Podracing should be way more popular than it is within Star Wars. It's probably due to the fact that it was born from one of the more criticized films in the saga, The Phantom Menace. It also probably didn't help that its main champion in that film was an equally disliked young Anakin Skywalker.
If fans can look past those minor blemishes on the track record of the sport, it's pretty clear that Star Wars still has plenty to milk out of this aspect of a galaxy far, far away. This will be a look at a few of the different routes available to bringing Podracing back into pole position.
Make a Straight Up Racing Film
Imagine a classic racing story set in the Star Wars universe, dealing with a single Grand Prix tournament. Bring in different racers from all over the galaxy and have their personalities and motivations for joining the race. Maybe one racer is from a kingdom that has two warring tribes, and the tribe that performs better in the race is able to keep rule over their whole kingdom. Another could be a racer whose father was killed in a previous Grand Prix thanks to some shady dealings involving Hutts. Perhaps the race could be set during the age of the Empire, with a rule of the race being that the winner can pardon one prisoner of their choosing. Conflicting motivations and backgrounds could make for one of the most eclectic casts of characters a Star Wars film has ever seen.
Or, since the franchise is always looking for ways to bring back Darth Vader, make the special aspect of the Grand Prix that Vader participates every year as a show of strength for the empire. Perhaps the rebels enter in a racer of their own with their ultimate goal being to get close enough to Vader in the last race that they can assassinate him.
Make a Gambling or Heist Movie Set Near Podracing
Imagine a Star Wars film with the feel of a movie like Ocean's Eleven. The story would need to follow a Han Solo-ish type of character or a team of such types of characters that would be working together under the guide of a racing team. Their goal? To lift a shipment of kyber crystals that are being illegally traded in the background of the race by elite politicians in attendance at the race.
Disney could also take the route of having a character with a gambling problem. After a few bets fail to go his way, he's in debt to the wrong kind of people. Now, he'll have to use his remaining funds to train a promising new racing talent and hope he can win. The two characters could have a Hercules and Phil dynamic like in Disney's Hercules. Star Wars has never seen anything quite like this.
Draw Inspiration from Classic Racing Series
Speed Racer may not have had a successful transition to live-action, but the series is still full of great ideas for racing. There are usually cunning, underhanded competitors trying to cheat in order to obtain the upper hand as well as competitors that strike fear into the hearts of other racers through their skill alone. The classic boy and monkey coming along in the trunk of the car could be updated to droids like BB-8 or R2-D2 and add some comedic aspects to the whole story.
Or the series could look toward franchises like Need For Speed or The Fast and The Furious and adjust aspects to better fit the tone of Star Wars. The Fast and The Furious in particular has a big emphasis on family, which is a solid place to start for any series, especially one that aims for universal appeal like Star Wars. This is uncharted territory for Star Wars as well, so Disney should really go all out on introducing elements not seen before in previous films to help establish a more unique identity overall. Give the world the Star Wars equivalent of The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, or something else totally out of left field.
Make it Gritty
Perhaps the way to make Podracing more popular is to up the intensity. After all, this is a sport that is supposed to require competitors to have the reflexes of a Jedi and moves at speeds that almost certainly spell death for careless entrants. It could help if Disney were to embrace how serious a challenge like this is and the severity of the consequences to its participants.
Think of a combination like Star Wars meets Death Race. Perhaps the race itself is an event held to grant prisoners the chance to risk death for the chance at glory and freedom. It may not be the most family-friendly approach, but it's fresh for the franchise and there's room for more than one genre within the Star Wars universe.