The Rise and Fall of the Skywalker Saga: And What it Means for the Future of Star Wars

By Sophia Fineza

Whether you’re well versed or a recent addition to the Star Wars fandom, you may be wondering what Lucasfilm, and more importantly, the folks at Disney, have in store for the franchise next. There is an abundance of theories, but I’m here to give you my own personal opinion on where the story will lead, and what this means for Star Wars moving forward.

For a lil bit of background for the newbies, the December 2019 release of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker brought us the ending of the Skywalker Saga, and the closing of the curtain on the Skywalker stories. The Skywalker Saga was the world’s introduction to the Star Wars universe, and an essential piece of pop culture. Now there’s been a new saga announcement - one not related to the Skywalkers, and the whole fandom is curious to see what directions and storylines that this new saga plans to explore. The first movie is slated to premiere in 2022, with sequels coming in two year increments.

Personally, as a big-but-not-super-intense fan of Star Wars, I haven’t put too much thought into this matter. I’m sure you could go online and look up the 100 thousand different theories created by all those hardcore Star Wars fans, but sometimes those can be a bit lengthy. If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, you’ve come to the right place. But honestly, you should check out some of those other theories too. I’ve read through some of them, and they’re a great read.

Here goes: To be completely candid, I have no idea where this new collection of movies could lead us. There are just so many possibilities! My first thoughts were that they would maybe introduce a new family, kind of like the Skywalkers, but they’re not a Jedi family. Maybe a family that is more involved in the dark side of the Force, and dabbles more on the Sith side of things, taking place either before or after the Skywalker Saga. Another thing that would be pretty interesting to see is more about bounty hunters and Mandalorians like the Fetts. I know we just got The Mandalorian as a series, but I think it would be kinda cool if we could get movies about it.

I didn’t really get into the Star Wars movies until the release of The Force Awakens. It was the first Star Wars movie I actually saw in theaters, and I was exposed to the MAJOR buildup to this movie through my parents and their friends, social media, and other kids my age who’s parents showed them the original trilogy. Before I saw or heard about one of the highest anticipated movies of the decade, the only Star Wars content I had in my life was taken from Star Tours at Disneyland. Leading up to the premiere of TFA, I watched the three original Star Wars movies, and I was instantly hooked. I even went so far as to dress up as Princess Leia for Halloween, back in 6th grade (I will not be inserting pictures, thank you very much). However, with the arrival of these new movies also came the inevitable downfall of Star Wars, both in popularity and just general quality content. The Force Awakens was high in popularity due to the fact that it was extremely reminiscent of the OG trilogy. On the other hand, people didn’t like it for the exact same reason. They began to think that the movie was simply just a carbon copy of A New Hope. The fandom responded poorly to the next two films, with people saying that The Last Jedi contained out of character actions, especially with the return of Luke Skywalker. Rise of Skywalker was pegged as just being a people-pleaser, which ironically didn’t seem to please many people at all. Personally, I believed that there was a LARGE gap in between the first two movies and their finale. I quite liked TFA and TLJ, but I hated TROS. The decline in popularity was interesting to watch, especially for my generation, who was born into a world where we didn’t grow up with the originals or even the prequels. The early-made Star Wars fans are now adults. Many of them feel that Disney has ruined this iconic franchise, and that there may be no chance for a better future.

However, there might be a chance to prove them wrong. With the announcement of this new saga, the filmmakers have another chance to redeem themselves and bring Star Wars back to it’s original glory - the one it deserves. There’s a new target audience with the younger generations, and these new films would restore people’s love for the cinematic universe. The popularity of the series is already going back up, with things like the opening of Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and the new hit series The Mandalorian. Maybe the fans’ opinions will never change. They might continue to say that Star Wars will never be as good as it once was. I don’t think that they should compare the future to the past. The world is changing, and the while certain peoples’ opinions may never change, there are plenty of people that would welcome a new Star Wars experience, especially generations to come. These films are an integral part of people’s lives, and will continue to be for years to come. Things are beginning to look up for the new makers of the Star Wars universe, and I think we should have faith in them. After all, they’re our only hope.