'Star Wars' Rumor: Is Disney Quietly Ditching The Sequel Trilogy?
For longtime Star Wars fans, there's something new every day. An announced film never seeing the light of day, rumors of the company phasing something out, fandoms rioting about something that the general audience isn't aware of. The movies and TV shows are flawed, sure, but the rumor mill is always a little worse.
Currently, there are rumors circulating that Disney is quietly ditching the sequel trilogy in an effort to focus on other stories, but the probabilities of that don't work for a number of reasons. It's also, to put it mildly, silly.
Disney Ditching The 'Star Wars' Sequel Trilogy Wouldn't Make Sense
Last year, we learned that Disney shelved a potential Ben Solo movie, and currently, we have no concrete information on whether the Rey trilogy will have the same fate. Daisy Ridley has expressed interest in them, but whether it's something Lucasfilm wants to move forward with, only time will tell. At this point, a lot of these films are pure speculation, yet interestingly, it's riveting that the fandom culture isn't providing a bigger buzz for them. While people have reasonable complaints about the sequel trilogy, we can't deny how much they've done for the romance genre and fan fiction. On the other hand, a large franchise completely dismissing romance potentials also isn't shocking.
The reality is, the Star Wars sequel trilogy is flawed. Parts of The Force Awakens (2015) are incredibly solid, The Last Jedi (2017) has some great beats; however, it's The Rise of Skywalker (2019) that's caused the biggest uproar among both casual viewers and die-hard fans. The choice to bring back Emperor Palpatine after Return of the Jedi (1983) is the one plot twist that isn't earned or even remotely appealing, making the entire sequel trilogy feel like a joke when we could've had something compelling for a completely new generation instead.
Potentially scrapping that detail alone could lead to better narrative arcs in the future that don't focus on plot but on characters instead. Ultimately, the majority of the new characters we were introduced to in the sequel trilogy are captivating and layered in their own right. Ridley's Rey is the perfect character to explore a different world through, and up until that last second where her lineage retconned the revelations in The Last Jedi, the possibilities of her ties to other Jedi, like Obi-Wan Kenobi, were solid theories that could've felt far more earned than Palpatine. (There's a reason "somehow, Palpatine returned" is one of the most frequently used GIFs.)
Poe Dameron, Finn, the droids, Snoke, and even Ben Solo/Kylo Ren each have the bones for nuanced, worthwhile stories. The concept of the Force changing through them angered some die-hard fans, but that part of the story is a legitimate reason to explore the depth of the universe. It's not a cause to quietly scrap it just because lore got buried in the weeds.
The 'Star Wars' Rumor Mill Ruins the Fun of Fandom
Before the internet and fan forums, when everyone got the chance to voice their opinions aloud, a galaxy far, far away was a delightful little escape. Who knew so many people had countless opinions about this silly little universe that so many of us grew up finding immense, indescribable joy in? With social media so rampant, misinformation, harassment, and an influx of rumors and theories consistently take away the fun of watching the shows and movies.
While the sequel trilogy isn't as popular compared to other movies and shows that people are currently watching in the universe, the lack of viewership today doesn't take away from their importance. It also doesn't mean that Lucasfilm will be phasing out the sequel trilogy as part of the canon. If there's an opportunity to potentially fix the Palpatine arc and retcon that, maybe somewhere down the line it could take it, but it wouldn't mean these characters and their stories are no longer relevant to the grand scheme of the universe. Financially and narratively, the choice would be an odd one to make.
