In my previous post, I argued that the problem that Lucasfilm faces is not one arising from simply making a bad movie. Instead, it is the loss of confidence in the leadership that many Star Wars fans have experienced. And the confidence I am talking about is not in the ability to make a good movie, but in the competence to direct the Star Wars franchise into the future.
Every one of the decisions made has appeared to be a bad one. The treatment of the existing characters has been discouraging, and the direction of the new characters has lacked focus.
The way forward, then, lies not merely in making good movies again. One could argue that Solo: A Star Wars Story was a decent film, and though it suffered from the loss of confidence engendered by The Last Jedi, I think its valid to say that it didn't further the erosion. But it did nothing to repair it, either. Whenever the subject of Episode 9 is brought up in discussion, it is met with profound ambivalence. And that's a problem.
Because if no one is going to see Episode 9, that will make this entire trilogy a failure. And a failed trilogy does not engender any new trilogies. A trilogy is a huge commitment by a studio, usually one that the studio is not willing to make without a solid franchise to work with. What Rian Johnson has done is to take a solid franchise and severely weaken its foundation. In the words of the Star Wars fandom, Rian Johnson has single-handedly killed the Star Wars franchise. Unless Abrams and others in charge of Episode 9 can come up with a miracle, the great revival of the Star Wars saga that Disney promised will be effectively dead for at least the next 10 years.
So what has to happen to the final installment of this trilogy to bring it to a satisfying conclusion?
Here's a couple things that aren't going to work: No amount of obscure shout-outs to favorite characters from the extended universe, no number of cameos or callbacks to previous eras will have any long-term effect on the films' Nostalgic references are rewarding in a film that is otherwise successful, enhancing the experience. In a failure, they often go unnoticed, or appear cheap
The other thing that isn't going to work is continuing the effort to totally restructure the Star Wars philosophy of heroic adventure. If Lucasfilm persists in pushing a psychological teen drama, most of the core fans will fall away.
Unfortunately, the solution will require the exodus of Rian Johnson, and that's mostly due to his behavior after the release of TLJ. If he had just remained behind the scenes, he wouldn't have presented himself as the primary target for everybody's ire.
If he's still out there threatening to direct a future trilogy of his own, something long touted as a promise by Kathleen Kennedy, not only is that trilogy going to be ignored but fans are unlikely to invest in any other Star Wars property while it remains a possibility.For better or worse, Rian has made himself part of the problem rather than part of the solution.
