The Star Wars series made history as some of the biggest, most profitable movies of all time. Not only have the films launched the careers of actors like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, but it has inspired possibly more fan devotion than any other film series in the world.
From conventions to online forums, viewers love to debate the finer points of all nine films.
Many fans get very passionate about the franchise’s finer points — therefore, it isn’t surprising that recently, some fans on Reddit had an intense discussion, where they placed the blame for the sequel trilogy’s “failure” squarely on the shoulders of Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy.
‘Star Wars’ began in 1977
The galaxy far, far away came to life in 1977, when Star Wars was first released. The movie stood as a stark contrast to other science fiction films of the time, with dazzling visual effects and a story that was more like a space fairy tale than traditional science fiction.
Fans responded instantly, and characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo all went down in history.
The original trilogy, helmed by series creator George Lucas, featured two additional films, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. In the early 2000s, the prequel trilogy was released. Although the prequel trilogy made a ton of money, the movies themselves were considered a critical failure, with many viewers slamming the writing, direction, and acting.
Still, fans ate them up, and in 2015, the sequel trilogy kicked off with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The sequel trilogy would prove to be the most divisive of all the Star Wars trilogies.
The ‘Star Wars’ sequel trilogy has been controversial
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The Force Awakens was well-received, but it’s the follow-up, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was rife with issues. Fans slammed the director, Rian Johnson, for changing up the traditional aspects of many Star Wars movies, and refocusing the message to one that many fans considered to be too out-there for such a tried and true series.
Ultimately, the 2019 follow-up, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, proved to be even more problematic, even though JJ Abrams returned to direct the final installment of the Skywalker saga.
Critics and fans alike blasted the movie for being all over the place, without any real concrete plot threads, and for paying entirely too much fan service. Sadly, the consensus was that The Rise of Skywalker alienated fans, and was a completely unsatisfying ending to a decades-old story that meant a lot to thousands of people.
Fans blame Kathleen Kennedy for the problems with the sequel trilogy
In the months since The Rise of Skywalker was released, many fans have been looking for someone to blame. It seems as though the lion’s share of the responsibility for the mess that the sequel trilogy produced falls to Kathleen Kennedy, the longtime president of Lucasfilm.
As one critic pointed out on That Hashtag Show in a recent article, Kennedy doesn’t seem to really “get” Star Wars, and had no overarching storyline when she first started making plans to produce the sequel trilogy.
Furthermore, some fans on Reddit recently slammed Kennedy for “tearing Star Wars to shreds” by hiring JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson to direct the sequel trilogy. While some critics praised her skills as a businesswoman, others reiterated that she seemed to know nothing about Star Wars, stating that she needs to “step back” and “trust that the top creative people at Lucasfilm know what they’re doing.”
For now, most Star Wars films are on pause — but when Lucasfilm returns to form, it will hopefully be with an ear to the fan community.
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