Star Wars’ Future Rests on the Shoulders of Kylo Ren’s Greatest Scene: “Let the Past Die”

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While the recent Star Wars sequels weren’t universally loved, the franchise is now looking ahead. These sequels were a natural step to keep the story moving forward, but many believe they relied too heavily on characters from the original films, which ultimately held them back from being truly successful.

Some fans loved Luke Skywalker’s appearance in The Mandalorian, while others felt it was just a way to appeal to older fans. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like future Star Wars movies and games will face the same criticism.

Star Wars’ Movies Are Jumping Ahead to the Future

While The Mandalorian & Grogu will likely feature familiar faces and nods to the original Star Wars trilogy, The Mandalorian has already shown it’s comfortable using that kind of content. Looking ahead to future movies, things are looking bright for completely new stories that are moving beyond the long-running Skywalker Saga.

  • Star Wars: Starfighter is reportedly taking place five years after Star Wars: Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker. This, alongside it allegedly having no legacy characters, should guarantee that it is completely original, and that’s far more exciting than Star Wars: Starfighter’s star-studded cast.
  • Rey Skywalker’s new Jedi Order movie is the most likely to continue harping on original trilogy legacy characters, as it will be the movie that is most explicitly tethered to the sequel trilogy. In particular, Rey considers herself a Skywalker now, and the Skywalker Saga may persist for as long as she is around to carry that iconic family’s legacy now that Luke and Leia have passed away.
  • James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi-era movie will apparently be set over 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga. If so, there is surely no need for an original trilogy legacy character to be teased or foreshadowed.
  • Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is supposedly aiming to be separate from movies or eras that have come before it, which implies it may have nothing to do with the Skywalker Saga. If it is truly original and distinct, while still paying homage to the lighthearted, fun flavor of the original trilogy, it will hopefully not need to lean on legacy characters in any capacity.

Unlike some other Star Wars projects, Andor avoided unnecessary cameos and appearances from established characters. While figures like Mon Mothma, Saw Gerrera, K-2SO, Bail Organa, and Orson Krennic had appeared in previous Star Wars stories, their inclusion in Andor felt natural and purposeful. They either helped connect the show to Rogue One or logically fit within the show’s timeline and events, making their presence essential to the narrative.

Often, when cameos or returning characters are included, they end up being the main attraction. That’s why it’s exciting when new Star Wars movies promise to focus on fresh faces and stories, instead of relying on familiar characters or surprise appearances to cover up weaknesses in the plot or character development.

Star Wars Games Are Jumping Back to the Past

Video games based on Star Wars are facing a similar situation. Several are planned for release before 2030, but it looks like none of them will heavily focus on the story of the Skywalker family.

  • Star Wars Zero Company takes place in the twilight hours of the Clone Wars. Jedi appearing wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility, with Anakin Skywalker being a Jedi General, though it’s unlikely that Star Wars Zero Company’s story will have the Skywalker Saga be its narrative throughline.
  • Star Wars: Galactic Racer takes place sometime after the events of the original trilogy, and isn’t expected to have any story-related content that could connect in any way to the Skywalker Saga.
  • Star Wars Jedi’s third game, if it is indeed a direct sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, will presumably take place before the original trilogy. This series’ timeline is getting eerily close to that of the original trilogy, however, and a third run-in with Darth Vader would make it hard to argue that the Star Wars Jedi games aren’t leaning a little bit too much into the Skywalker Saga.
  • Star Wars Eclipse takes place during the High Republic era, roughly 200 years before the events of the prequel trilogy.
  • Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, if it is indeed set within or at the end of the Old Republic era, will take place more than a thousand years before the events of the prequel trilogy.

Is Star Wars Finally Ready to Move on from Its Skywalker Saga?

It seems like Star Wars is now moving past the Skywalker family’s story and its impact on the franchise. Whether fans will enjoy this new direction remains to be seen.

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2026-02-11 13:01