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Episode VIII anticipation is dead. Long live Episode IX anticipation! The Sequel Trilogy is more than halfway complete. Abrams is back, though presumably he and Johnson, godfather of this announced upcoming trilogy, will collaborate on the story. What do you want? (Obviously, this is an unmarked TLJ spoilers thread.) I have a few ideas...
- How to handle Leia: I stand by my earlier idea from July:
Gaith said:Lucasfilm logo. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."
SMASH CUT to a silent (with music) funeral scene. As with Glee and Cory Monteith, we all know why the character's gone, so there's really no need to explain it in-universe. (Canon sources elsewhere could officially designate it space cancer or whatever, but my idea lets the funeral be a tribute to Fisher as much as possible, just as the ending to Furious 7 was obviously for Paul Walker, rather than for Brian O'Conner.) Fade out.
STAR WARS title fanfare, crawl, movie.
In short, Fisher's passing would be so significant that it would be the only time the Episode format of "A long time ago", STAR WARS title fanfare, crawl, movie would ever be broken. I get that most don't enthusiastically love Thor: The Dark World as I do, but I think the two-minute dialogue-free Frigga funeral is a freakin' fantastic scene that would make an excellent model.
With Luke gone, the intention was obviously to have some kind of major confrontation between Leia and her son, who have not yet shared a frame or dialogue, in this last episode. Welp, that's obviously out the airlock, so I say retire Leia as the movie begins and move on.
- Don't be afraid to dream a little smaller: Okay, so Luke said "the war is just beginning," so the obvious next step is to do a mega, three-hour-plus, multi-battle-filled extravaganza featuring a half-finished Starkiller Plane - wait, how can a planet be half-finished? And how would it move? Hey, here's an idea: how about not going super-mega-epic? And - stay with me here - maybe even go below the two-hour mark, for the very first time? Some all-time classic films, from Casablanca to The Princess Bride to Galaxy Quest to 2 Fast 2 Furious clock in at around one hour forty. Let's maybe tone things down?
- Make it a quest flick?: Just an idea. I've never been much into the mystical lore of the Force as covered in the Clone Wars series (don't like the PT era, not one bit) and Rebels (though I haven't seen S3 yet), but after two sequel movies that heavily rehashed the OT, I'm ready for something new. Maybe Kylo goes off in search of the ultimate Sith MacGuffin, and our surviving Resistance heroes set off in hot pursuit. Maybe there is a big-ass war between the remnants of the Republic and the First Order, which we get glimpses of, but we as an audience focus on this small, intimate side quest. Call it the Monuments Men approach to the Second Galactic Civil War. (Wait, wait, no, don't call it that. Call it something else!)
- Bring back Lando?: For a secret cameo or even a significant supporting role, and give him a happy family, and let him survive to return to said family. I'm not the biggest sucker for feel-good fan service, but given the mostly miserable lives of Obi-Wan, Yoda, Han, Luke, R2, and Leia, I'm kinda ready for at least one OT hero to get a happily ever after. And Chewie, too? We could end with Rey and Chewie joining Lando for a delicious Life Day feast. Okay, maybe that's going a bit far. But don't dare bring him back and not give him a happy ending.
- Make it a real ending: We don't yet know when Rian Johnson's upcoming planned trilogy will be set, or what it'll focus on. And maybe in 30 years, assuming civilization hasn't collapsed, it'll be time for a Fourth Episode Trilogy which catches us up on how Rey's and Finn's post-IX lives have been full of tragedy and failure, but it's okay, because there's a new youngling in town to fight the evil Dictator Serratus Binks. Again, the safe and obvious move is for Rey to set up a new Jedi Fellowship of equals or something, without ranks or heirarchies maybe, but Jedi nonetheless. And, maybe that'd be okay. At this point, after all, it's hard to imagine a ending to the saga that feels like a real conclusion. But, maybe try anyway? A truly shocking move would be to close off Force magic from the living forever, like a certain favorite book series of mine (spoiler-link to what I mean). Or maybe give Rey the protypical lonesome cowboy/Ring-bearer ending? As in, she rides off into the unknown sunset because... y'know, because. I dunno, these are just ideas. But merely defeating the First Order, with Kylo redeeming himself as he dies, isn't enough. Hey, speaking of which...
- Don't redeem Kylo Ren. At all. Don't even try.:
Yeah.
Welp, those are my ideas at present. And yours?