney’s ownership of the franchise began over a decade ago at this point, but it officially got going with the release of the highly anticipated Episode VII, The Force Awakens, in December 2015. Since then, the newest trilogy has received a fair amount of attention and criticism from certain corners of the Star Wars fandom, with the middle installment proving to be the most divisive. Meanwhile, many of the shows released on Disney+ have largely been greeted better than most of the recent films. Despite that, looking back, The Force Awakens is still the best story in the franchise of the Disney era.
As stated, The Force Awakens was eagerly anticipated by audiences, particularly as it was the sequel to Return of the Jedi after more than 30 years. It was the franchise's promise to return to a story and aesthetic more akin to the original trilogy. All things considered, The Force Awakens managed to dodge many of the potential challenges that come with that level of excitement in the build up. JJ Abrams’ film received a 93% critics score and an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it largely avoided the discourse and drama that its sequel, The Last Jedi, would later be afflicted by.
Quite frankly, that The Force Awakens was received relatively well upon release is a huge achievement for the franchise, such is the divide in the fandom in its current state. Yes, some fans pointed out the similarities between Episode VII and A New Hope, particularly with a central droid character and the central planet killing weapon at the center of the bad guys’ plan. Although those criticisms have grown in recent years, that didn’t seem to impact the overall public opinion upon release.
The story is certainly similar to A New Hope, but that doesn’t make it bad, nor does it make Episode VII unoriginal. Star Wars has always had a tradition of repetition, which is exemplified by George Lucas’ famous quote saying that his franchise is “like poetry [because] it rhymes” Return of the Jedi features essentially the exact same set piece as the first film in that trilogy, for example, so that rhyming has been there from the very beginning. In the case of The Force Awakens, those similarities, coupled with some under-appreciated bold choices, helped propel the film to its status as the best story of the Disney era.
An obvious example of this rhyming is the character of Kylo Ren. He’s a masked villain wearing all black and a distinctive mask, and was once a Jedi. All of those things can be used to describe Darth Vader, which could suggest that Kylo was nothing more than a stand-in for the franchise’s most famous villain. However, there’s much more nuance to Kylo Ren when looking at him on a deeper level. For example, his wearing of the mask and black outfit is there for a very personal reason: that is, to become more reminiscent of his grandfather and push away any urges he has to return to the light. That indecision was always there in Kylo Ren, and he’s a huge reason why the story of The Force Awakens works as well as it does.
There are some other examples of similar characters, such as Rey's parallels to Luke and Finn's to Han, but there are also some bold choices that help push the story forward. All things considered, not having Luke and Han reunite after all those years was as bold of a decision as any choice made in The Last Jedi, a film which has subsequently been defined by the divisive nature of many of the most crucial story points. While it is sad to not have Luke and Han together at some point in the trilogy, the film works as a Solo-centric outing where he helps to push the new heroes in the right direction.
A disillusioned, hermit Luke was an idea that played out in Episode VIII, but The Force Awakens set it up perfectly. Looking back, it was abundantly clear that JJ Abrams was aiming to set up that plot line for the next film, so some credit for the boldness of that direction must go to the first in the trilogy. Interestingly enough, it was George Lucas himself that came up with the idea of a much-changed Luke, too.
The Force Awakens kicked off the Disney era in 2015 with the start of the sequel trilogy. It has largely escaped conversation in the years since, with the divide in the fandom coming from the latter two films in the trilogy. Even as some excellent shows are being made now, especially the likes of Andor and The Mandalorian, The Force Awakens is still the best story of the Disney era. It takes everything people loved about the original trilogy and combined that with new characters and a unique direction for the heroes, and set the stage perfectly for the rest of the Saga.
