So, there we go. Rise of Skywalker wrapped up a trilogy of trilogies in satisfying and exciting fashion, despite (almost inevitably) not being able to please everyone. Now that the nine-film arc is completed, what can we say about the franchise and where is Star Wars going from here?
The Original Trilogy
The original trilogy was of course a towering success in every sense. By using different writers and directors for each episode but retaining overall story control, Lucas managed to keep each part distinctive, while retaining a clear through-line of plot and “look”. For better or worse, A New Hope helped (along with Jaws) to invent blockbuster cinema and it remains a barn-storming action adventure film, exciting, well-told and lovingly constructed. The revelations and denouement of The Empire Strikes Back worked perfectly (far better than those of Avengers: Infinity War, to be honest, as we knew most if not all of those seeming calamities would soon be “fixed”), before we moved into the tonally lighter and narratively more upbeat Return of the Jedi. There are, of course tonal parallels between the rhythm of the original trilogy and George Lucas’s other beloved creation of that era, Indiana Jones, but that is something for another article.
The Prequel Trilogy
The rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker probably didn’t require three films, but in an age when even something as slight as The Hobbit gets a trilogy, we shouldn’t be surprised that this is how it went. Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith all have their moments and plus-points (the pod race, Duel of the Fates, Yoda with a lightsaber, Order 66), however fitting all of the backstory into the existing framework created by Episodes IV-VI proved too Herculean a task for Lucas’s admittedly limited screenwriting prowess and it would take until Rogue One for a film to seamlessly transition from the backstory into the beginning of the original trilogy without raising more questions than it answered.
The Sequel Trilogy
Given that Rise of Skywalker had not only one trilogy, but arguably three to wrap up, it is a wonder it didn’t wind up being twice the length of Return of the King and whatever misgivings one might have about the pacing, density of plot and the short shrift given to some supporting characters, it must be conceded that in view of the pressure Abrams was under, he performed (as both writer and director) admirably. Like Return of the Jedi before it, ROS wrapped up most of the trilogy’s loose ends, doesn’t need any further sequels, but has left room for further stories to be told about Finn, Rey and Poe.
Where are we headed next?
Given that Solo was a significant down-tick in terms of box office receipts compared to both Rogue One and the usual success of “proper” SW films, paired with a worrying recent history of director changes, Disney seems to be suddenly keeping its cards closer to its chest in terms of where the franchise goes from here. The consensus seems to be that the Skywalker Saga is done for the time being and that whatever stories remain to be told, they should be more along the lines of The Mandalorian.
With what feels like a flurry of creative differences and changes to directors (Lord and Miller on Solo, Colin Trevorrow on Episode IX, the aforementioned hostility towards Rian Johnson), the Star Wars universe feels far from settled. Whereas the MCU had 11 or 12 years of stability, creative control and box office success, Star Wars has had much more mixed success (both critically and commercially) and, much like the DCEU, seems uncertain about where its strengths lie, what audiences are interested in and therefore, where it is headed.
With the success of The Mandalorian on Disney+, the temptation will be to lean towards television, but the monstrous budget of a series like that means that even that option represents a significant risk. If the commercial success of the films had grown and grown, more films would have felt like a surer path to continued success, but it feels like SW is now in limbo.
It is certainly a universe (or at least a far-far-away galaxy) that is rich in characters, worlds and ideas, the question that remains is, can someone with enough creativity, drive and vision grab hold of it all and steer a successful path through the next decade?