10 Of The Biggest Mysteries From The Sequel Trilogy
The final three movies of the Star Wars Skywalker saga, known as the sequel trilogy, featured many new ideas. More frustrating for fans was that some of these concepts never came to full fruition. If there were only one or two, these could have been red herrings designed to throw off audiences. Unfortunately, there are more than a few half-baked plans that were nonstarters in this set of movies.
Recently, producer J.J. Abrams acknowledged this major shortcoming of the sequel trilogy. He stated that the storylines and character arcs were not ill-conceived; they were not part of George Lucas' original vision. Nevertheless, the following ten mysterious concepts endure, to the irritation of fans everywhere.
#10 Maz Kanata Has Luke's Lightsaber
We all thought Luke's first lightsaber was lost permanently on the cloud planet of Bespin after Darth Vader cut off his hand in Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. In Return of the Jedi, Luke has a new green one. In the sequel trilogy movie, The Force Awakens, Maz Kanata reveals she has the original blue crystal-powered one. When asked about how she came into possession of it, Kanata says, "A good question for another time." Even though she appears in all three sequel films, they never address it. All that we know thanks to Charles Soule's Star Wars (2020) comic series it's found by an Ugnaught in the garbage. We do not yet know how it gets to Maz Kanata.
#9 Captain Phasma
Captain Phasma was a cool-looking villain. Portrayed by the wonderful actress Gwendoline Christie, fans thought she would be in all of the films. However, this time Luscafilm forewarned fans on how this would end. They stated that she was going to be the Boba Fett of the new trilogy. Much like Boba Fett, she turned out to be a non-threat killed off in the second film with ease. Perhaps she will also return like Boba Fett 40 years later. While her character has been explored in a novel and a comic miniseries, she does not feel fully formed within the films.
#8 Palpatine…Again
The main point of the sequel trilogy is the enduring evil of Emperor Palpatine. However, very little time is devoted to explaining how he survived and came back to power. Poe Dameron summarizes the situation more efficiently than Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride by uttering a single, infuriating line, "Somehow, Palpatine returned." There's also Dominic Monaghan's character's line, "Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew." If audiences wanted to know more, they could play Fortnite at a particular time to hear Palpatine's "The dead speak!" communication.
#7 Brainwashed Abductees as Stormtroopers in the First Order
The first film of the sequel opens with the concept that the newer stormtroopers are now brainwashed abducted children instead of genetically trained clones. It is the audience's introduction to Finn, one of our main protagonists. Even though they are humans who disagree with the First Order's ideals, the Resistance does not treat them any better than droids or clones. The sequels tried and failed to meld this concept with the nostalgic notion that Imperial Stormtroopers were useless goons.
#6 Broom Boy
In the final scene of the sequel movie, The Last Jedi, a group of youngling slaves talk about Luke Skywalker. Afterward, a young boy named Temiri Blagg, whom fans collectively nicknamed "Broom Boy," uses the Force to pick up a broom! Audiences were excited to see this lead to something in the next film. It did not. In fact, he and others like him were never brought up again.
#5 Rey's Parents
Another mystery is Rey's parentage. Rey's parental reveal was somewhat lackluster in a saga riddled with secret babies with astonishing abilities and nobility. It was retconned in the final film. Kylo Ren informs Rey that her search for her parents would disappoint her since they were nobodies who sold her for drinking money. This surprise upended the mystery of her birth significantly. However, writers adjusted it once more in The Rise of Skywalker. That film revealed Rey's Palpatine lineage via a Palpatine clone. It does not explain anything further than that.
#4 Supreme Leader Snoke
It is no surprise that a character like Supreme Leader Snoke was not part of the original Lucas vision. J.J. Abrams created him as the Big Bad in the first sequel film. Then he was immediately killed off in the next by Rian Johnson, who did not find the character compelling enough to keep alive. Snoke's death caused issues for the trilogy's conclusion. The multiple Snokes seen at the beginning of The Rise of Skywalker revealed him to be a clone and a puppet of Palpatine. The final film moved quickly past these floating plot holes, creating more questions instead of answering them.
#3 Finn And Rose
I do not like romance in my sci-fi and fantasy at all. However, I know I am in the minority. When forming romantic interests in movies, chemistry is vital. The slow buildup of Han and Leia was epic in that it took three films for them to figure it out. In the final trilogy, Finn is given a new romantic counterpart in each movie. Luckily for us, John Boyega oozes charm. He had chemistry with every possible romantic interest. The best was with Rose Tico. At the end of The Last Jedi, these two seemed destined to be together. Except that the next film pivoted Finn to someone else, a random ex-Stormtrooper named Jannah. Worse still, Rose got less than two minutes of screen time in that final film. As a result, we never got to see Finn develop and mature as a character, which I addressed in past articles.
#2 The Knights Of Ren
From a character and cosplayer nerd perspective, The Knights of Ren were the neatest new concepts to see in the new trilogy. Little did we know how little we would see or get to know them as the sequel trilogy moved forward. The Force Awakens introduces this group as Ren's enforcers. We do not see them again until The Rise of Skywalker, in which they did nothing except being fodder for Solo's redemptive rage. Alas, Ap'lek, Cardo, Kuruk, Trudgen, Ushar, and Vicrul, we hardly knew ye on camera anyway.
Their backstories are fleshed out in rich detail in the Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren comic book miniseries. I highly recommend that series to learn more about them and Ren. Rian Johnson did not include them in The Last Jedi because there was no room for them. He did not want them to die as Snoke's Praetorian Guards either. Still, at least one or all of them could have chased Finn and Rose.
#1 Finn is Force-Sensitive
Another amazing reveal in The Force Awakens was Finn's Force-sensitivity. Those brainwashed stormtroopers potentially contained a treasure trove of beings attuned to the Force. How cool, right? Apparently, it was not worthy of further exploration. Only Rey became a Jedi. The crimes against Finn's character arc are numerous. Ignoring his Force sensitivity was the most prominent, untapped mystery in all of the sequel trilogy. Instead of going from brainwashed stormtrooper to Jedi, Finn is relegated to side adventures and comedic relief. Finn's onscreen treatment is fitting symbolism to Boyega's treatment off-screen during and after the release of the sequel films.
These are the mysteries that keep fans and critics of the sequel trilogy longing for some more information. Other media address some of these mysteries. The comics have done great things for The Knights of Ren. We see cloning attempts in The Mandalorian. However, several of these others may long endure as mysteries and disappointments.
Source(s): Screen Rant