Star Wars: Five Awesome Plot Points the Sequel Trilogy Abandoned
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy had a few really great ideas. But for some strange reason, these plot points were left out to dry.
The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy is a bit of a divisive topic among the fandom. Some people love them to death, others hate them. Some people like only some of the movies (normally The Last Jedi or the other two), while others love them all. Even those who hate the movies admit they had some good ideas in them. And yet it’s amazing to see just how many of these good ideas and plot points were brought up, and then abandoned halfway through with no payoff or thought.
The Rey’s Parents are Nobody Plot
One of the bigger twists in The Last Jedi (or subversions) was that Rey’s parents, whose identities fans had spent years guessing, were just random nobodies. It was one of the better ideas/subversions to come out of The Last Jedi. The idea that anyone could be a powerful Jedi is compelling, and not tying her, or all the new generation, to the same handful of families? It helped make the galaxy feel bigger.
It made also perfect sense that she would literally be the new blood brought in. But then Rise of Skywalker happened and nope, turn’s out that was a lie, and her parents are someone. It was pretty sad to see this plot point abandoned by the sequel trilogy.
Finn X Poe
This one wasn’t quite an official plot point, but it still made a lot of people sad. Fan’s noticed a lot of chemistry between the characters of Finn and Poe, and many people hoped for an on-screen relationship between the two of them. The actors were even on board with this idea, playing it up in their performances and reportedly even suggesting such a thing to the powers that be.
But the idea was squashed. Star Wars, according to the people behind the scenes, just wasn’t ready for high-profile queer leads. Not only did they chose not to go in this direction, but both characters were given half-baked hints at straight romantic pairings – as if to totally quash the idea.
The World is More Grey
The Last Jedi introduced the character of DJ. He was a rogue slicer willing to work for whoever paid him well. With him came an interesting viewpoint on the world. DJ, which stands for Don’t Join, tried to make the point that both sides had some bad stuff going on. For instance, both the Rebellion and the Empire were military forces. They both bought from and supported the same arms dealers and the military-industrial complex.
This was tied into the world of Canto Blight, full of rich people exploiting the less well-off. Despite being objectively bad, it was clear that the “good guys” had done nothing to curb what was going on there. All in all, it tried to push the idea that the Star Wars world was a little greyer and less morally black and white.
But DJ turned out to be just a bit of a villain who was in it for money. Unlike Lando, he never got any redemption and the ideas he brought were dropped.
The How Maz Got Luke’s Saber/ Rey’s Vision Plot Was Abandoned
While some of the dropped threads were clearly due to changing directions, this one was all JJ. In The Force Awakens, Rey finds Luke Skywalker‘s old lightsaber hidden in Maz Kanata’s basement. She asks how Maz came to have it, a good question since the last time we’d seen it was falling to its apparent doom on Bespin. Maz agrees, saying it’s a good question, but for another time. This implies that we will get to find out how she got it, and that maybe it’s important.
Was it given to her to hold onto for Rey? Rey seems to have a connection to it. And Rey also has some unexplained vision while picking it up. And then… nothing. We never get a story or explanation in the movies’ about why or how Maz has it. Nor do we get anything on Rey’s vision, indeed it turns out she has no prior connection to the saber at all, outside of the fact that her grandfather had seen it a few times. Another plot point the trilogy dropped.
The Knights of Ren Plot
Another one that’s all JJ. The Knights of Ren are teased in The Force Awakens. They get a name drop and a quick vision of what people correctly assumed was them. With little to go on, fans had a lot of theories. And while we didn’t know much, the characters seemed pretty cool.
Their connection to Kylo Ren seemed to imply there was some kind of dark side force user team (which was essentially correct). This was a pretty nifty idea – on-screen, we’d never seen a large number of Dark Jedi together. That was something that was fairly common in parts of the EU.
Who were they? How badass were they? Fans wanted to know. And then… we got pretty much nothing. They showed up in Rise of Skywalker after being absent for a whole movie. However, they did next to nothing and got no cool character moments. Then, they were killed off effortlessly (because they use… sticks? swords? homemade knives?). What a disappointment to see this whole plot point abandoned by the sequel trilogy.
Let us know what plot points you think were a mistake to drop, down in the comments!
