BIGGIE'S PLACE

Has Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm improved Star Wars in the 9 years since George Lucas stepped aside?

And by “stepped aside”, I of course mean “sold his company for $4 billion and peaced out.” I suppose this would’ve been more numerically pleasing to write next year on the 10th anniversary, but I got the idea May 4th, 2021, Star Wars Day, and I wanna talk about the future of the Star Wars universe now before some of these new projects get finished and released.

This is a follow-up to my entry from November 11, 2012, called A New Hope: George Lucas Gives up Control of Star Wars. Looking back at that one now, it’s a fond tribute to the joy and excitement so many of us felt back then about the potential of where this beloved franchise could go under new management (and let’s face it, we all wanted it placed under new management). We’re coming up on a decade since Disney took the reigns, and I’ve frequently wondered why “Star Wars Day” hasn’t meant much to me over the years, despite the fact that the franchise is one of the primary reasons I love movies the way I do. I wondered when was the last time I got truly pumped up for a new Star Wars project (hint: it’s been a long time).

In these nine years, what have we fans received for our continued allegiance to Star Wars? Well, we’ve gotten five movies, only one of which was better than good (Rogue One) and one TV show on Disney+, The Mandalorian, which sways to and fro in quality between ridiculously simplistic to occasionally excellent. Most importantly, we got a disastrous trilogy concluding 9-film “Skywalker Saga” which splintered the fan base and ruined the canon. We’ve had talented filmmakers repeatedly fired from projects or leave before cameras ever rolled over “creative differences” with few, if any, details as to why ever being made public. But hey, 5 movies in 7 years ain’t bad. It took George Lucas 25 years to make 5 Star Wars movies.

Oh, and how did I forget – we’ve also gotten a THEME PARK out of the deal. Yippee.

Needless to say, this is not what I envisioned back in 2012.

I wanna preface any criticism or blame I place at Kathleen Kennedy‘s feet with this caveat: she remains one of the best producers in the history of movies. Most Star Wars fans who shit on her now probably had no idea who she was prior to 2015. To me, she seemed like a fantastic choice to take command of Lucasfilm.

Here are just some of the movies Kennedy produced before taking her current job: E.T., Jurassic Park, Twister, The Sixth Sense, A.I., Signs, Seabiscuit, War of the Worlds, Munich, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Lincoln. She’s been nominated for 8 Best Picture Oscars. She knows how to make movies. She should be in any filmmaking Hall of Fame. She is in mine.

The biggest L we as Star Wars fans have taken since 2012 is the “sequel trilogy” consisting of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. You know, the ones with the female protagonist who required minimal training to become the most powerful Jedi in history and the whiny, emo, beta Vader fanboy bitch as the main villain. In the opinion of all intelligent fans, Episodes VII-IX failed primarily because they did not have a big-picture plan going into The Force Awakens. It’s obvious now that they were more focused on simply getting new Star Wars movies out into the world and getting the box office into Disney’s wallet.

The idea that they would make The Force Awakens, then let another filmmaker come in and do whatever the fuck he pleased with the new characters and story on the middle film, and then somebody else has to come in and wrap up the story in the third movie…is nothing short of criminal creative negligence. I don’t care how much money the movies made. The plan of having no plan when it comes to one of the most important franchises in movie history was completely unacceptable. NOBODY who grasps the concept of storytelling loves all 3 of these movies. They clash in so many ways that no intelligent person could believe they work as a trilogy.

This final trilogy should’ve been incredible. If you were going to make episodes 7-9, you could. not. fuck them up. So what did they do? They fucked them up beyond the horrors of anyone’s sweatiest, bed-wetting nightmares.

I don’t want to re-litigate the entire sequel trilogy, but I’ll mention a few things that ground my gears the hardest. I knew J.J. Abrams loved nostalgia (see his two Star Trek movies), but I could not have fathomed the depths to which his sentimental proclivities would drag him. When I learned that the bad guys were gonna be this “First Order” (which is simply The Empire 2.0) and that they thought it would be a good idea to have ANOTHER planet-killing space station as their ultimate weapon almost brought me to tears. And not good tears. Acidic, angry tears. Maybe the third time will be the charm on the Death Star idea! Oh, and the protagonist dresses in tan rags, lives on a remote desert planet, and dreams of taking to the stars! One more thing, the new bad guy is a Force user with a red lightsaber who dresses in all black and wears a helmet that alters his voice. As Donald J. Trump would say, nobody has ever seen a thing like this before! I don’t go as far as others who say that Force Awakens is literally a New Hope remake, but the similarities are numerous enough where that argument has more validity than it ought to.

Thus has been my issue with most of Disney Star Wars. This universe is massive, allowing infinite possibilities for characters and stories, yet we continue to see the same things over and over again. And why? Because they believe longtime fans require fan service to enjoy these things. Fan service above all else. People like me apparently need to see and hear familiar things to derive any enjoyment out of new stories.

I enjoyed The Last Jedi, and think it’s the best of this trilogy, but it is FILLED with character issues and plot holes. I think Rian Johnson was the right director but the wrong writer. Even if he’d just had one co-writer I think it may have turned out better. It may not have mattered. The main issue remains that they didn’t have an overall plan from the outset. This is the one instance we have of Kathleen Kennedy and Disney letting one filmmaker do whatever he pleased with the story, so I can’t be totally mad. It just so happens I disagree with a lot of the decisions he made. I’m not one of these people who hates Rian Johnson now. Not at all. Just like Abrams, he’s a spectacular visual filmmaker and an excellent writer on his smaller films. But when Star Wars legend Mark Hamill publicly and repeatedly admits he didn’t like what you did with his character, something be wrong. And honestly, Johnson wrote the story into such a tiny corner at the end of his movie (where there are like 12 members of the Resistance left to fight the First Order) that there was almost no choice but to have the series conclude in a ridiculous manner.

The trilogy concludes with The Rise of Skywalker, the sloppiest, most non-sensical McGuffin chase I’ve ever seen. The idea of bringing back Palpatine, who could not have died in a more satisfying way in Return of the Jedi, seems to only be a response to The Last Jedi killing off Abram’s Palpatine stand-in, Supreme Leader Snoke (which remains one of the goofiest character names I’ve heard in a long time). I was thrilled when Rian Johnson killed him off in Last Jedi. Little did I know that in the end, J.J. would not be denied his bathos. I’d honestly rather have had Snoke survive than bring back a dead character that had no logical reason to be resurrected. Above all else, bringing the Emperor back ruins the power of Darth Vader‘s sacrifice, one of the most famous moments in the history of cinema. RU-INS IT.

But hey, Abrams can cut a great trailer, can he not?

All that said, we must give Abrams credit for the good things he did. No matter what you think of him as a writer, he is undoubtedly a masterful visualist. His two films have some spectacular images, camerawork, and visual effects set pieces. He puts George Lucas to shame in that department. He also brought back an emphasis on practical effects and real sets. He took Star Wars out of the green screen era and that standard has remained in place for every project that’s followed. I’m grateful for that.

Oddly enough, Jon Favreau has now replaced green screen with these virtual environments for The Mandalorian. It’s definitely an upgrade and fascinating to see in action, but it’s still fake. Favreau is a slave to VFX technology. Anyway, it’s important to acknowledge that not everything J.J. Abrams did was for the worst. I just wish he’d stop writing or even trying to come up with ideas at all. Simply hand him a great, fully polished script and let him do his thing. I think that’s his wheelhouse.

The fact that The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker are canon is insulting. These movies have ruined the immersion of Star Wars for me. I don’t want this bullshit to have occurred in the same universe of the original trilogy. I don’t accept it. But there it is anyway. You know how many hours I’ve spent watching YouTube videos breaking down what’s wrong with all 3 of these movies? TOO MANY FUCKING HOURS. I probably need therapy at this point.

Moving past the debacle that was the final trilogy…

-I don’t like the jumping back and forth in the timeline. Think about it. They’ve yet to make two films in a row that take place consecutively in the overall timeline. We started with The Force Awakens, then jumped way back in time for Rogue One, forward again for The Last Jedi, WAY WAY back again for Solo, and forward to the present for Rise of Skywalker. If you’re a newer Star Wars fan or a kid, I can see how following along could be discombobulating.

Speaking of Solo…

I always thought the “origin stories for classic Star Wars characters” concept was a terrible idea, but it was one of the first ideas that popped up after the Disney sale. We’d best be thankful Solo failed so miserably, because rumors of similar movies for Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Boba Fett would likely have become reality. Never was I more pleased than when they announced they were scrapping those ideas. Instead, we now have a Baby Yoda and an Old Boba Fett in one show, with a Kenobi TV show in the works. I do approve of the Kenobi show, particularly with Ewan McGregor involved and happy to be there. He’s a perfect age now to play an older version of the prequels Kenobi, and finding out some of what he did in that long isolation is a very interesting prospect.

Oddly enough, the Solo movie isn’t even terrible (it’s certainly better than Rise of Skywalker!), despite the nightmare its cast & crew suffered having to swap directors halfway through production. It had no reason whatsoever to exist, which people like me said all along. Putting all that money, effort, and talent into something so pointless is sad to see.

My chief concern arising from the creative failures of these movies is that the people in charge are now much less likely to allow writers and directors to take risks when making new Star Wars movies. With a universe this large and full of possibility, risk-taking should be encouraged. I feel like the prevailing inclination will be to try and give fans more of what they think we want when ironically, they’ve already tried that and it’s been a disaster. I hate to repeat myself, but the only “risk-taking” most Hollywood studios are into these days is trying to find ways to put more black, brown, and queer people into movies. Inclusion is great, but it’s not the same as making fresh storytelling choices. I don’t think it’s too crazy to ask them to attempt to do both.

Finally, there’s The Mandalorian, which for many has been Star Wars‘ savior these last couple of years. It’s got fans worshiping the ground writer/director/executive producer Jon Favreau walks on, which is depressing because he writes the show at a 5th-grade level, which is a whole other rant. Let’s just say despite his immense and immediate popularity, I think “Baby Yoda” is one of the worst decisions they’ve made (again, creatively). It turned Mandalorian from a show about a bounty hunter (which is what we all signed up for) into a show about a bounty hunter babysitter. He was nothing more than a distraction for a season and a half before they finally made him integral to the plot.

The Casualties of Creative Differences

I could never have imagined that Kathleen Kennedy would specialize in running talented writers and directors off of projects. It’s never made quite clear specifically why some of these people left their projects, so Kennedy is left to take the blame, rightly or wrongly. But one thing seems clear: this leadership group does not want filmmakers taking big creative chances (unless you’re Rian Johnson), which sucks.

Here are all the filmmakers who have left various Star Wars projects since the Disney takeover:

Josh Trank – It was never confirmed which project he was attached to, but most believe it was the Boba Fett movie. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence he left after his Fantastic Four reboot was DOA at the box office and word-of-mouth rapidly spread that he was difficult to work with on that set. This parting of ways didn’t bother me.

Gareth Edwards – Edwards still gets credit for making Rogue One, but he was taken off the project late in the game when the ending supposedly wasn’t working. Tony Gilroy was brought in to rewrite and reshoot a lot of the third act. This is a rare instance of such a transfer of creative control resulting in a really good movie. If you want to know what the original ending of the movie might have been, read HERE. I like what we got better.

–Phil Lord & Christopher Miller – The 21/22 Jump Street & Lego Movie directors were fired in the middle of shooting Solo and replaced by Ron Howard reportedly because the studio didn’t like their improvisational style and thought the film was going the wrong directional tonally by becoming, I dunno, too funny? I’m sorry, but if that was your concern, why fucking hire these guys in the first place? It’s not like they didn’t have a track record. Did they make false promises about the movie they’d deliver? This is mystifying to me. If you didn’t want their style, don’t hire them. You don’t hire Michael Bay and then fire him because there are too many explosions in the movie. Despite this, like I said, Solo wound up being okay, while being utterly superfluous at the same time.

Colin Trevorrow – After Jurassic World became a $2 billion hit, Trevorrow was a big get, eventually securing the Episode IX gig. The two sides apparently couldn’t agree on a script they liked and mutually parted ways, leading to J.J. Abrams returning to make The Rise of Skywalker, which he wasn’t planning on doing. Because what you always want for your massive movie with huge built-in expectations is a guy who doesn’t really want to be there.

If you want, you can find out exactly what would’ve happened in Trevorrow’s movie, which was to be titled Duel of the Fates. Unsurprisingly, it’s much better than what we ended up with.

–Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss – D&D were to write and produce a new trilogy of films that would’ve been the first post-Skywalker movies on the docket. Unfortunately, this was announced just before Game of Thrones‘ final season started airing and the internet shamefully used the two as a receptacle for their diarrhea-like vitriol for the next several months. Their Star Wars deal was canceled several months later after they had signed a massive new deal to make Netflix their TV home for the foreseeable future (HBO was reportedly also trying to keep them in the fold). They claimed they would no longer have time to focus on Star Wars, but it’s impossible to know if that’s the only or the primary reason they left.

It seems plausible to me. When Netflix wants somebody, they spend the damn money, and with that, I would imagine comes the expectation you’ll start working on Netflix projects pretty damn immediately. So how do you start creating a new Netflix show AND supervise a brand new Star Wars movie at the same time? I don’t smell much bullshit here. They took the Netflix money and whatever they make next won’t have sky-high expectations attached to it. I wouldn’t want to take over Star Wars after the Rise of Skywalker debacle AND after your own hit show has been torn to shreds by literally everyone with fingers and the idea that their opinion is special. I would have looked forward to a Benioff & Weiss Star Wars movie, but I understand why they left.

Of course, the internet ran with the idea that Disney fired the pair because so many people hated the final season of Game of Thrones. That is painfully and wildly ignorant, but it’s the narrative people prefer, so that’s what many believe. This is the reality we live in now, the world of “alternative facts.”

It’s just weird how many filmmakers they’ve parted ways with on so few projects.

A Brighter Tomorrow?

Here now is a complete list of what we’ve been told is coming for the near future of Star Wars. This could all be subject to change, as any minor issue from anyone involved apparently destroys these projects. I hope everyone working on these shows and movies delete their social media accounts because we all know what can happen if you publicly share an opinion they don’t like (or are pressured not to like).

I’m taking this list directly from the official Star Wars website’s own announcement last December. Whether or not all of these actually come to pass remains to be seen.

MOVIES:

-The only upcoming movie that we know for sure is actively being put together is called Rogue Squadron, which will be directed by Patty Jenkins (whose stock took a nosedive for me this year with the release of the abomination known as Wonder Woman 1984). It doesn’t come out until Christmas 2023, which means we’ll have had 4 long years between big screen Star Wars projects. I think we all knew the “one new Star Wars movie a year forever” idea they touted back in 2012 wasn’t realistic, but it’s funny to see just how big a wrench J.J. Abrams’ disaster has thrown into their plans. Jenkins sounds very excited about the film, making it seem like this will be Star Wars‘ version of Top Gun. That’s a cool concept. She says she wants to make the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time. Honestly, I love her setting the bar that high. Attagirl. Pulling it off to its maximum potential? I dare you.

It’s unclear precisely when Rogue Squadron takes place, but all signs point to sometime during the original trilogy. So again, we’ll be jumping way back in time again after the most recent movie was Rise of Skywalker. Some things clearly aren’t changing.

I remember the old Rogue Squadron video game for Nintendo 64, released in 1998. Because I’m old.

By the time Rogue Squadron finally comes out, almost every TV show listed below will have debuted at least their first season.

-A mystery Star Wars film with Taika Waititi at the helm is being developed. I’m definitely excited about this, but at the same time the longer we hear nothing about it, the more I expect to one day find out Waititi has left the project over “creative differences.” He’s busy making Thor: Love and Thunder right now, so I expect his Star Wars movie to be full steam ahead after that’s finished next year. Fingers crossed. But he does have a history with Disney Star Wars, having directed the season one finale of The Mandalorian, which might be the best episode of the show so far. Of course, I’d rather see him do more movies like JoJo Rabbit than franchise pictures, but I realize we no longer live in an environment where filmmakers get to make more passion projects than studio behemoths. That coin may be permanently flipped.

-Other than that, all we have are projects in various stages of development purgatory. Allegedly, they’re still going to make a movie with MCU showrunner Kevin Feige producing, but there hasn’t been a single piece of news about that since it was first announced in September, 2019. And no, Feige is not about to replace Kathleen Kennedy as head of Lucasfilm. He’s just a big Star Wars fan and apparently only wants to be involved in this one movie. We’ll see. How that man has time to do anything else while being in charge of the Marvel Machine is beyond me. We don’t even know who will be writing Feige Star Wars.

-The new Rian Johnson-created trilogy is apparently still happening. It’s hard to believe they’d want to deal with the “toxic” fans reacting to another Rian Johnson Star Wars movie, but it might happen so long from now that people put their Last Jedi hate in the rearview. (Yeah right.) I’ll tell you this…if these movies take place after Episode IX and feature an entirely new set of characters and stories, I’d welcome it with open arms. Johnson is too good a filmmaker. This will be a ways off regardless, considering Johnson just signed a massive deal with Netflix to make two Knives Out sequels for them. How weird would it be if Johnson also ends up dropping out of Star Wars because of his commitment to Netflix? Saboteurs!

DISNEY+ TV SHOWS:

For now, all we have is The Mandalorian, but that will soon change as they’ve announced no fewer than 8 additional TV projects in various stages of production.

–Obi-Wan Kenobi: Takes place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith. They label it an “event series”, which is their cocky way of saying it’ll be a miniseries instead of a multi-season show. Ewan McGregor is back, and they’ve confirmed that Hayden Christensen will reprise the role of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the series, which I guess is cool. It’ll be interesting to see how these two come across each other again, since up til now (as far as I can tell) we’ve been led to believe they didn’t see each other again until A New Hope. I’m open to the possibilities here. It looks like it’s only going to be 6 episodes long, all of which will be directed by Deborah Chow, who has already worked on Mandalorian.

–The Book of Boba Fett: set concurrently with the events of The Mandalorian, the somehow not-dead Boba gets his own spinoff adventure, with Temuera Morrison reprising the role again. This will also be run by Favreau & Dave Filoni with Robert Rodriguez along for the ride as well. Perhaps this will be an actual bounty hunter show, unlike Mandalorian.

–Ahsoka: will star Rosario Dawson, reprising the role from Mandalorian that made so many Clone Wars fans wet their pants last year. It will be supervised by Filoni and Favreau. If it continues to get into the Grand Admiral Thrawn stuff as was teased in The Mandalorian, I’m all in.

–Lando: this is also being called an “event series.” It will be made by Justin Simien, best known for creating the movie and TV show versions of Dear White People. The Lucasfilm announcement mentions this and then immediately says “and he’s a huge Star Wars fan!” since they could no doubt feel people cringing over any suggestion of more woke Star Wars. I assume this would be focused on a younger Lando Calrissian, and that doesn’t particularly interest me. Again, if I were in charge, the creative focus would be almost entirely on NEW characters and NEW stories.

–Andor: this excites me only because Tony Gilroy, who helped save Rogue One, is involved. This is about Diego Luna‘s Rogue One character Cassian Andor and his adventures helping build the Rebellion. This should be very good, even though here we are again going back in time with a character we’ve already killed off.

–The Acolyte: from Leslye Headland, the creator of the Netflix series Russian Doll. It’s described as “a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.” Uhh, sure! I’m down for that. I approve of any kind of genre-bending so that Star Wars isn’t sci-fi fantasy only. A mystery-thriller sounds great to me. Headland is a year younger than me, so I’m jealous she’s already put herself in the position where running a show like this is possible. Good for you, kid.

–Star Wars: The Bad Batch: this is connected to the Clone Wars animated series and is also animated (and is now available on D+). I dunno, for whatever reason I don’t care about animated Star Wars. Unless I hear it’s some kind of masterpiece, I’m probably out on this one.

Editor’s Note: I misread that title every time I look at it. Are we sure they couldn’t also make a movie called Star Wars: The Bad Bitch? It would star Tiffany Haddish or Leslie Jones as an incredibly loud and obnoxious woman who ain’t takin no shit from no wayward smuggler. No? Not something you wanna see? Fine. Fuck you.

–Star Wars: Visions: also animated, it’ll be a series of short films from Japanese anime creators. This could be very cool. I will probably give these a shot. It’s the kind of outside-the-box thinking I was hoping for back in 2012.

As I said, there can be no doubt Disney has made back their $4 billion investment and then some. That price will seem like a steal 10 years from now if it doesn’t already. But I can say I’ve done my part not to reward them for their crimes with my own money. Outside of tickets to the movies and a Disney+ subscription, I don’t think I’ve purchased a single t-shirt, toy, or any other piece of merchandise since Lucas sold. I’m glad I haven’t. You guys can gobble up $375 life-size Baby Yoda figures. I’m good.

The Tough Questions

-What letter grade would I give Lucasfilm under Disney & Kathleen Kennedy’s stewardship? I can’t go any higher than a C. They get an A from a business standpoint, but I’m talking about creative decisions and trajectory, which is what matters to fans.

The most important Star Wars project, the sequel trilogy, was bungled from start to finish. And no other major franchise chews up and spits out creative talent at a more rapid rate. I would not want to be a filmmaker with a vision and have to try and maintain that vision under current Lucasfilm/Disney management. Good fucking luck with that.

Criticize Marvel all you want, but when they hire a director with style, they let that director retain their style and voice (James Gunn, Shane Black, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, Chloë Zhao). They have completely embraced making films with different tones and identities, yet can somehow keep everything neatly under one umbrella. And they all work for the same company as Lucasfilm! If I were Disney movie honchos Alan Bergman and Alan Horn, I’d have forced the Star Wars creative team to spend a month in a story workshop with Kevin Feige’s Marvel team to learn how it’s fucking done.

-Do I think Kennedy needs to be replaced as the boss of Lucasfilm? I hate to say it, but the answer has to be yes, doesn’t it? If for no other reason than getting a fresh perspective. She’s certainly had her chance. The TV shows, mostly under the supervision of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, seem to have their shit together. A lot of fans want the two of them (or just Filoni) in charge of all of Lucasfilm. The movies, under Kennedy’s guidance, have been all over the place, and probably as a result have not reached their full potential at the box office (aside from Force Awakens‘ monstrous $2 billion worldwide, which had the benefit of being the first new Star Wars movie in 10 years).

I want someone in charge who’s willing to let filmmakers be themselves while still maintaining the spirit of Star Wars. It seems like she is uncompromising about creative choices while simultaneously not really having a plan for the larger story, which is critical.

And no, wanting someone else in charge doesn’t make me a sexist. I just told you above I think she’s one of the best producers in the history of film. But producing individual films and being the movie version of a showrunner are two different things. I’m not sure she’s a great showrunner. However, none of this matters, as Kennedy apparently still wants the job and Disney’s new CEO, Bob Chapek, already declared he doesn’t see a change coming.

Bear in mind that my opinion of Disney Star Wars is incredibly tame compared to many others’. I am disappointed and sad, whereas many others feel genuine rage towards one or more of these newer movies. It cannot be understated how deeply these movies split the fanbase, particularly The Last Jedi, which is without a doubt one of the most divisive films ever made. There are people who think Last Jedi is one of the worst movies ever made. On the flipside, there are people who genuinely believe it’s the best Star Wars movie ever made (like…ever, including the original films, including Empire Strikes Back!). And they are dead serious. I’ll bite my tongue on what I think of those people and their agenda. I could’ve found several links to much more hateful rebukes of the sequel trilogy, but I choose not to do that to myself, or to you. If you’re a big Star Wars fan, you saw it all play out between 2017 and 2019.

I digress. Let’s wrap this up…

-Even after Disney also bought 20th Century Fox and wiped out any issues with regards to who owns the rights to what, we STILL haven’t gotten HD releases of the pre-1997 original trilogy theatrical cuts. WHY? If Lucas burned the only remaining prints, just tell us.

-Finally, What About George? In the ultimate irony, many fans are now pleading for George Lucas to come back! Of course, that’s absurd. The man turns 77 this year and has wisely not spoken publicly much about Disney Star Wars (although firsthand accounts are consistent that he isn’t a fan of the new trilogy). When he said he was done, he meant it, and you have to respect that. It’s just a shame in all these years he didn’t really ever put his mountain of money into supporting other filmmakers or making his own non-Star Wars movies. Either way, I genuinely hope he’s happy in retirement.

The George Lucas deepfake remains one of the funniest things I’ve seen in the last several years:

So what do I want/expect from Star Wars going forward? I have no idea. Truly. The sequel trilogy has sapped my passion for this franchise in a way I never thought possible. At this point, all I want is for one of these movies or shows to introduce a new Hutt. Can I get a new Hutt character, please? How have they not done this yet? Well, there it is. That’s my demand. Give me a new fat, talking slug with a subwoofer-rattling laugh.

May the fuckin Force be with you.