The original Star Wars trilogy established some character archetypes, and the sequel trilogy did a lot to set up a new version of each of those archetypes. But the franchise could be so much more successful if it branched out from the same character types for new stories coming forward.
Part of it was, understandably, nostalgia. The original trilogy didn’t just work, it changed the way movies are made. It spawned the kind of fandom that has endured for generations. My parents took me to see Star Wars, and I have taken nephews and nieces, and the franchise has enough in it for even more generations. But that doesn’t really require them to tell the same story – or stick to the same character archetypes, over and over.
Every fantasy franchise does need a villain, but not every villain has to be the next Vader – or related to him, for that matter. The franchise could be a lot more interesting if it allowed for a villain that was meant to have fewer grey areas. Kylo Ren’s redemption arc didn’t always work, but it was clear he was always meant to have one. Darth Vader’s redemption arc wasn’t so clear, but the fact that he had a final moment of redemption was one of the things that defined his character. Fans don’t really want redemption for every villain, though.
Fans also don’t need the same story, over and over again. And just like they didn’t need Kylo Ren to be the new Darth Vader, there was no need for Rey to resemble Luke’s character archetype as much as she did. It would have been much more powerful to introduce a female character who didn’t need to be compared to anyone else. The sequel trilogy failed in making Rey a Palpatine, but long before that decision, it failed by making Rey so similar to Luke. The parts of Rey that worked best, that fans related to the most, were the parts that were clearly different.
There just weren’t always enough of those, or they weren’t highlighted enough. The sequel trilogy was clearly set on telling one specific story, that followed the beats of the original trilogy. It had a clear villain (Kylo) who was meant to be redeemed, and a clear hero (Rey). There are certain similarities between Finn and Leia – the force sensitivity, the close connection to the hero that is, nevertheless, not coded as romantic. It also had a new Han in Poe, and they leaned heavily into this comparison.
Leia herself points out the similarities between Poe and Han in an almost fond way during The Last Jedi. Ironically, despite making this clear comparison, the sequel trilogy never really delved into what it meant for Leia to see Han in Poe. Of course, this might have been a result of the untimely loss of Carrie Fisher, who passed away before filming on The Rise of Skywalker even began. But it’s striking that a franchise that leaned so heavily on the same type of characters would then fail to take advantage of what they themselves set up.
The sequel trilogy had a new trio, and a new maybe-redeemable villain, but it failed the dynamics between these characters. And maybe part of the reason it did was that everyone was expecting the beats the story would take. Fans had, after all, seen them before. The sequel trilogy would have been much more groundbreaking if fans had been unable to predict what was coming. A lot of that is down to plot, but there’s a fair bit of it that comes down to the way the characters were set up.
The Star Wars franchise still has a lot to give. There’s animation, there are multiple live-action Disney+ shows coming up. There are a few movies in the pipeline, all of them following different stories, different timelines. The Skywalker saga seems to be over at last. There’s still a chance to get one more generation on board, just by mixing things up a bit. If Star Wars can find it within itself to branch out from the same character types for a new kind of story, it can still be successful for years to come. The Mandalorian is a perfect example of a story that works because it establishes an interesting, complex character, that doesn’t look like anyone fans have known before. Nostalgia still has a place in Star Wars, it always will. But nostalgia doesn’t have to carry the franchise. It should have never been the driving factor.
Writing interesting characters shouldn’t be that complicated. Multiple franchises do it repeatedly. Star Wars has reinvented itself plenty of times, in different mediums. All it needs to do to be successful in live-action is to stop relying on the same character archetypes. It doesn’t even matter which one they go for. Fans just want something different to root for.