Films and Fiction

There’s a rumour going around again that the Star Wars movie set to focus on Rey has been put on hold. Well, that might or might not be true, but either way, it seems like the only rational thing to do with this film.

The film was first announced over two years ago, with Daisy Ridley coming back to the role of Rey, and unknown documentary filmmaker Charmeen Obaid-Chinoy set to direct. Since then it’s been delayed and suffered multiple problems, with different writers joining and leaving the project, including Steven Knight, rumours it could be made into a trilogy, and the scrubbing of its expected release date. But now it seems unlikely to ever arrive at all.

This is nothing new for Star Wars, which has seen a long list of projects announced that were either cancelled or never went into production. Directors like Patty Jenkins and Taika Watiti have been supposed to get their own films, but nothing has been heard of them for years. Now it seems that the franchise is focused on two main movie projects: James Mangold’s story about the foundation of the Jedi, and Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, directed by Shawn Levy, and expected to arrive in 2027.

If the Rey movie is indeed finished, then that would be for the best for everyone involved and for the franchise too. It was always an odd choice to make a movie based on this character. Rey might have led the sequel trilogy, but those movies are not universally praised, and her character was heavily criticized for being seen as a “Mary Sue”, never seeming to suffer any setbacks or sufferings, never having to learn hard lessons, and being naturally gifted in every way. So why would anyone be interested in a movie showing her attempting to rebuild the Jedi after Palpatine’s second defeat?

It would be a hard sell not least because there’s nothing to build from. Among the worst things about the sequels was the lack of world building. After three movies, I’ve still no idea what’s going on in this new era. What’s the status quo? Who’s in charge politically? What’s the Jedi’s relationship with the New Republic? I don’t know and don’t really care, because those movies didn’t make me care, and there’s nothing there that I’d like to see more of.

With both the original and prequel trilogies there’s so much to explore, as was done with shows like The Clone Wars and Rebels, not so with the sequels. What characters are there that could populate a new movie? Han, Luke and Leia are gone, and even if the actors wanted to come back, Finn and Poe have little enough character building in those three films, and hardly even interact with Rey in any way other than a very unconvincing friendship.

It’s not like the other trilogies were there’s a very recognizable look or feel that’s easy to copy for a spin-off. Most of what the sequels did was just stealing things from the OT and either making them bigger, or doing a cheap rip-off, hence why the First Order have Stormtroopers, the Resistance still fly X-Wings, etc. There’s nothing unique about them, no worlds that are intriguing, no tech or ships that are cool in their own right.

On top of that, why would I be interested in Rey’s story, when the sequels did so little work to set it up? “Who are her parents?” “Her parents are nobody?” “Her grandfather is Palpatine!” It was all over the place, so there’s really nothing there, no driving force behind her life, unlike Luke, who was driven because he wanted to be a Jedi like his father, then when he knew his true identity, was willing to die to save him from the dark side.

What would be the focus? It wouldn’t be believable that Rey would fail as she never has before, and has no reason to doubt her abilities. There’s only that vague hint about the dark side that was never fully explored.

And naturally enough, it would also have to mention something of Luke and his own failures, which would mean more excuses to tear him apart, as the sad old former Jedi who almost murdered his nephew and literally couldn’t find any willing applicants for his own Jedi Order.

So why exactly was this movie ever announced, when there was so much against it? It’s been barely six years since the sequels ended with Rise of Skywalker, not nearly enough time for any nostalgia hype to build. It took twenty years for the prequels to be reevaluated, and I’m not even sure that will happen for Episodes VII to IX. They weren’t made by George Lucas so there’s no loyalty to the Maker’s vision, and the way they treated the original trio can never be fixed. There’s also been so much Star Wars media surrounding them, from Rogue One to The Mandalorian, that there’s no reason to look on them with a favourable light, just because they were the last SW releases we got.

It’s true that cancelling it would add the movie to the ever growing pile of projects that were announced then vanished forever, but sometimes it’s better to take that loss than the bigger one that would be inflicted at the box office. If it were up to me, I’d say to do this with all Star Wars films and shows in development. Give it some time away, make a plan, maybe keep things ticking over with new books and comics, but let the franchise (and the fans) have a rest. But that’s never going to happen as long as there’s the faintest glimmer of light–and cash–in this tired old IP.