Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has suggested that Star Wars’ sequel-era lead characters may return in future Disney projects.
Speaking to Empire magazine, Kennedy said of Daisy Ridley’s Rey, Oscar Isaac’s Poe and John Boyega’s Finn: “Certainly, those are not characters we’re going to forget. They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well.”
Naturally, the Star Wars boss didn’t go into specifics about the studio’s plans, though we think the Resistance heroes are more likely to crop up in future Disney Plus shows than in any further movie instalments.
In fact, if Lucasfilm is serious about re-introducing its sequel-era trio in a meaningful way, the most plausible scenario would see them star in new animated adventures, rather than live-action projects – not least because the actors themselves seem uninterested in reprising their roles.
In a 2019 Variety interview, Ridley, Boyega and Isaac all claimed that they’re now done with Star Wars following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, with Boyega going as far as to declare: “You ain’t going to Disney Plus me!”
Ridley was a little more nuanced in her assertion. “I think [The Rise of Skywalker] is just a great story and a great close,” she said, “and even though obviously the characters continue to exist, it would have to be so extraordinary [to return], and I don’t know if that’s possible.”
Move on, Lucasfilm
As for whether audiences have an appetite to see Rey, Poe and Finn return, though, is an altogether larger question.
It’s no secret that every movie in the so-called sequel trilogy, beginning with The Force Awakens in 2015, divided fans of the franchise. Reception to the final instalment, in particular, was scathing, so it’d be a hard sell to re-introduce the trio in a way that’s both exciting and worthwhile.
That’s no slight on the performances of any of the three actors, mind, but much of the criticism towards the sequel trilogy stemmed from its similarity to the original Star Wars movies.
Many fans enjoyed the nostalgia of The Force Awakens, but subsequent entries descended into laughable re-hashes of famous Star Wars plot beats and set-pieces – under the umbrella excuse of continuing the Skywalker saga – that left audiences wondering why they were made in the first place.
To its credit, the Star Wars franchise has since pivoted away from its Skywalker trappings and branched out into spin-off shows exploring the more interesting parts of a galaxy far, far away. The Mandalorian has so far been a resounding success, The Bad Batch had an admirable first season and excitement is building for both The Book of Boba Fett and the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
Why, then, would Lucasfilm want to retread old ground by throwing its uninspired sequel trilogy characters back into the fray?
To be honest, the studio only just gets away with those last two Disney Plus shows because the characters they concern are some of the most beloved in the whole franchise – but Rey, Poe and Finn? Not so much.
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