I imagine that the film will begin 30 years after Return of the Jedi; as the actors are thirty years older and Luke's son, Ben Skywalker, would be about the age that he was in the original trilogy. Queen Leia will have fallen to the dark side and risen to the seat of Supreme Chancellor in the New Republic. Darth Sidious would be secretly resurrected via a cloned body and would take a new apprentice in Jacen Solo (below), whom I would picture wearing a suit that is reminescent of the visage of Vader, though with some accents of royal blue. In the absence of Luke Skywalker, who will have distanced his new Jedi order from the politics and power of the Republic; Jacen Solo would lead the fight for the Republic in the Swarm War (or some facsimile of it). Boba Fett should escape the Sarlacc and go on to kill Leia. By falling into the Sarlacc pit, Fett was likely spared the death he might have incurred had he escaped the battle on Tatooine and returned to the side of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. It is because of Luke that Fett survives to return and totally change galactic history. With the death of Leia (in the first film); Jacen Solo (Darth Caedus) would rise to power in the state of emergency and the Sith would once again rule the galaxy with an iron fist. Darth Caedus' identity, as the son of Leia and Han would not be revealed until the second film. It would be something that some of the characters know, but the audience; like Ben Skywalker, is in the dark. The plot needs to revolve around a group of college age kids; Ben Skywalker and Jaina Solo, upgrading and rolling around the galaxy in either the Outrider or the Millenium Falcon. It is key that the characters pilot a singular ship, with a name, through all three films; and that the movies heavily involve the characters flying around in that ship getting into trouble.
Yeah, so stupid they made three Lord of the Rings films and eight Harry Potter films on the same plot.
Yeah, no more cloning please. No second-rate retreads. The Second Death Star was bad enough... imagine up something new rather than reusing ideas, I say.
A good villain would be Leia or Luke turning bad and have a sibling duel and then Clone Vader appears and lays the smack down on both but is beaten by Ben Skywalker who is Obi Wans name sake and like Obi Wan the force is always with him.
It is not the same on the grounds that we never saw Sauron or Voldemort the first time they reared their heads (since there weren't any books set in that era). We did with Palpatine though.
How is it lazy? It's a classic theme of resurrection and there is a built-in mythology of cloning and of force users manifesting after death in spirit form. There are already rumors of Anakin Skywalker being resurrected. Without Sidious returning and taking on a new apprentice; there really is no more Sith and thus no good reason to make three (or six) new movies. The torch has to be passed on to Jacen Solo. The comics and books have failed to create a new villain to fill the place of Vader or Palpatine. The Vong are too alien and don't use the force; and without Sidious, there is no master of the dark side that can challenge Luke Skywalker.
Thrawn has summoned you to his chambers. And the Vong are too alien? In Star Wars something is too alien? That's a new one. And there's a badass connection (or lack of it) between the Vong and the Force, much more inventive than a resurrected Sidious, which was done in Dark Empire and about 3 more times after that. It's fine for books and comics and even series, but not for new cinematic endeavours, which are limited in quantity and screentime. It's a terrible idea in any way I can think of. And I can bet my house and parents that they won't do it, so we're all good.
Yeah, I wouldn't mind seeing Thrawn. And the Vong are so insane that it can work! However, they're so insane that it can also be a disaster. Do the Vong have a main leader type?
Yes. They have a Vader figure, General Tsavong Lah. They have an Emperor figure, Supreme Overlord Shimrra. But the most interesting characters are Shimrra's jester, Onimi, and a John Baptist/behind-the-scenes guy/recruiter/demagogue figure called Nom motherf**kin' Anor. Yes, it is his full name, 'cause that's how awesome he is.
Thrawn would be amazing as a master strategist. But a Vong invasion would be insane, especially if they followed the very basic points of the books.
I like the idea of a menace similar to the Vong in EU. Doesnt have to be exactly like how they are described in the books, but something along those lines could be interesting. It's a change from the jedi vs sith we have seen until now.
Even if resurrection weren't an overdone theme, I wouldn't want him to return. We've seen enough of the Emperor. Give us some fresh faces.
In the words of Yoda, "You must unlearn what you have learned." I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Octoberist, bringing back Palpatine is lazy, not very creative, and downright boring. It's also something I have no interest whatsoever in seeing. I'd be willing to bet that we aren't going to see very much, if anything at all, that happened in the EU. It's entirely possible that a few characters introduced in the EU may pop up, but if any do, I wouldn't expect them to be major players. As much as I love some of the characters from the EU(Thrawn... Mara Jade... etc), I just don't think we're going to see any of them in any of these films. People who are expecting to see said characters are only setting themselves up for a disappointment. I think we'll most likely get a new villain of some sort. I could see them going with a new Sith Lord... someone who was a secret apprentice of Vader or Palpatine, maybe someone who was a Sith Lord in hiding and who Palps was unaware of... Hell, maybe even an apprentice of Luke's who has gone over to the dark side without anyone noticing. It's also possible we could get a new class of force users. Not Sith, but another order that has been in hiding and are also adept in using the dark side of the force and are possibly more evil than the Sith. Of all the routes they could go, I prefer the last one the most. Also, though I do expect that the protagonist(s) will be the descendants of Han and Leia or Luke(and whoever), I think people need forget what they know of the children they had in the EU. Most likely the protagonist(s) will be Han and Leia's son or daughter(probably daughter and will likely be a brand new character or characters... i.e. no Jaina, Jacen, or Ben) with Luke serving as their mentor(I don't think Han and Leia will feature heavily at all).
Thrawn is the most interesting EU villain, but he is not even a Sith lord and this film will be at least 30 years after the struggle for power after the fall of Palpatine. You must have a master for there to ever be Sith again in the movies; otherwise you've just got a whiny Jedi with a grudge and that is what I think is lazy. Sidious (or some older Sith) must return for the knowledge of the dark side to be passed on. The only other option is to retcon the rule of two and tell the audience there were other pairs of Sith lords in the galaxy that only surfaced after Sidious' death. I think the Vong are a hot mess.
Not necessarely imo. What happens with the sith could be the same thing that happens with the jedi order: they have to start all over again. Pure speculation in my part naturally, but i doubt if Luke rebuilds the jedi order in this new trilogy, it would look exactly like what we saw in the PT. I dont think Obi-Wan & other force ghosties would be able to pass on every single knowledge the jedi order had to him. In some instances Luke would just have to do what he considers best given the circumstances. There could even be holocrons with some knowldege somewhere. Same thing could happen with the sith, if they indeed return as the menace.
Begin with a new character who's relatively distant from what happened in the OT. He's heard of what happened, but doesn't know it, and certainly doesn't know he's about to get involved in a massive adventure. He(OR SHE!) considers a lot of it silly legends, and certainly doesn't grow with Luke's poster on the wall. It's been an unspecified number of years, and the Empire has been defeated. People have sort of taken for granted what happened. But then the new thing happens and our young hero's destiny is revealed.
Yeah it has to be reflective of out reality in how kids the modern era will dismiss the previous generations until they wise up. It'll be nice to have a lead character who is a bit of a cynic, and disconnected to what has happened in the past. Thats why A New Hope is great: It's a swashbuckling epic with a group of rebels- unknowingly some with a common cause - go against an evil empire. I don't want to be obligated to stick to EU for verbatim (thus making it an adaption than an orginal vision) nor do I want to stick to just the offsprings of the Skywalker/Solo clan. Not to say I don't want elements t characters from the EU, but lets make this feel fresh.