The Rise of Skywalker ST what would you change? Spoilers all 3 movies.

[moviedoors]

The handwaved resetting of the larger conflict is the single laziest, most crippling decision. They made the starting point "The Empire is just the First Order and the Rebels are just The Resistance, so the dynamics of the conflict can stay the same and remain beholden to the touchstones of the original trilogy."

 

[Frodo]

Frankly , I would have told a new story sans the Skywalker family and friends. Leave ROTJ as the final word on those characters, and set the ground work for another six films with Rey, Finn, Poe, and a Kylo-like character who isn't a solo/skywalker.

Maybe bring back R2 and C3PO as the link between the OT and these films, but other than that ,leave the rest of the OT characters. They had their happily ever after , end of story.

No passing of the torch stuff, no bringing back Palpatine, no trying to subvert expectations by putting a spin on previous canon, and no slavishly trying to recapture old canon. Just a new trilogy of films with the new characters and new ideas.

The triangle is already there with Finn/Rey/ and Kylo. Do the romance in the right way without her falling for a killed his father, but for a dynamic, mysterious, and charismatic leader who understands her in more ways than she would like to admit.

Rey's arc of the three these films is not about whether she's related to someone famous or is a nobody, but about her struggle , a real struggle, between the light and the dark, and between Finn and Kylo , what they both represent to her , and ultimately ,which path she wants to take.

Make it about her identity as a person, not about whether or not she's related to someone famous, nor whether anyone can be a Jedi or not.

That's basically what I would do overall. I'd certainly change things if I was forced to keep the OT characters and work from there , but my preference would be to start fresh on a clean slate.

 

[writer0327]

I like the idea of keeping the OT characters out of it, or at the very least minimizing their role in the story. Each trilogy is about the new characters, but having Luke, Leia and Han in the story puts them in the forefront in many fan's eyes. I would have had the three of them together in the first film where they could each give their own obligatory "I'm too old for this sh..." speech to Rey, Finn and Poe, and then hand the reins over to them. Basically make them Obi-Wan from ANH.

 

[MadVillainy]

I said this in another thread but I would've had the trilogy like this:


-There's no Empire, no First Order, no Trade Federation, no droids, and no Storm Troopers. All the enemies are lightsaber wielding Siths and Knights of Ren. I know that's a big change and Stormtroopers/Clone Troopers are so recognizable in Star Wars, but there's really no need for them here. Save them for the anthology films and shows.

-It would start with the Knights of Ren being the main villains. In my vision they would be the zealots/religious extremists, who think the only way to truly bring balance to the force is to kill all the Jedi and Sith. They believe instead of light and dark, there should be no absolutes. Only shades of gray. Because of that, they are hard to track using the force. The force doesn't really register them as a disturbance because in actuality they are a balance between light and dark. There will be a similar amount of them to how many Jedi there are. This mixes up things a bit, but still keeping a lot of elements fans love and are familiar with

-Lupita Nyongo would play the big bad/main Knight of Ren. Mostly because I'm still mad what they did with her in the real Sequel Trilogy

-I guess it kinda would have to take place 30 something years after RotJ. Preferably it'd be only like 10 years, but with the cast's age...

-The galaxy will be at peace. No major wars or anything like that.

-The Jedi have rebuilt a lot, but they're still relatively small. Less than 1000 jedi. They're not the size they were in the PT. Mostly because, with the galaxy at peace, Luke doesn't feel the need to have a huge powerful force like the Jedi.

-There will be a new Jedi academy and even a new Jedi Council. Obviously Luke will be leading it.

-Obviously Luke, Leia, and Han will be in it. All 3 will share a good amount of screen time. Luke will be leading the Jedi, Leia will be a politician, Han...idk. Can't really think of anything for him. Maybe like a pilot trainer for the New Republic Army. But he for sure will be there.

-Lando will be in this a lot more too. Alongside Han, probably be an instructor or something. Or maybe an ambassador.

-Rey and Finn will still both be in it. They will both be Jedi apprentices/padawans at the cusp of becoming Jedi knights, early 20s. Ben Solo will be in it as a Jedi Knight around 30. He'll be an instructor at the Jedi academy. I don't think Poe will be in my idea. There's no reason for him.

-Rey and Finn will be completely platonic, brother and sister type stuff. Maybe MAYBE Rey has a little precocious thing for Ben. I guess you'll need a love story in this trilogy and that could kinda be it. But it will be completely one sided.

-Rey will not be related to anyone important. Neither will Finn.

-Rey would be the more wild, brash, headstrong one and Finn would be the straight man. Like Rey's the one who is always ready to buck the system and do what needs to be done, Finn always argues but goes along because he wants to support his friend. Classic cliche character dynamic but still.

-So the plot kicks off that very recently (last couple months) throughout the galaxy Jedi are disappearing. No one is sure what is happening. Everyone assumes the Sith are returning, but Luke isn't so sure that the Sith are doing this. The Sith are returning, but they're dormant and just waiting for a chance to strike.

-Yadayada stuff happens, Ben disagrees with Luke staying so calm about everything. Luke probably doesn't want to go into battle where people will be killed unless he's sure about something.

-Then about halfway through the film, Ben goes off on his own to investigate what happens. Maybe one of his best friends ends up disappearing so it's more personal for him. Rey and Finn secretly follow

-Ben pulls up on a planet and sees a Sith and chases him down. Assuming that he's the reason for Ben's friend disappearing. Eventually they start dueling. Ben wins, but the Sith reveals that he was running from Ben because he thought Ben was the Jedi hear to kill them like they killed his other Sith brothers.

-This is when the Knights of Ren are revealed. 2 of them will be on the planet. They kill the Sith and almost kill Ben until Rey and Finn join the fight.

-Somehow we learn the KoR's motives blah blah blah. Some other stuff happens. The movie ends

-Episode 8 takes place a year later: Long story, less long:

-There's a war going on throughout the galaxy. Jedi vs Sith vs Knights of Ren
-Ben near the end of the movie sides with the KoR and is anointed as Kylo Ren
-Ben/Kylo kills Han
-The climax of the movie will have the Jedi academy destroyed, due to Ben's help. A large amount of Jedi are killed
-Rey and Finn get separated in the escape
-Rey is rocked to her core with so many of her friends dying and her mentor (perhaps crush/love) becoming a murderer.
-Luke manages to escape​

-Episode 9 takes place 3-4 years later

-Jedi are kinda against the ropes.
-Sith have been completely wiped out (not permanently, but still)
-With the death of the council and so many Jedi killed, the Jedi are kinda aimless. There's no organization
-Luke hasn't been seen in a minute similar to TFA. He's hiding on some planet.
-Finn and Rey haven't seen each other or spoken since the escape from the Jedi academy
-Kylo and the KoR are doing their thing
-Finn finds Rey on whatever planet and gets her out of her funk. Finn is trying to rally all the Jedi for one final stand
-Finn, Rey, Lando, Leia, Chewie, C3PO, R2 go to find Luke. They find him living that hermit life similar to TLJ
-Rey gets angry at Luke thinking he abandoned them. And that he can't do that because he's supposed to be the best of them yadayada. But it turns out he retreated because he knew he had the biggest target on his back and he needed to formulate a plan. It was difficult for him, but it was the best chance for the Jedi to win
-So Luke finally comes up with this plan. The KoR are defeated. Kylo tragically dies (no redemption). Luke dies similar to TLJ. Finn and Rey survive and the galaxy goes on
​

Basically that's it. I didn't expect to write that much, but yeah. Obviously not fleshed out. I don't know where big space battles that you expect from a Star Wars Episode would fit into it. How are the Knights of Ren so well trained? I haven't the foggiest.

But yeah that's my basic not fleshed out idea for where they should've gone.

 

[godisawesome]

Here’s how I’d do it:

1. This is going to be a Skywalker family story with more than one grandkid.
2. Vader’s legacy and the war over whether it or the Skywalker one will be triumphant is the theme.
3. I am leaning on PT style “coincidence/will of the Force” for a lot of stuff.
4. Also, for the sake of consistency, I’m going to include a Leia-heavy and Leia-light scenario for IX; Carrie’s death was a tragedy regardless, but I’ve got an alternative to just trying to reuse her footage.

TFA happens exactly the same, but with these differences:

Spoiler

- Snoke is revealed to be the last surviving Inquisitor, trained by Vader, making him one part of Vader’s legacy like Kylo.

- Someone mentions that Finn is a high-potential Stormtrooper, and we show it a bit more.

- Luke has a more explicitly shocked and recognition focused reaction to Rey... because he is her father, but didn’t know he had a child until a girl who reminds him of his love appears.

TLJ is significsntly changed:

Spoiler

- Luke is Rey’s dad because Mama Skywalker didn’t tell him, and she disappeared in the Unknown Regions, with Luke eventually thinking she died when her Force signature died down.

-Rey is both happy to have a father and master ... and slowly having a wedge of discontent driven between her and Luke because they’re off to a very rocky start, with Rey’s abandonment issues flaring up occasionally, especially because Luke is obsessed with “fixing the Jedi...” and is clearly a little stir crazy and awkward round her.

- The Resistance is trying to really the New Republic’s remnants against the First Order... but the First Order is competent enough and has enough quality of battleships and weaponry to actually win a big damn battle sequence at the end of the film, which shatters the alliance Leia put together because *just* the right people got killed for her to be blamed as Vader’s daughter and Kylo’s mom.

-Finn ends up helping Poe plan an infiltration of the Unknown Regions and First Order territory to get an idea fo their actual logistical advantages and disadvantages (so we’re going with TFA’s idea of the FO already being a hidden Unknown Regions threat, but significantly smaller than the Empire was.)

-Finn and Poe end up aboard the Supremacy and Finn ends up rebuilding a relationship he had with some old squad mates, which will lead up to an eventual mutiny when they get immediately roped in with him when he gets captured as a “contamination of rebellion.”

-Rey *does* end up Force Skyping with Kylo, but due to her own inexperience with one of Luke’s lessons that helped him observe parts of the Galaxy. (She uses it to check up on Finn (and expresses attraction when doing it), Leia, etc., and makes the mistake of doing it to Kylo, who is trained enough to feel it and do it back.

-Rey and Kylo engage in another mental battle, but this time, Rey sees that Kylo turned on Luke because Snoke was driving him crazy with illusions and voices in an attempt to prepare him to be possessed by Snoke.

-Kylo doesn’t react well to this revelation, and has a breakdown that both turns him much more clearly and viciously against Snoke... but out of his genuine sorrow at Han’s death and rage at being used, he also gains a much stronger and more intrusive grasp of the dark side.

-Here’s the finale:

—-the Resistance/Republic Remnants try to launch an attack on the First Order’s headquarters, and ambush the Supremacy and its escort fleet.

—-Finn and Poe are imprisoned there, and are going to be executed with Finn’s falsely accused former squad, who now have a reason to join him.

—-Rey has a falling out with Luke when he says the wrong thing about why he didn’t go for her, and allies herself with Kylo to kill Snoke... but she also plans to kill Kylo, because that’s her very justified dark side temptation after TFA.

—-General Hux successfully arrives to defend and defeat the Republic Remnant fleet, but their ambush allows Finn and his allies to break free and wreak havoc aboard the Supremacy.

—- Finn faces and defeats Phasma in a much more brutal and tough fight that’s basically a Stormtrooper vs Stormtrooper brawl; Phasma worsens the disloyalty issue by demanding her men fire into some of their own allies to get at Finn and his squad, which means that when Phasma goes down... one of her troopers lets Finn go...

—-Kylo kills Smoke in a much more brutal fashion, and he and Rey clear out the throne room, but right as Kylo, still a dark sider, but somewhat more sympathetic, starts thinking about rejoining his mother and begging her forgiveness... Rey tries to strike him.

—-Kylo reacts badly, and without even using his lightsaber, shows off just how much more experienced and dangerous he is now by just Force Freezing her and rag-dolling her around the room... and is only paused when Finn drops a flash bang in the room and reunites with Rey to escape.

—- Rey worries Finn, because he sees her dark side aspect, and they end up confessing they love each other in a highly emotional argument... right as Kylo’s Knights of Ren make their appearance (hey, they’re a cool idea, and need a better entrance!) Also, the Knights are other brainwashed students of Luke’s.

—- Rey, injured but still strong, leads some of the prisoners into an escape ship, but the Knights cause enough chaos that Finn, trying to save some of his old squad mates, get separated as they all die, and has to sneak away separately onto another ship leaving the Supremacy.

-Rey, now fully compromised by the dark side, bitter and beaten, ends up back at Leia’s now depressingly abandoned headquarters (everyone heard that Kylo Ren has taken over the First Order, and some of them think she was helping her son with a coup). Luke is three and hugging Leia, but we get another quiet look between him and Rey, with Rey clearly being ashamed and angry, and stomping off on her own.

-Finn crashes on a planet in the Unknown Regions, and is rescued while unconscious again by a strange older woman wearing a dark outfit that still resembles Rey’s from Jakku (visually only; she’s got a scavenged outfit in darker colors, basically.)

“Rise of Skywalker” is an entirely different movie (and considering how spoilery the titles of Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi are, I don’t think the very obvious meaning of it should be considered bad.)

Spoiler

-Rey is a very somber and serious character months later. She’s clearly regretting her dark side actions, but she’s also cut herself off from Luke, has trouble being in the same room as him, and is very worried about Finn, who seeks having trouble trying to find.

-Kylo rules as an also bitter but vengeful Supreme Leader from Vader’s castle on Mustafar, which is partially broken, jus like his mental state. He’s gone a bit MacBeth, and is being haunted by his guilt and his sense of being imprisoned by his actions (think “I am in blood so deep that returning were as tedious as continuing on.”) He’s also still hearing voices... Snoke still haunts him as well as his hallucinations of Vader’s voice.

-Luke and Leia are very worried and a little worn, with Leia being the strong one of the two of them.

-Poe and the Resistance allied to Leia now have plenty of contacts in the First Order Stormtrooper Corps, and are slowing down the First Order’s piecemeal advance across the Galaxy with sabotage, which has caused Kylo to have his loyal Stormtroopers dressed in new red armor, as he no longer trusts the other troopers. Finn’s story has spread, but his disappearance has allowed the Fo to declare him dead.

-Finn is in fact alive in the Unknown Regions, and his new care taker is... Mara Jade, Luke’s wife form Legends, though significantly modified to fit a different story and different continuity. They’re trying to figure out a way off planet without being caught; Mara has hid herself in the Force as well because of Snoke hunting her, explaining why Luke couldn’t find her.

-One of Kylo’s Knights discovers Mara and Finn, so Kylo sets a trap for Rey and Luke. When Rey and Luke go after them, we get a scene of them quietly clearing the air in the ship, with Rey confessing she knows she screwed up and wants to avoid the dark side, and Luke encouraging her and solidifying their familial bond... and if you’re hearing funeral music in the background, you can probably guess what’s coming.

-The Knights ambush Luke, Rey, Finn and Mara. Luke actually shows off how dangerous he could be here, being a light side equivalent of Vader towards them, even shaking one’s dedication to the dark side in a reverse of Luke being driven towards the dark side by Vader.

-But, as you can probably guess, Luke does end up dead at Kylo’s hands, pulling off an Obi-Wan as he passes. Rey is enraged, but desperately trying to avoid the dark side, and they manage to escape when some of Hux’s regular Stormtroopers quietly sneak them out.

-Kylo is enraged at Hux’s failure to keep his men under control, and even though Hux is a competent commander, orders him - and his men - killed. The red Stormtroopers do it... and now a Stormtrooper Rebellion will happen.

-Where Leia would and should be the one who ends up helping Rey here and healing her heart a bit to get ready for the final conflict, we now have Mara to pull that duty as well. Rey desperately wants to hurt and kill Kylo, but desperately fears the dark side.

-She and Finn also quietly reconnect and comfort each other with their love. Yeah, its sappy, but how gives a damn? And this is all part of my evil plan to have Finn exit the series as a Skywalker as well! Mwa-hahahahahahaha!!!

-Kylo is ordering a massive suppression assault to finish off most of the remaining holdouts and establish First Order rule over the Galaxy, starting over Coruscant with the Supremacy opening fire upon any part of the city that doesn’t surrender.

-...But our heroes are here. Rey and Finn hijack the bridge of the Suoremacy, and use its broadcaster to have have Finn trigger a gigantic Stormtrooper mutiny and to call all anti-First Order forces to fight now. Leia knows people won’t obey her... but will they stand with her against the First Order and honor the sacrifices of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Yup.

-We see Stormtroopers vs Stormtroopers, ragtag fleets vs Armadas, it’s not a single battle but several. And Kylo and his Knights move to stop it. And Rey is waiting. When they enter the ship, it jumps to hyperspace so that no one else can join the fight.

-Rey, with help from Mara (she is a Jedi trainee herself) and Finn (so he can get some cool fights here) manage to take out most of the Knights one by one with non-lethal attacks. But Rey and Kylo engage in a duel in Kylo’s trophy room, before the helmet of Vader, and Kylo begins to get the upper hand both physically and emotionally as it gets more vicious.

-Rey gets frozen by Kylo again, but she centers herself, focuses on what gives her greater serenity than even the Jedi Code - that she was loved by her father, and is loved by others. She manages to break free, and she breaks both their lightsabers. Their final fight is a mental one inside their minds.

-Rey receives aid from the Force Ghosts here, and we can see them, and she basically helps them perform an exorcism and cleansing of Kylo’s mind... leaving a crying, sorrowful, and painfully sane Ben Solo in their wake.

-Still the fight between the two factions has resulted in part of the ship starting to collapse and fall apart in hyperspace. Everyone still alive tries to an escape pod. In the chaos, Finn almost dies... but is pulled back but he combined efforts of Rey and Ben on opposite sides of the exploding room, and Kylo separated.

-Our heroes’ pod exits hyperspace, is almost dead... but Rey manages to restart it (it’s the compressor) and they survive. We see the wreckage of the Supremacy fall out of the sky on a cold wintery planet, and a burned but good Ben Solo crawls out, looks towards the sky in need of a purpose, then hears someone call for help, frees them, sees them react in horror at seeing him, grabs some scraps, and goes off into the cold to live in exile and try and recover his soul.

-Rey and Mara manage to heal some of the other Knights, and it’s established that Kylo used them so little, and they were so broken and brainwashed themselves that it’s considered to be reasonable to perhaps consider paroling them in the far future to help Rey and others.

-The Galaxy is still at war and in chaos... but the First Order is dead as a single group, the New Republic is reforming, and they need Jedi. We exit as Rey begins training her first possible students, under the watchful eye of her mother her aunt, and then her father and grandfather.

 

[Tg11]

Here’s how I’d do it:

1. This is going to be a Skywalker family story with more than one grandkid.
2. Vader’s legacy and the war over whether it or the Skywalker one will be triumphant is the theme.
3. I am leaning on PT style “coincidence/will of the Force” for a lot of stuff.
4. Also, for the sake of consistency, I’m going to include a Leia-heavy and Leia-light scenario for IX; Carrie’s death was a tragedy regardless, but I’ve got an alternative to just trying to reuse her footage.

TFA happens exactly the same, but with these differences:

Spoiler

- Snoke is revealed to be the last surviving Inquisitor, trained by Vader, making him one part of Vader’s legacy like Kylo.

- Someone mentions that Finn is a high-potential Stormtrooper, and we show it a bit more.

- Luke has a more explicitly shocked and recognition focused reaction to Rey... because he is her father, but didn’t know he had a child until a girl who reminds him of his love appears.

TLJ is significsntly changed:

Spoiler

- Luke is Rey’s dad because Mama Skywalker didn’t tell him, and she disappeared in the Unknown Regions, with Luke eventually thinking she died when her Force signature died down.

-Rey is both happy to have a father and master ... and slowly having a wedge of discontent driven between her and Luke because they’re off to a very rocky start, with Rey’s abandonment issues flaring up occasionally, especially because Luke is obsessed with “fixing the Jedi...” and is clearly a little stir crazy and awkward round her.

- The Resistance is trying to really the New Republic’s remnants against the First Order... but the First Order is competent enough and has enough quality of battleships and weaponry to actually win a big damn battle sequence at the end of the film, which shatters the alliance Leia put together because *just* the right people got killed for her to be blamed as Vader’s daughter and Kylo’s mom.

-Finn ends up helping Poe plan an infiltration of the Unknown Regions and First Order territory to get an idea fo their actual logistical advantages and disadvantages (so we’re going with TFA’s idea of the FO already being a hidden Unknown Regions threat, but significantly smaller than the Empire was.)

-Finn and Poe end up aboard the Supremacy and Finn ends up rebuilding a relationship he had with some old squad mates, which will lead up to an eventual mutiny when they get immediately roped in with him when he gets captured as a “contamination of rebellion.”

-Rey *does* end up Force Skyping with Kylo, but due to her own inexperience with one of Luke’s lessons that helped him observe parts of the Galaxy. (She uses it to check up on Finn (and expresses attraction when doing it), Leia, etc., and makes the mistake of doing it to Kylo, who is trained enough to feel it and do it back.

-Rey and Kylo engage in another mental battle, but this time, Rey sees that Kylo turned on Luke because Snoke was driving him crazy with illusions and voices in an attempt to prepare him to be possessed by Snoke.

-Kylo doesn’t react well to this revelation, and has a breakdown that both turns him much more clearly and viciously against Snoke... but out of his genuine sorrow at Han’s death and rage at being used, he also gains a much stronger and more intrusive grasp of the dark side.

-Here’s the finale:

—-the Resistance/Republic Remnants try to launch an attack on the First Order’s headquarters, and ambush the Supremacy and its escort fleet.

—-Finn and Poe are imprisoned there, and are going to be executed with Finn’s falsely accused former squad, who now have a reason to join him.

—-Rey has a falling out with Luke when he says the wrong thing about why he didn’t go for her, and allies herself with Kylo to kill Snoke... but she also plans to kill Kylo, because that’s her very justified dark side temptation after TFA.

—-General Hux successfully arrives to defend and defeat the Republic Remnant fleet, but their ambush allows Finn and his allies to break free and wreak havoc aboard the Supremacy.

—- Finn faces and defeats Phasma in a much more brutal and tough fight that’s basically a Stormtrooper vs Stormtrooper brawl; Phasma worsens the disloyalty issue by demanding her men fire into some of their own allies to get at Finn and his squad, which means that when Phasma goes down... one of her troopers lets Finn go...

—-Kylo kills Smoke in a much more brutal fashion, and he and Rey clear out the throne room, but right as Kylo, still a dark sider, but somewhat more sympathetic, starts thinking about rejoining his mother and begging her forgiveness... Rey tries to strike him.

—-Kylo reacts badly, and without even using his lightsaber, shows off just how much more experienced and dangerous he is now by just Force Freezing her and rag-dolling her around the room... and is only paused when Finn drops a flash bang in the room and reunites with Rey to escape.

—- Rey worries Finn, because he sees her dark side aspect, and they end up confessing they love each other in a highly emotional argument... right as Kylo’s Knights of Ren make their appearance (hey, they’re a cool idea, and need a better entrance!) Also, the Knights are other brainwashed students of Luke’s.

—- Rey, injured but still strong, leads some of the prisoners into an escape ship, but the Knights cause enough chaos that Finn, trying to save some of his old squad mates, get separated as they all die, and has to sneak away separately onto another ship leaving the Supremacy.

-Rey, now fully compromised by the dark side, bitter and beaten, ends up back at Leia’s now depressingly abandoned headquarters (everyone heard that Kylo Ren has taken over the First Order, and some of them think she was helping her son with a coup). Luke is three and hugging Leia, but we get another quiet look between him and Rey, with Rey clearly being ashamed and angry, and stomping off on her own.

-Finn crashes on a planet in the Unknown Regions, and is rescued while unconscious again by a strange older woman wearing a dark outfit that still resembles Rey’s from Jakku (visually only; she’s got a scavenged outfit in darker colors, basically.)

“Rise of Skywalker” is an entirely different movie (and considering how spoilery the titles of Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi are, I don’t think the very obvious meaning of it should be considered bad.)

Spoiler

-Rey is a very somber and serious character months later. She’s clearly regretting her dark side actions, but she’s also cut herself off from Luke, has trouble being in the same room as him, and is very worried about Finn, who seeks having trouble trying to find.

-Kylo rules as an also bitter but vengeful Supreme Leader from Vader’s castle on Mustafar, which is partially broken, jus like his mental state. He’s gone a bit MacBeth, and is being haunted by his guilt and his sense of being imprisoned by his actions (think “I am in blood so deep that returning were as tedious as continuing on.”) He’s also still hearing voices... Snoke still haunts him as well as his hallucinations of Vader’s voice.

-Luke and Leia are very worried and a little worn, with Leia being the strong one of the two of them.

-Poe and the Resistance allied to Leia now have plenty of contacts in the First Order Stormtrooper Corps, and are slowing down the First Order’s piecemeal advance across the Galaxy with sabotage, which has caused Kylo to have his loyal Stormtroopers dressed in new red armor, as he no longer trusts the other troopers. Finn’s story has spread, but his disappearance has allowed the Fo to declare him dead.

-Finn is in fact alive in the Unknown Regions, and his new care taker is... Mara Jade, Luke’s wife form Legends, though significantly modified to fit a different story and different continuity. They’re trying to figure out a way off planet without being caught; Mara has hid herself in the Force as well because of Snoke hunting her, explaining why Luke couldn’t find her.

-One of Kylo’s Knights discovers Mara and Finn, so Kylo sets a trap for Rey and Luke. When Rey and Luke go after them, we get a scene of them quietly clearing the air in the ship, with Rey confessing she knows she screwed up and wants to avoid the dark side, and Luke encouraging her and solidifying their familial bond... and if you’re hearing funeral music in the background, you can probably guess what’s coming.

-The Knights ambush Luke, Rey, Finn and Mara. Luke actually shows off how dangerous he could be here, being a light side equivalent of Vader towards them, even shaking one’s dedication to the dark side in a reverse of Luke being driven towards the dark side by Vader.

-But, as you can probably guess, Luke does end up dead at Kylo’s hands, pulling off an Obi-Wan as he passes. Rey is enraged, but desperately trying to avoid the dark side, and they manage to escape when some of Hux’s regular Stormtroopers quietly sneak them out.

-Kylo is enraged at Hux’s failure to keep his men under control, and even though Hux is a competent commander, orders him - and his men - killed. The red Stormtroopers do it... and now a Stormtrooper Rebellion will happen.

-Where Leia would and should be the one who ends up helping Rey here and healing her heart a bit to get ready for the final conflict, we now have Mara to pull that duty as well. Rey desperately wants to hurt and kill Kylo, but desperately fears the dark side.

-She and Finn also quietly reconnect and comfort each other with their love. Yeah, its sappy, but how gives a damn? And this is all part of my evil plan to have Finn exit the series as a Skywalker as well! Mwa-hahahahahahaha!!!

-Kylo is ordering a massive suppression assault to finish off most of the remaining holdouts and establish First Order rule over the Galaxy, starting over Coruscant with the Supremacy opening fire upon any part of the city that doesn’t surrender.

-...But our heroes are here. Rey and Finn hijack the bridge of the Suoremacy, and use its broadcaster to have have Finn trigger a gigantic Stormtrooper mutiny and to call all anti-First Order forces to fight now. Leia knows people won’t obey her... but will they stand with her against the First Order and honor the sacrifices of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker? Yup.

-We see Stormtroopers vs Stormtroopers, ragtag fleets vs Armadas, it’s not a single battle but several. And Kylo and his Knights move to stop it. And Rey is waiting. When they enter the ship, it jumps to hyperspace so that no one else can join the fight.

-Rey, with help from Mara (she is a Jedi trainee herself) and Finn (so he can get some cool fights here) manage to take out most of the Knights one by one with non-lethal attacks. But Rey and Kylo engage in a duel in Kylo’s trophy room, before the helmet of Vader, and Kylo begins to get the upper hand both physically and emotionally as it gets more vicious.

-Rey gets frozen by Kylo again, but she centers herself, focuses on what gives her greater serenity than even the Jedi Code - that she was loved by her father, and is loved by others. She manages to break free, and she breaks both their lightsabers. Their final fight is a mental one inside their minds.

-Rey receives aid from the Force Ghosts here, and we can see them, and she basically helps them perform an exorcism and cleansing of Kylo’s mind... leaving a crying, sorrowful, and painfully sane Ben Solo in their wake.

-Still the fight between the two factions has resulted in part of the ship starting to collapse and fall apart in hyperspace. Everyone still alive tries to an escape pod. In the chaos, Finn almost dies... but is pulled back but he combined efforts of Rey and Ben on opposite sides of the exploding room, and Kylo separated.

-Our heroes’ pod exits hyperspace, is almost dead... but Rey manages to restart it (it’s the compressor) and they survive. We see the wreckage of the Supremacy fall out of the sky on a cold wintery planet, and a burned but good Ben Solo crawls out, looks towards the sky in need of a purpose, then hears someone call for help, frees them, sees them react in horror at seeing him, grabs some scraps, and goes off into the cold to live in exile and try and recover his soul.

-Rey and Mara manage to heal some of the other Knights, and it’s established that Kylo used them so little, and they were so broken and brainwashed themselves that it’s considered to be reasonable to perhaps consider paroling them in the far future to help Rey and others.

-The Galaxy is still at war and in chaos... but the First Order is dead as a single group, the New Republic is reforming, and they need Jedi. We exit as Rey begins training her first possible students, under the watchful eye of her mother her aunt, and then her father and grandfather.

Absolutely brilliant

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

The Force Awakens
-Ben kills Han outside Maz's castle. Han shares last words with Leia. And Poe is the one who accompanies Finn to Starkiller, the only pilot capable of making the jump.
-Chewie sacrifices himself in the Falcon to destroy Starkiller and severely wound Kylo Ren.

The Last Jedi
-No Rose. Poe goes with Finn on his journey. Along the way, they don't encounter the enslaved fathiers but rather a group of kids being taken from their families to become Stormtroopers. Finn and Poe butt heads about whether it's worth it to make a detour.
-There's no master codebreaker in the casino. DJ is the master codebreaker.
-Luke's death is clearer. He doesn't say "see you around kid". It makes it sound like Luke outsmarted Ben and isn't going to die, and then the next scene he dies. Just undercuts it IMO. Instead he says something about how Ben's hatred blinds him, and Luke tells him not to give up on hope. Luke is giving his life to give people hope.
-There's a Palpatine tease at the end, the transmission.

The Rise of Skywalker
-Tales of Luke's heroism in TLJ at Crait is what’s threatening Kylo Ren's power across the galaxy, not Palpatine randomly popping up.
-Start the movie with Kylo laying waste to planets like Coruscant who defy his mad rule. Kylo in his desperation and paranoia turns to an ancient power he doesn't fully understand, and eventually the threat of Palpatine is brought back via some sort of possession (either himself or Rey being the victim).
-In the Resistance, Poe and Finn’s friendship is tested over a differing ideology on how to handle the FO. The Resistance get their hands on their own superweapon in their desperation, with Poe hellbent on wiping out the FO (we learn of his family’s death by the hands of the Empire) but with Finn standing in opposition, knowing that much of the FO are just kids like himself who had no choice in the matter. In the end, Finn lays down his life to save thousands of Stormtrooper kids, which ends up inspiring the Stormtroopers within the First Order to rebel or lay down their arms, breaking the cycle of violence.
-Ben or Rey uses a green saber at the end.
-Ben doesn’t die, but he’s exiled on Ach-To. And he spends the rest of his days trying to bring a comatose Rey back to life after she almost gave hers to save his. Finn takes her saber and begins to learn the ways of the force (on his own).

We pick up with the new trilogy when Rey finally wakes.

 

[Tg11]

The Force Awakens
-Ben kills Han outside Maz's castle. Han shares last words with Leia. And Poe is the one who accompanies Finn to Starkiller, the only pilot capable of making the jump.
-Chewie sacrifices himself in the Falcon to destroy Starkiller and severely wound Kylo Ren.

The Last Jedi
-No Rose. Poe goes with Finn on his journey. Along the way, they don't encounter the enslaved fathiers but rather a group of kids being taken from their families to become Stormtroopers. Finn and Poe butt heads about whether it's worth it to make a detour.
-There's no master codebreaker in the casino. DJ is the master codebreaker.
-Luke's death is clearer. He doesn't say "see you around kid". It makes it sound like Luke outsmarted Ben and isn't going to die, and then the next scene he dies. Just undercuts it IMO. Instead he says something about how Ben's hatred blinds him, and Luke tells him not to give up on hope. Luke is giving his life to give people hope.
-There's a Palpatine tease at the end, the transmission.

The Rise of Skywalker
-Tales of Luke's heroism in TLJ at Crait is what’s threatening Kylo Ren's power across the galaxy, not Palpatine randomly popping up.
-Start the movie with Kylo laying waste to planets like Coruscant who defy his mad rule. Kylo in his desperation and paranoia turns to an ancient power he doesn't fully understand, and eventually the threat of Palpatine is brought back via some sort of possession (either himself or Rey being the victim).
-In the Resistance, Poe and Finn’s friendship is tested over a differing ideology on how to handle the FO. The Resistance get their hands on their own superweapon in their desperation, with Poe hellbent on wiping out the FO (we learn of his family’s death by the hands of the Empire) but with Finn standing in opposition, knowing that much of the FO are just kids like himself who had no choice in the matter. In the end, Finn lays down his life to save thousands of Stormtrooper kids, which ends up inspiring the Stormtroopers within the First Order to rebel or lay down their arms, breaking the cycle of violence.
-Ben or Rey uses a green sabre at the end.
-Ben doesn’t die, but he’s exiled on Ach-To. And he spends the rest of his days trying to bring a comatose Rey back to life after she almost gave hers to save his. Finn takes her sabre and begins to learn the ways of the force (on his own).

We pick up with the new trilogy when Rey finally wakes.

Again another brilliant write up...I love this

 

[sueb1863]

Have Palpatine's reappearance occur at the end of TLJ as a cliffhanger. Starting it all off with "Oh, by the way, Palpatine's back!" in the crawl seemed too abrupt.

 

[jmc]

The first thing I would have done is mapped out a threat for the trilogy. That threat would have been some type of entity who's goal was the destruction of the Force itself. Let's say that person is Snoke. Snoke, fed up with the centuries of fighting between the Jedi and the Sith discovers the existence of some type of device or organic element that could eliminate the Force entirely, simultaneously destroying both the Sith and the Jedi, as well as the many force sensitive people in the galaxy. The reason I think this idea would have worked is because it shifts the focus away from whole Dark Side vs Light Side thing giving both a common enemy.

It could also be used to explain why Luke hid himself and why Ben turned. Luke could have discovered this Force destructive element/device in his travels, and in a bid to keep the knowledge safe, and his family safe, disbands the new Jedi order he created and goes into hiding. This would in turn have left Ben turning to the Dark Side out of feeling betrayed, having him kill all of Luke's students, except one - a young child named Rey. Young Rey is the lone survivor who is rescued and left on Jakku in hiding, where over time she forgets who she was and what she was.

Ben turns to Snoke who lures Ben to his side, who has creates an army out of the last embers of the old Empire. The First Order. But Snoke's ultimate mission is to not bring about the old Empire as Ben believes, The First Order and Starkiller base isn't even meant to win, they are merely tools to lure Luke Skywalker out of hiding. Knowing Luke couldn't resist facing down an old enemy again, Snoke's ultimate goal is to capture him in order to obtain the information as to the whereabouts of the device/element.

That's your foundation for the whole trilogy.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Finn would've gotten all of the Resistance hero story to himself with Poe being very supporting and his boyfriend.

Rey would've stayed a nobody

TROS would've been about Hux staging a coup and trying to overthrow Kylo as Supreme Leader leading to an even more volatile First Order. Ben turns and helps the Resistance defeat them.

Ben Solo would've lived and he and Rey together are what brings balance to the force. No Sith, no Jedis, just force sensitive people.

 

[I'm Venom]

It's pretty simple for me, have Luke face off with Kylo for real at the end of TLJ, and even though I understand the reasoning behind him having the blue saber, I still would’'ve preferred the green one. Just like Obi Wan sacrificing himself in New Hope, Luke allows Kylo to strike him dead so the Resistance can escape from Crait in the Falcon.

Rey dies. After Luke dies in TLJ, Rey follows her master's example and sacrifices herself, and Ben lives would be my preference - so he can spend his life trying to make amends for his past - and he keeps Leia's saber truly the Rise of Skywalker.