Given the massive backlash and the "pissed in the soup" feeling, what do you think the odds are of Disney pulling a Ghostbusters Afterlife and Halloween 2018 with this franchise and making a "pretend the other sequels didn't happen" followup?
We live in a strange time now where many of these are popping up. Some successful (Halloween 2018) and some total flops (Terminator Dark Fate).
Some have theorized that they may sack Kennedy and put the Disney+ tv crew in charge of a "new regime" moving forward.
Can we hope for Disney to pull its head out of its ass? I have my doubts.
I think if anything, Disney from this moment going forward will treat Star Wars with a bit more dignity and care.
They ain't stupid, they will be having meetings to figure out why it lost its way, where they felt it started going wrong, and what they can do about it for the future.
They'll look at Marvel as a beacon of how to get things right, they'll note that Kevin Feige was instrumental into getting the direction of the MCU absolutely right, and they'll ask what was it he did that Star Wars didn't.
They'll soon realise that where things went wrong was allowing Rhian Johnson full control to do whatever he wanted for The Last Jedi.
They'll realise that what made George Lucas' movies work, was that each trilogy was mapped out and planned in advance. Quite simply, Rhian Johnson would not have had the freedom to do whatever he wanted if he were in a position to direct any of the OT or PT movies.
Its quite obvious to me that what Johnson did, derailed what JJ had in mind for his movies.
And you had Kathleen Kennedy helming, who was more interested taking Star Wars in a direction it had no business being (the force is female etc). First and foremost, she should have been ensuring that the core audience was onboard, but she appeared happy to foster an atmosphere of antagonism toward the core audience, which i'll never understand.
Its almost as if, Disney and Kennedy thought that Star Wars was utterly bullet proof where they could do whatever it was they liked, and the audience would be there for them regardless.
Once the dust settles, Kennedy will be gone, and they'll go into some proper planning.
This trilogy will remain canon, but they will likely set the next trilogy far into the future where they don't have to reference it.
Then I guess this is where I'll be getting off the Star Wars train for good. Maybe some people can look past it/not care but I simply can't move forward with this series if they're going to leave the Skywalker legacy in such shambles as they left it.
I compare it to Disney shitting the bed and, rather than changing the bedding, they just throw layers and layers of fresh linen over it, hoping to mask the stench of the shit below it. Maybe some people can close their eyes, settle in and pretend the shit isn't several inches below them, but I can't. All that I can think about is the shit below. How can I enjoy that bed ever again knowing there is encrusted shit a few layers below? Maybe some can, but I can't.
Sorry for the disgusting analogy but I think it fits and fits rather well here because that's PRECISELY what Disney would be doing with that direction you just mentioned.
Zero.....because it will not have any bearing on what comes next. Despite the fact that people didn't like how their childhood heroes ended it doesn't matter. Because if they erased it from continuity Hamill and Ford do not want to do it again....
I don't mind if Hamill and Ford don't want to do it again. I'd rather they erase the sequels from canon and just reference Luke, Leia and Han in some way. Good enough for me.