The Rise of Skywalker Rewriting The Rise of Skywalker and making it a better film

[Tg11]

As far as Rise of Skywalker goes, to make it a better film I would completely rewrite it and how I would do it:

ACT 1

This act will basically show where each character is mentally and emotionally by setting up their arcs for the movie and setting up the main conflicts of the movie. The first scene will be Finn, Poe, C-3PO, Chewie, Rose and BB-8 all going on a mission to retrieve information about a map which will lead to a powerful Sith weapon. This scene will be like the movie itself but with a few differences but we will see them infiltrate a First Order base rather than get info from a traitor. There’s a chase scene and the heroes manage to survive and return to the Resistance base where they meet Rey and Leia. From there then you can establish the character arcs. Rey with her Force powers is starting to evolve more in her training, Poe is trying to live up to Leia and Finn is uncomfortable with fighting First Order Stormtroopers since they are clearly brainwashed and can be converted to the good side.

We catch up with Kylo Ren on the First Order ship. He is Supreme Leader Ren now but he is being haunted by the ghost of his Uncle Luke. He also gets notified about this Sith weapon and decides to track it down. We cut to Captain Phasma who is still alive as she somehow survived and General Hux as the 2 of them are talking about Kylo. They feel that Kylo is wasting the First Order’s time and resources on finding ancient Sith artifacts rather than trying to conquer the galaxy. Hux says that he is unfit to be their Supreme Leader and the first step to achieving domination over the galaxy is to overthrow Kylo Ren pretty much setting up the First Order to turn on Kylo/Ben.

ACT 2

Just like the movie, the heroes travel to the desert planet of Pasanna to find a map to the planet of the Sith weapon. Along with them are also a lot of Resistance members in case a conflict with the First Order ensues. The heroes find the man with the map, Han Solo's old friend Lando Calrissian who hands them the map. The heroes find out just where the planet is, where the weapon is located. We then get the Force communication between Kylo and Rey and he finds out where the heroes are. We get the chase scene with the Stormtroopers as well as an action sequence where The Knights Of Ren slaughter Resistance fighters which showcases their abilities.

The scene with Kylo and Rey goes the same and Chewbacca is captured in the struggle. However in this scene, Rey uses Force lightning to destroy two other First Order ships none of which Chewie is on. Her newfound Force abilities leaves her and Kylo especially in shock as Chewbacca is captured. Kylo returns to the First Order base and we get a scene with him and Chewbacca especially since Chewie was his father Han Solo's best friend. After defeating Chewie with ease, Kylo reads his mind to find out where the weapon is.

Outside the room, Kylo is then ambushed by his own First Order. Hux, Phasma and his soldiers have basically turned on him. We finally see Kylo at his best as he slaughters Stormtrooper after Stormtrooper with his lightsaber but also he uses Force lightning as well but they keep on coming. Hux reveals that his entire army is against him and once they kill him, they’ll execute the Final Order. He realizes that his entire army has turned against him and leaves the base in his ship to retrieve the Sith weapon on Exogol. Hux sends a broadcast to the entire galaxy to surrender or die in the Final Order. Rey also decides to travel to Exogol to stop Kylo from getting the weapon while the rest of the heroes decide to rescue Chewie.


ACT 3

Finn, Poe, Rose and C-3PO infiltrate the First Order base similar to the movie. They manage to free Chewie but Poe becomes impulsive and decides to take out Hux to make Leia’s job easier. However,they are caught. This moment will be very emotional as C-3PO sacrifices himself to save the heroes dying an honorable death. They manage to escape at a big cost. Poe is scolded by Leia for being reckless while Rose and Finn mourn C-3PO. Rose thinks that his sacrifice was worthless as all it does is reduce the Resistance’s man power but Finn explains to her that they are in a war and that to save the people that you love, you sometimes have to sacrifice yourself. This sticks with Rose.

Meanwhile at Exogol,both Kylo and Rey arrive at the entrance to a cave where the weapon is kept. They decide to go in together rather than fight each other as they don’t know what’s inside the cave. This scene will play out like the beginning of the original movie with the horror tone. Inside the cave,they find none other than Emperor Palpatine who is still alive. Yeah deciding to keep Palpatine but his role in this will of course be small. He explains that he managed to survive his fall in Return of the Jedi which in Star Wars lore was decades ago but his body isn’t strong enough to use the Force and conquer the galaxy once again. He says that the only way the Sith can take over the galaxy once again is through a new heir to the Sith empire. Kylo steps forward as he is finally about to fulfill his birthright but Palpatine stops him and says that he isn’t the Sith heir, Rey is. Palpatine then explains how Rey came to be through her parentage. She is still The Emperor's granddaughter. I would keep that plot twist.


ACT 4

After finding out that she is the Sith heir and Palpatine's granddaughter which is so shocking for her, we then see Palpatine transfer his essence into Rey as he dies right then and there. Kylo is enraged and engages in a lightsaber duel with Rey. However, she is now much aggressive especially with Palpatine's power on top of her own abilities that she has acquired, she literally hands Kylo Ren a severe beating. She shoots him with Force lightning and then throws him across the caves with relative ease. She then comes upon him and is standing over him as she then stabs him with her lightsaber. Leia then senses a disturbance in the Force and just like the movie, she uses the last of her Force energy to heal her son and dies. Rey senses this and stops herself from killing Kylo as he is not dead but just wounded but is on the brink of death as she leaves.

Kylo is now left alone at Exogol. He is broken. He got betrayed by his entire army, couldn’t fulfill his birthright and got destroyed in a duel against Rey. He mourns his mother as the memory of his father Han Solo appears. Han in ghost form of course. I would still keep Han here as he appears to his son because that was just so emotional for me as a Star Wars fan but also it brings up father/son dynamic. Han explains that Kylo can still turn to the light. Kylo says that he is too far gone but Han explains that it’s never too late to change and that Kylo gets to decide his own destiny. Kylo is motivated by this and throws away his red lightsaber and leaves to stop Hux from executing the Final Order.

On Ahch-To, Rey also prepares to throw Anakin’s lightsaber away after the insane revelation especially now that she is related to Palpatine being his granddaughter and all. Just like the movie, Force ghost Luke appears to her as he tells her that Palpatine doesn’t get to decide if she is a Sith or a Jedi. Rey gets to decide her own destiny. He gives her Leia’s lightsaber which flips a switch in her to cause her to turn away from the dark and back to the light as she also departs to fight Hux after learning about his plans. At the Resistance base, Leia’s funeral is held. Poe is completely frustrated at himself for letting Leia and C-3PO die but Lando gives him a pep talk. Poe understands that Leia was so successful in her rebellion due to inspiring others and sends a broadcast to the entire galaxy to come join the Resistance against the First Order and save their homes. The Resistance departs for the final battle.


ACT 5

Finn and Rose infiltrate the First Order base to try and eliminate Hux and Phasma while Poe and other pilots decide to attack the Star Destroyers from the outside. Finn and Rose are captured again by Phasma and are about to be executed but Finn says he has a few final words. He looks to all the Stormtroopers and says that they were taken away from their families and brainwashed by the First Order to be soldiers but they could be so much more. Their purpose in life is more than to serve the First Order and each and every one of them should get to choose their own destiny. At first no trooper reacts but just as Finn is about to be shot, one trooper rebels against the execution. One by one all the Stormtroopers rebel and remove their masks until it’s a mutiny and there’s a civil war in the First Order. Finn and Rose escape but Phasma chases them to finally kill them.

Kylo and Rey both arrive at the base and battle the Knights Of Ren as they both use Luke’s and Leia’s lightsabers. It’s a long fight but they manage to defeat all the Knights through teamwork. In space, all the people from across the galaxy arrive to help Poe defeat the Star Destroyers like the movie. Meanwhile, Phasma and Finn duel on top of one of the Star Destroyers. Just as Finn is about to be sliced by Phasma’s swords, he uses the Force to summon a lightsaber confirming he is Force sensitive just like how Rey was in Episode 7. Finn basically with no Force training whatsoever is holding his own with Phasma. After a lengthy duel, Finn finally beats Phasma as she falls off the Star Destroyer into space.

Poe reveals that despite so many fighters,the Resistance still can’t beat the Star Destroyers in a dog fight and the only way to win is to set a bomb manually on one of the Star destroyers which is strong enough to destroy all other Star destroyers in the area. However,they need one person to sacrifice themselves so all other Resistance pilots can escape. Rose volunteers as she remembers what Finn told her. You sometimes have to make sacrifices to help others. She sets off the bomb and she and Finn have a tearful goodbye as they share a kiss as the Resistance pilots along with Rey and Kylo leave. The bomb explodes as Hux watches his entire fleet turn into ashes and he also burns away.


ENDING

The galaxy is saved. There are celebrations all across the galaxy on every planet including Coruscant, Naboo, Endor, Tatooine, Jakku, Pasanna, etc. Rey, Finn and Poe celebrate together while Chewie finally gets his own medal. Kylo however is still unsure if he deserves to celebrate after breaking apart the galaxy. Kylo of course tries to leave when from behind, the ghost of his grandfather Anakin Skywalker appears in the form of Hayden Christensen as he tells Kylo that he can always fix the galaxy he broke apart.

We cut to a few months later where Finn and other former stormtroopers are fighting remaining First Order soldiers and Rey has set up a Jedi academy with her teaching younglings/Padawans. We cut to Tatooine in a First Order base where several families are saved by a man as he defeats the First Order soldiers. One kid looks up to him and asks him “Aren’t you Kylo Ren?”. The man looks to the side where he sees Han,Luke and Leia smiling at him all in Force ghost form as the man replies “No,I am Ben Solo” as he looks at the binary sunset similar to Luke in 1977's A New Hope. Film fades to credits.


Movie completely rewritten!!!!

 

[Sian]

You know, I always thought there'd be a scene where he said that but alas, no.

I had the impression that the last film would show a Resistance that was more in line with Saw Guerrera in Rogue One and the First Order as crumbling from within when Hux found out Kylo killed Snoke.

 

[godisawesome]

1. Rey finds out Luke’s her father early in the film when she “reads” a memory of Kylo and glimpses her mother (who she recognizes) at Luke’s temple kissing Luke, and it actually causes her a major internal struggle throughout - her abandonment issues are aggravated by knowing she found him, but they didn’t recognize that, than he died. Lue was helping Leia train her as a Force Ghost, and Rey’s blowup at him for not coming for her cuts off their connection. So she’s kind of closed off from being able to contact him because of her bitterness over this, which aggravates her issues with Kylo and gives her a visceral temptation to the dark side; she *and* Kylo are both “haunted” by Luke, but because of their emotional turbulence he can’t break through to them clearly, and because the dark side temptation is her biggest issue when facing Kylo, even to the extent of her lashing out at others. Also, interestingly, her new confidant is actually Rose, as a fellow “wrench wench” who’s become Rey’s best friend and “consigliere” (Rey and Finn are in an awkward area where Rey has realized she loves Finn, and Finn can maybe see it, but they’re both aware of the Jedi tenant against attachments, and Rey thinks Rose and Finn are an item.)


2.Kylo is a mess of constrained madness and maturing malevolence, as we start to investigate more of his mental state and motivation. For the first time, we actually hear the voice he hears, and get an idea of the torment and frayed ties to reality he has. He stations himself as the Supreme Leader in Vader’s (broken) castle, flies around in a reforged (but still misshapen) Supremacy, and will eventually retake his (broken) mask. Two or three of the Knights of Ren are his confidants with actual lines showing their in even worse shape than he is mentally, and we use these KOR and Rey’s “memory reading” ability to see his past: Snoke haunted him when he was young and gaslit and tormented him so much that his brain was mushed up a bit, and Snoke used visions of Vader to brainwash him... and he still hears this charlatan Vader in his mind (the KOR have other family members of mentors doing the same), and the voice gets louder when eve he doubts himself.


3. The underlying family theme is bloody infighting threatening to forever define the Skywalker legacy as being more evil and self-destructive (Kylo and Rey’s dark side temptation.) We find out that Snoke is the last Inquisitor of the Empire, who sought out and tormented Ben Solo for two reasons: personal revenge by proxy on Vader for his torment as an Inquisitor, and to try and see if he can imprint on and effectively possess Ben as Kylo Ren - the other KOR who don’t have characterization show this, as occasionally we hear their voices blend with Snoke’s when they talk. Rey, meanwhile, is in no danger of being possessed by Snoke... but we see definite signs of some kind of “Dark Lady Rey” in a more chaotic future as her possible fate - that she’ll plunge the Galaxy into chaos in her bitter resistance towards the First Order, and this is somewhat hinted at by her viciousness towards stormtroopers and willingness to listen to more violent and bitter factions of the Alliance (more on them next.)


3.Finn is the spear point character for the military plot, and we’re going all in on him starting a Stormtrooper revolution, though he and Poe are deeply involved in a political and military plotline as well. The Resistance has been joined by an “Alliance” that’s much larger - in fact, it’s established that the Alliance are more numerous and have far more fighters and cruisers than the First order, but have no strong enough “ships of the line” carriers and battleships to fight off the First Order. Leia, through Poe, is trying to keep the Alliance together and keep some factions from getting too bloody minded and vicious - particualrly a group that executes all First Order prisoners (and the one that manages to get Rey to pay attention a bit too much.) Finn reveals he’s in contact with old stormtrooper buddies who are becoming disenchanted with the FO as they encounter the wider Galaxy, and because things are getting dark in the First Order...


4.Because we see that Kylo, under the madness of Snoke, has begun to reforge the First Order to suit his vision. The Sith Troopers are bloody minded stormtroopers Kylo trusts more than the regular stormtroopers because they commit atrocities when ordered to (basically making their qualifications the opposite of Finn’s epiphany). A whipped and on-edge Hux is the main military leader now, but only of the regular forces - Kylo and his poisonous advisor Pryde are using the fleet yards of Kurt to rebuild the Supremacy with a super laser (yes, like the Sith fleet in TROS)... but one that’s less powerful and more of a “planet maimer” than an outright “planet killer.” Hux will end up striking against Kylo later out of self-preservation, and Kylo will respond by ordering the Sith Troopers to cull and decimate the regular Stormtroopers... allowing Finn his chance to start a revolution. Stopping Kylo and the Supremacy is the main goal, particularly when he starts using it against planets to try and beat the Galaxy into submission.


General plot-line:

Spoiler

• An early combat between the heroes and Kylo and the Knights of Ren has two results: Kylo easily manhandles Rey with a Force Freeze attack and shows how much more experienced he is than her, and Rey frees herself by reading his mind in a traumatizing fashion fashion for both - it causes Kylo pain and shows Rey she’s a Skywalker.
• On their retreat, they figure out Kylo has sent some of the KOR after them, and Rey, in her emotional turmoil, is utterly ruthless towards the stormtroopers on their way out, which gets her called out by Finn and Rose, as she disconnects from Luke as an advisor.
• The Alliance deploys the heroes on an infiltration of Vader’s castle for information, and we see the schism forming in their ranks over how brutal to be. Finn is leading the mission from an infiltration standpoint, and this is where they uncover Kylo’s trophy room, including Snoke’s ring - which Rey uses to discover what happened to Ben to create Kylo.
• A KOR has followed them and Rey engages in a duel with *her*... and manages to subdue her and restrains herself from killing the KOR at Finn’s imploring (he wants information and fears her going dark.) They are forced to infiltrate a Star destroyer to escape.
• Hux attempts his coup when Kylo returns to the castle to investigate, fails, and is killed. Pryde uses this as an excuse to push for a campaign of terror to basically devastate all possible First Order rivals and threats with the Supremacy... starting with major worlds and ending with Coruscant. Kylo, plagued by Snoke’s words and pushed by Pryde using some manipulation techniques himself, agrees over Luke’s implorations.
• Hidden in the Star Detstroyer, Rey contacts Leia through the Force, and after some emotional talk about their new relationship, Leia tries to help her heal the fractured KOR’s mind. This answers the rest of their questions, but Rey goes a bit too far, and Leia had to beg her to stop. The KOR is catatonic, but she begins to recollect herself, and potently asks why the voice have stopped and is clearly freed now...
• Suddenly, the Sith Troopers begin culling the Stormtroopers, and when some of the Star Destroyer crew object, turn on them as well. Finn won’t stand for this, so he reveals himself to stop it, while Rose takes over the Star Destroyers to assist them with doorways, airlocks, and security systems while Rey takes the bridge. Finn manages to get the stormtroopers to listen to him by putting himself at their mercy, and we have our revolution.
• Luke, who’s been trying to talk to Rey and Ben throughout, finally forces a breakthrough with Kylo, before the Snoke programming finally kicks in full force, and he retakes his reforged helmet, and seems lost now.
• Rose decodes the First Order’s trasmissions and realizes the strike on Coruscant is coming, when she reviews footage of the Supremacy’s strikes on other worlds. The emotional shock and pain in the Force makes a Rey break down fro a while, and she rejects Finn’s comfort, but Rose is too stubborn to be rejected.
• Rose manages to help get through to Rey to try and “fix herself up *enough*” to do what needs to be done without losing herself. Poe manages to rally half the Alliance to stand in defense of Coruscant even as some of the more violent factions object to defending it. Finn convinces the Stormtroopers and crew on board to help them.
• Battle of Corsucant begins. The Alliance manages to stop one of the Supremacy’s blast by deploying a “shield ship”, and while the super laser recharges, ships engage to try and move it out of the way, including our heroes ship.
• Finn and Rey try appealing to the other crews, but at first it isn’t working... then a Pryde orders one of his own ships shot through to hit the shield ship and take it down. This starts a rebellion on the other FO ships, and the space fight breaks down into a brawl, as Star Destroyer fights Star Destroyer while Alliance fighters escort boarding parties onto different ships.
• Rey, Finn, Rose, and their allies board the Supremacy thanks to Poe flying escort against insane odds (in which he maybe dies to up the stakes.) They and other ships board, and we get out fight scene.
• Kylo and the remaining KOR stand in defense of the super laser’s core, giving us a fight in eery green light and dark shadows. A last minute ally to the heroes is the woman KOR who Rey and Leia freed. It’s a brutal fight, but Rey manages to take out a few more KOR, Finn takes down one with Rose and some Stormtrooper’s help, and there’s a even a brief exchange where Finn is confronted by Kylo and almost manages to escape by the skin of his teeth before being thrown against a wall and losing consciousness- with Rey running to his side with her back to Kylo before rising to defend him in a shot reversal of TFA’s first duel.
• Rey very clearly fights against her passion and anger, and Kylo slowly but surely begins to win the fight, eventually breaking the Skywalker saber again, actually... before Rey, going full serenity with the light side, frees herself from his Force Freeze, catches his light saber blade like Satele in The Old Republic video game, and breaks his hilt.
• Rey and Kylo lock in mental combat, as Rye dives into the darkness of his mind in a surreal scene showing the phantom of Vader as perceived by Kylo, Snoke’s remaining influence and toxicity, and the lest form of Ben within. The twisted Vader/Snoke apparition begins to turn the tables on Rey, when she’s joined by Luke... then Leia...
• ...then Anakin.
• Kylo is shattered -symbolized by his helmet falling apart and Ben Solo dropping into catatonia. The remaining KOR also drop, freed from Snoke’s influence. Rose sets the super laser to blow up, but the explosion with harm the ships outside and leave radioactivity in Coruscant’s orbit. So they have to take the bridge, launch into hyperspace, and then escape in escape pods.
• This last crazy action scene is basically a race against the clock. They plunge the Supremacy into hyperspace, but one KOR rises to his feet in cutaways... and we see him choose the dark side in some way (maybe he has a moment of horror, then resets himself and snaps a stormtroopers neck or something.) We also see the first freed KOR make it to Ben’s side.
• As they rally towards an escape pod, the still-evil KOR comes to stop them... and Ben arrives to Force Freeze him. He thanks Rey in a shakey and traumatized way for saving him, and promises to make sure the Supremacy is destroyed by staying aboard (the good KOR member is there as well by his side - she’s basically there for fans who want a romance for Ben neither their idea fo Rey, but without screwing up Rey.)
• The heroes survive, and get to see the “shooting star” look of the Supremacy as it explodes in hyperspace.
• We leave the Supremacy’s wreckage to see a cold, frozen planet... where another escape pod has dropped. Ben Solo, reborn, along with his companions, scavenge some material for survival suits, and exit the world into a dramatic reversal of Rey’s starting point - where she was alone on a desert planet, he has companionship on a frozen landscape.
• We end the film with the heroes gathered in the ruins of the Jedi Temple, Rey exchanges dialogue with the Force ghost of Luke to reconcile as daughter and father. Rose and Finn arrive to lay out the new status quo: The First Order is dead as an empire, but the Galaxy is not at true peace, so they must keep fighting for a better future (explicit reference is made to Pryde escaping, and some worlds still belonging to warlords). Rose than casually reveals that she and Finn tried romance, and it didn’t quite work out, then leaves Rey and Finn alone in tacit approval of anything that might happen... and they kiss.

The end.

 

[Sian]

Disney will not retcon TROS because as far as they're concerned, it's done.

The Skywalkers are all dead. The Solos are dead. The future is Rey and her friends.
Both Ridley and Boyega have ruled out returning (although it depends on how successful their future careers are lol) so the story may very well continue in comic or book format. But that depends on how successful they'll be.
Fact is, an opinion poll held before the release of TROS resulted in Kylo Ren hands down winning the title of 'character most people want to see in TROS'. Now they've killed him off, future media may struggle if they revolve around Rey, Poe and Finn.
It doesn't matter how many times Kennedy is photographed in a "The Force is Female" t shirt, Rey is not the character people were most invested in.

 

[fan4stic]

To me, redoing this goes with a redo of TLJ. Here are the ideas God, if He wills, blessed me with:

THE LAST JEDI

First, an exploration of backstory:

I don’t fully mind what they did with Luke. In concept I like it, but I think there’s things left out that could round out the character and explore his characterization and reasons for his actions. Luke began a new jedi order. He married Mara Jade, they have a daughter, Rey, but then the emergence of a new dark side force begins, the first order rises and Luke doesn't understand why this has happened again. Anakin destroyed the sith. It should be over. While I don’t know if I’d go for this, but Mara Jade is killed in battle defending her daughter in the midst of a raid by the first order, maybe even the Knights Of Ren do it.

Luke, tormented by this, furiously digs for information about why this has begun again, and finds out the meaning of it, that the balance is a cycle, not a single event. When he senses the dark side in Ben, senses Snoke’s influence, he feels it all happen again, the fall of the jedi, the rise of the empire, the destruction of the family he has left. In that moment of fear and pain, shaken by the perception of his family being destroyed by a rise of another Vader, he allows his fear to drive him, and considers killing his nefew, maybe even in a way to almost spare him the pain that his future could bring him, taking out his lightsaber, but not igniting it, realizing that it would be wrong to do, maybe even seeing his robot hand, reminding him of the events of ROTJ.

But Ben senses that and lashes out in rage. The new jedi order is burned, his daughter gone, her dead he thinks and his powers gone. Luke sees this as almost the force punishing him for what he did. Casting out those remaining, among them a partner in his training Lor San Tekka, sending R2D2 with him.

Luke himself not realizing that Ben had taken Rey, feeling tempted to kill her to avoid a threat to his rightful Skywalker lineage, but being unable to kill his cousin, he wiped her mind of any training she’d gotten by Luke and abandoned her on Jakku. Lor San Tekka discovered Rey and that’s why he was there and was willing to reveal the map to Luke at this time. He believed the knowledge of his daughter being alive, would reignite the spark of hope inside him, a message he never had the chance to relay to Poe, before the first order attacked. Han considered this to be the case as well after meeting her and Leia sensed it after they met as well. Kylo began to see it after hearing about it.

Luke over the course of the movie does grow to rediscover his goals by the end. Through finding out that Rey is his daughter and connecting to her and admitting what he did with Ben, feeling like he's been disconnected from the force as a punishment, seeing him considering killing Ben as not much different than what Vader had done when killing the younglings. He sees his 2nd chance in Rey. But this is hurt when Rey discovers that Luke didn't try to find her after she was taken. Luke is in shame by this, as Rey leaves. Luke is then confronted by either Yoda or Obi-Wan (or both), who explain to him that he's seen Vader in himself and thus saw his failure as if he would be like him, saying that Luke has lost sight of what made him him, and it wasn't being a jedi. Them telling him the folly of not seeing his own humanity, underneath being a jedi, confronting him with truth of what happened to Padme, who Luke has no memories of and hasn't connected with (seeing only the Vader/Anakin in himself), telling him that they sensed in her that the children were beginning to die in the womb, but she gave up every ounce of life force she had left to keep alive, in spite of not being a jedi or force sensitive. In the midst of this Luke realizes that he cut himself off from the force in his shame and self loathing, he wasn't being punished. He reaches through the force and out to Padme, seeing her after she's given birth to him, even in the present feeling the touch of her energy on his face, seeing her and Anakin. Luke resolves to go after Rey.

Leia still grieves for the loss of Han, but almost refuses to see her son as gone, this building to her outright attacking a first order village raid to try and lure Kylo to them, her confronting Kylo and practically daring him to kill her. He can't. But Kylo is forced to bring Leia to Snoke. We'd also develop Leia having trained as a jedi with Luke.

Rey was never raised, to her knowledge, with the idea of what potential she had. Into adulthood, she's confronted and dragged into that potential. After meeting Luke, she thinks he must've left her on Jakku. But Kylo, still through their link, tells her that he didn't do that and that he took her to kill her, but couldn't. Now, after discovering the pain and loss that comes with being a Skywalker, to the point of feeling abandoned and betrayed by Luke, her dad. After finding out that Luke didn't come looking for her, out of fear of finding her dead, she lashes out at him, angry and hurt, feeling abandoned and betrayed, telling him he has nothing to teach her. Then hunting down Kylo for the death of Han and Finn being hurt.

On the flipside there's Ben, someone who was raised in the Skywalker family, with knowledge of his potential, of his legacy, the idea that his bloodline has potential power that he thinks is his birthright, but it's just out of his reach, and he becomes bitter and feels cheated out of what he sees as rightfully his. And when tempted by the darkside, he doesn't choose to resist, seeing it as his way to get the true power of a Skywalker. He could resent Han for being normal, a mere pilot, seeing him as apart of his weakness. After killing his dad, his pain is crippling, something he takes out on his fodder, in the midst of his final training with Snoke. This grows to a rage and resentment against Snoke and the first order, as he and the Knights Of Ren are used as a weapon to invade worlds and plunder children, and particularly after Snoke forces Kylo to bring Leia to him.

Finn may be more committed to Rey, but he himself also has begun to see what these people are dying for, and does decide to help Poe and the resistance, when Leia gets herself captured as a way for them to pinpoint a location of Snoke. Helping them break into a stormtrooper training facility to use their network to track Kylo's ship to Snoke, them seeing children being taken by the first order, and him deciding to try and help them, only to fail when Phasma, rather than let the kids go free, has some of them killed. Leading to Finn seeing the unfortunate side effect of caring, the pain of failure and loss. Him reacting badly to this and in a rage hunting down and killing Phasma.

With Poe, detail his backstory as almost someone with a death wish, whose looking to die in a blaze of glory in his mind. His parents, former rebels, killed by the last remnants of the empire, him becoming someone who doesn't get particularly attached. His arc being him finding something to live for, instead of die for, as he and Finn try and rescue the children taken to be indoctrinated by the first order. When pinned in some rubble, he cuts his hand off to ensure, he can protect the children and secure their way out.

All of these plots begin to converge on Snoke's ship. Leia is brought to Snoke by Ben. But Leia shocked to discover that Snoke is a force projection.

In a reveal, we'd see that Ben, seeking the power he felt he deserved as a Skywalker, tapped into the dark side and in mental disconnection, it has manifested itself as Snoke, the darkest parts of Ben's mind given life by the dark side energy he'd absorbed.

It pushes Kylo to kill Leia, as she tries to reach him. He lashes out in a rage and kills the Snoke manifestation, taking it into himself and taking in all the power of the dark side.

Rey charges Kylo in her rage, and tries to kill him, but Kylo defeats her. His powers outmatching hers, tossing her off to the Knights. Luke arrives in time, brandishing his green light saber, facing Kylo and (though this is more a suggestion) but Luke taking Anakin's lightsaber and passing it off to Leia, to assist. As Rey steals one of the Knights weapons and tries to fight them off. Them both battling Kylo and trying to reach him. Kylo exclaiming that he's building a legacy, beyond the Skywalkers now. Luke and Leia firing back that all he is another dark sider leading a stormtrooper army.

Kylo, realizing they're right, uses his powers to turn all the ships of the first order on eachother, stating a new path, "No more stormtroopers, no more death stars, no more empire." Making the statement of the dark side being the only thing left, and using the ships weapons to destroy eachother, even Snoke's ship, Kylo casually protecting himself from the destruction. Rey is the first the recover and tries to catch Kylo off guard, who stomps her, wounds her and in a petty slash of vengeance, slices the lightsaber over Rey's left eye, blinding her in it and scarring her. He lifts his lightsaber up and brings it down as a final blow, but Leia takes the hit for Rey. Kylo, for all his villainy, is still enraged at this and tears the already damaged ship apart in his pain and anger. This allows Luke and Rey to escape with a dying Leia. (I did this in the hindsight of Carrie's passing.)

Leia tells Luke she knows what happened and she forgives him. Luke apologizing for Han and what he did, promising he won't give up again. Rey, devestated at what she sees as her fault, tries to help, refuses to believes there isn't a way. Luke holds her off, her crying, as she apologizes to Leia. Who simply reminds her that they all make mistakes and apart of her believes her son isn't gone. Luke reaffirming that with the no one's ever really gone line. And with that Leia peacefully passes away.
And with that we end the movie:

Luke having re-established his goal of heroism and maybe even left as a resistance leader.

Poe, seeing himself as having found something to live for.

Finn being driven by a desire for revenge upon any remnants of the FO.

And Rey, as she stands out in front of the forcefield of the x-wing bay, in the starship, over looking an ocean of stars, holding Anakin's lightsaber. She, in a rejection of the Skywalker legacy and the pain and death that comes with it, throws the lightsaber into space.

The movie ending on her standing in front of that ocean of stars.

THE END

The rest, for TROS is basically more a series of ideas:

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

For one thing I'd prefer to more have other characters from the overall universe. Ahsoka Tano, Ezra Bridger, etc.

The plot would revolve around Kylo putting together an army of dark siders, wants to position the dark side army as the ultimate power in the universe, as it's erupted into chaos after the destruction of the First Order and the New Republic, in the midst of a power vacuum left by them. The way Kylo is going to do this is by finding Morraband's Well of Mortis, one of the linked Twin Wells of Mortis, representing the dark side and holding it's energy conduit.

Rey, meanwhile, feels disconnected, lost, only seeking out stopping Kylo as her mission. In the pursuit of this, she seeks out different training, which leads her to Ahsoka Tano. An older woman now, but, due to being an alien, looking fairly well, Ahsoka (after sending out for Luke to come to her, as her and Luke met after the battle of Endor) helps Rey recognize the legacy of her family has so many more facets to it, than pain and death.

Finn continues to hunt down the remnants of the First Order, he's allowed his vengeance to consume him. This is halted when he tries to kill a former FO Officer, who has a child, the child trying to stand between Finn and the officer. After this, Finn becomes to see himself as no better than the stormtroopers, thinking that all that he is is what he was made to be.

Poe's arc is building through him going through the responsibility of becoming a leader over the course of the movie. While also struggling with what it means to be a hero in the midst of that and his newfound desire to live for the new life he has for himself.

Luke is dealing with the acceptance of his place in things now. Trying to re-discover his humanity, he seeks to use his more human abilities. Over the course of the movie he's able to reconcile the 2 parts of his identity and come out of it.

In the midst of this, Hux, enraged at the destruction of the FO, blames this on force users, using this, he recruits the remainder of stormtroopers and FO members to the cause of destroying the conduit of the force: The Wells Of Mortis, the whills between force users and the energy of the force. Twin wells, one on Ach-To, the other Moraband.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

In order for Rise of Skywalker to be a better film you gotta first completely redo The Last Jedi

 

[Sian]

I thought they already did most of that with TROS

 

[jmc]

The only way you can actually do this is to rewrite the entire Trilogy from scratch.

 

[Sian]

I can't help but think that at the end of the day, it's impossible to please ALL SW fans.
I've been a fan for forty two years, and you wouldn't believe the grief I've gotten online because I am a Kylo Ren fan!
Personally I loved the first two sequels, but it wasn't purely Kylo Ren's fate that made me despise TROS. It was also the deliberate retcon of TLJ, which seemed unbelievably childish, the elevation of Rey from a genuinely likable, interesting character into someone it was impossible to identify with, and most of all the sheer terrible storytelling.
The prequels were slated but at least they had a story.